One of the keys to a successful outsourcing endeavor should take place before the contract is even signed with a service provider: benchmark existing service levels to measure how well services are currently being delivered and how much it costs to deliver them. These benchmarks are critical to a business-process outsourcing or IT-services engagement because they establish a performance standard that the service provider is contractually obligated to produce. Benchmarks often are cited in service-level agreements, and if the supplier's performance doesn't meet the standards, financial penalties and even termination of the deal can result.
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