EQUATERRA’S GOVERNANCE HEALTHCHECK SERVICE HELPS DIAGNOSE, REPAIR
AND IMPROVE TROUBLED OUTSOURCING RELATIONSHIP

HOUSTON and LONDON (June 6, 2007) — EquaTerra today announced Governance Healthcheck, a service for outsourcing buyers that enables them to work with their external service provider to identify, fix, prevent and improve outsourcing governance problems that could derail or destroy their outsourcing initiatives.  The subscription-based service – delivered by EquaTerra outsourcing governance experts – helps buyers retain the strategic and financial intent of the transaction.  Research has shown that ineffective governance may cause outsourcing buyers and providers to lose up 20 percent of the intended value from the relationship.

There are myriad reasons why outsourcing buyers and providers alike become dissatisfied with the relationship including service delivery, costs, reporting, expectation, misalignment, trust level and cultural issues.  But when issues arise, both parties tend to come up with their own hypothesis – which are almost always different – and implement fixes that don’t address the real problem.  Governance Healthcheck helps identify the true root cause of problems, thus enabling appropriate corrective action and eliminating a further decline in satisfaction.

Said Liz Campbell, EquaTerra’s Managing Director, Outsourcing Governance Advisory Services, “Governance Healthcheck is like low-cost but full coverage ‘insurance’ for outsourcing relationship satisfaction.  It’s a highly valuable investment, but both parties must be committed to devoting time and resources to jointly improve results.”  Continued Campbell, “Unlike immature governance benchmarking offerings, Governance Healthcheck results in an integrated, customized and focused action plan with committed results.”  Governance Healthchecks are typically performed twice a year to ensure the greatest value is achieved by comparing results from corrective actions taken following each Healthcheck.  It is a repeatable process that tracks improvements over time, and is a mechanism for continuous improvement.

The objectives of Governance Healthcheck are to:

• Identify the root causes of relationship dissatisfaction
• Realign expectations
• Secure joint commitment to high-priority action plans
• Deliver fair, fact-based data and evaluation
• Provide early warning of upcoming trouble
• Create a repeatable process that tracks improvements over time
• Continuously improve the capability, maturity and effectiveness of the joint governance teams

In new outsourcing engagements, a Governance Healthcheck implemented mid-way through transition of processes from the buyer to the provider will set the right stage for the relationship, and enable the joint development of a highly competent outsourcing governance team.  In an existing relationship in which a buyer begins to question the value, a Governance Healthcheck can help save the initiative.

Said an executive from a multi-national consumer products company, “We view our relationship with our outsourcing partner as critical to our long-term success.  Governance Healthcheck provides a valuable tool for both of our companies to build toward that long-term success.”