It is fascinating to watch outsourcing continue to evolve.

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Initially, companies outsourced low-risk, non-strategic tasks. Today, some companies outsource nearly everything, including customer-facing tasks.

Of course, when a company trusts a supplier to interface directly with its customers, there is a lot at stake for the company. Sometimes, this delegation is successful and invisible or irrelevant to the customer. Other times, it is disastrous.

I recent read on Spend Matters Sherry Gordon’s tale of a bad international biking experience with a company that left Sherry’s satisfaction in the hands of a less-than-capable supplier. Because Sherry is a well-respected consultant and advisor on supplier performance matters, I posted some macro-level-type questions for her. I was delighted when she dedicated a post to responding to my questions.

I think that the virtual discussion we had – I’ve never met, spoken with, or even exchanged emails with Sherry – provides some good food for thought for those pondering the question “How much outsourcing is too much?” It appears that both Sherry and I agree that different tasks deserve different degrees of caution and coordination based on the importance of those tasks.

You can read the original post, with my questions, on Spend Matters here and Sherry’s response to my questions here.