On 20th June, the European outsourcing community gathered in Madrid to debate the latest trends and learn from each other’s experiences. Now in its 2nd year, the European Outsourcing Association Summit & Awards also rewarded the preeminent projects, providers, innovations and locations for best practice in pan-European outsourcing.

“We come together to learn from each other” said Juan Luis Rodriguez Sanchez Del Alamo, of Repsol, during a rousing opening speech that set the tone for the whole event. Indeed, a prodigious amount of knowledge came forth from the lectern, as the masterminds of Europe’s premier projects took to the stage, magnanimously giving the inside track on their successes and challenges in the past year.

First up was Duncan Aitchison, Partner & President of TPI, whose presentation “What’s in store for the sourcing industry?” was optimistic for 2011/12, explaining that “after a period of financial turmoil, demand never comes back in the same way it left” before going on to detail how “there is a lot more scope coming to market. Things that haven’t been outsourced before are being sent out.”

Outsourcing has become more prevalent due to the current times of austerity with the public sector as an example, outsourcing more tax paying services than ever before.

One of the most intricately detailed and deeply insightful presentations of the day came from Santiago Uriel Arias, of Confederación Espanola de Cajas de Ahorro who heads up the collaboration between all savings banks in Spain. This gives him a uniquely omniscient perspective as he speaks about efficiencies brought about by technology and BPO-sharing. “Size does not equal efficiency – it is the sourcing model that is the key,” he said, while demonstrating his theories graphically.

Chris Halward, of the NOA, presented on NOA Pathway - the Middlesex University-accredited qualification for Outsourcing Professionals - before giving way to Jon Burbanks, of Capital One, a highly experienced outsourcing contract negotiator, who is currently working the Pathway. He is undoubtedly a star student - the audience were enraptured by his self-chosen project: “Why did deals work better than others? Why did some need more work than others?”

The afternoon session was themed around transition – specifically renegotiation, renewal and exit. Presentations from Heather Rodgers of the NOA, Juan Carlos Ferrer of Everis, and Wolfgang Fritzmeyer of EOA/ Baker & McKenzie were full of practical recommendations about change management, building flexibility into contracts and how to avoid the need for litigation. Juan Carlos focused on increasing productivity and cost efficiency by “becoming more ‘lean’ in outsourcing contracts,” while Wolfgang covered what to do in various scenarios of exit management. “Lawyers always come last; sometimes they even come a bit late,” he quipped.

Then came then the whisky! Scottish Development International (SDI) provided a fine selection of single malts to a thirsty mob gathered around their stand, and Douglas McCheyne, Senior Executive of International Marketing, was delighted how the event was “helping to keep Scotland at front of mind when investment decisions are made.”

The EOA Awards took place in the historic Casino De Madrid. Speaking before the awards, Andy Rogers, EOA board representative for corporate users said “The submissions this year were of an exceptionally high standard and the record number of submissions – more than double that of last year – shows that the EOA Awards are becoming the de facto standard of quality for the European outsourcing community.”

After a delectable dinner, and copious vino tinto, the award winners were announced. Outsourcing Service Provider/Advisory of the Year was Luxoft, who were also instrumental in the Ukraine’s successful bid to be Offshoring Destination Of The Year. BPO Contract of the Year and IT Outsourcing Project of the Year were Centrica PLC & Ferrovial S.A. respectively. Outsourcing End-User of the Year went to Telefonica Germany while Business Integration Partners and Prisa walked away with the Award for Innovation In Outsourcing. A hard-fought tussle, too close for the judges to call, resulted in CSC – Orange (France Telecom) and Indra being declared joint winners of the Award for Corporate Social Responsibility.

CSC’s Director of Customer Experience Mike Plummer was “delighted and proud to have won. It reflects great team work with the client,” he said, referring to the joint project with Orange regarding incentivising customers’ recycling of mobile phones.

The celebrations continued into the night… one bleary-eyed delegate – who asked not to be named – told how he was on the town til 4am!

The high standard of presentations continued the next day, particularly from the charismatic Carlos Flores Ramirez, of NIIT Technologies, whose engaging presentation was laden with thought provoking analogies – he stimulated debate by comparing outsourcing contracts to arranged marriages and tango dancing.

In a joint presentation Valueshore and PromoMadrid highlighted the credibility of Spain as an ITO and BPO nearshoring destination, presentations that fellow sponsors Invest In Spain would have definitely approved of. Valueshore’s Daniel Naoum spoke of the support that they can offer making inroads into Spain, finding “the right companies, the right contracts, the right contacts.”

The nearshoring vs. offshoring debate continued during a panel discussion featuring Valueshore and Stefanini TechTeam – who are truly global, have a presence in 27 countries worldwide – whose representatives, Rik Demeulemeester and Liveen Van Brackell had earlier given a presentation entitled ‘How To Break The Offshore / Nearshore Dilemma.’

After presenting on innovation, and how to address the disconnect between what suppliers are doing and what end users want, via metrics, structures and governance, KPMG’s Lee Ayling said of the conference and awards “absolutely fantastic – really diverse, drawn from all of the chapters. The quality just gets better and better.”

Jaco de Vries, of OmNext, said: - “the success of European Outsourcing Association Summit & Awards proves outsourcing is growing, getting more professional, leading to more collaboration, more partnership.”

For further information on the EOA summit and awards, visit www.eoasummit.com