Post Event Workshop

Driving Success Throughout The Managed Services Lifecycle

A successful managed services outsourcing is one which is conceptualised, procured, implemented and managed to achieve identifiable and measurable business objectives.  Commonly, in a managed services outsourcing, operators look for capex / opex efficiencies, improved quality of service and a transfer to the vendor of risk and responsibility for service delivery.  If these objectives can be designed and achieved in a way which helps the operator to increase its subscriber base and ARPU while at the same time reducing its underlying cost base, a genuine success story will result.

This interactive and dynamic session will be of interest to anyone involved in managed services outsourcings, including procurement, IT and legal professionals.  During this workshop, we will consider best practices and trends, share our thought leadership from working on some of the world's and the region's largest and most complex outsourcings, examine case studies and lead workshop attendees through practical exercises.  As a result, workshop attendees will gain a deep and practical appreciation of the key elements of success at each stage of the managed services lifecycle.

Topics to be covered during the workshop will include:

• Establishing your business case and setting your objectives
• Assessing and selecting the right vendor model - single vendor versus multi-vendor
• Choosing a procurement methodology, including a consideration of the pros and cons of competitive procurements
• Designing a contract which is aligned with your objectives and requirements, including:
  • the importance of the contract as a tool for the management of the operator/vendor relationship
  • determining the right contractual framework for the deal
  • a tour of the key features of the managed services contract
  • preparation of a contract designed to ensure:
    - achievement of business case objectives - delivery of the service to the required service levels and KPIs - a suitable transfer of risk and responsibility to the vendor - good governance throughout the contract term - cost control - contractual flexibility - continuous service improvement
• Running the procurement from start to end, including a consideration of:
  • using RFIs and RFPs as part of the vendor selection
  • the importance of due diligence activities for both parties
  • dealing with difficult negotiations
  • key contentious issues in the negotiation
  • project management, key issues reporting and stakeholder guidance
• Implementing and managing the managed services outsourcing once the deal has been signed
• Dispute resolution options for when disputes arise - from escalation to arbitration and beyond
• Evaluating exit and re-negotiation options, including a consideration of:
  • when is the right time to seek a renegotiation
  • re-procurement versus renegotiation
  • insourcing as an alternative

This workshop will be delivered by Paul Allen and Mike Conradi, Partners at DLA Piper.  DLA Piper is a leading global business law firm with market leading expertise in communications sector outsourcing. With 4,200 lawyers in 30 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and the US, DLA Piper helps companies do business anywhere in the world.

In the Middle East, DLA Piper is one of the strongest full-service international legal practices, with over 70 lawyers - including more than 15 partners - drawing on experience both locally and from around the globe. DLA Piper has a presence in all six GCC countries; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates as well as a group firm, DLA Matouk Bassiouny, in Egypt.

DLA Piper's global communications practice is built on in-depth, specialist knowledge of the commercial, transactional and regulatory aspects of communications law, and how it applies all over the world. DLA Piper focuses on clients' commercial objectives and works innovatively to realise these within an acceptable legal risk profile.

PAUL ALLEN

Paul Allen is a Partner at DLA Piper, a leading global business law firm. Based in Dubai, Paul is the lead Partner for the technology and sourcing group in the Middle East.  Paul is an IT&T specialist with over 10 years of international experience supporting the delivery of private and public sector IT&T projects and outsourcings. During his career, Paul has been engaged on some of the world's largest and most complex IT&T projects and outsourcings, including the largest civil IT project in history, the GBP 12 billion National Programme for IT for England's National Health Service.

Since relocating to the Middle East in 2008, Paul has been engaged in numerous IT&T projects including mobile network procurements and roll-outs, managed services outsourcing for mobile and MPLS-based networks, numerous IT and business process outsourcings and tower sale and lease back initiatives.  Most recently, Paul has been leading on a number of telecom-related transactions including a USD 250+ million IT outsourcing.

Paul is a regular speaker at industry events and enjoys sharing trends, experiences and best practices with participants in MENA's vibrant and ever changing telecoms industry.

MIKE CONRADI

Mike is a Partner in the technology and sourcing group, and is one of  DLA Piper's lead Partners on non contentious telecoms matters.  His focus is on providing commercial and regulatory advice to businesses in the sector, and he has a particular interest in regulatory matters, telecoms and IT outsourcing and in telecoms infrastructure projects.

Mike is ranked as one of the UK's leading telecoms lawyers by the various legal guides, with Chambers & Partners (2010) describing his "ability to grasp complex technical points quickly," as well as his "skill in navigating through the constraints of a tough regulatory environment". The 2011 edition says that he is "bright, has strong market knowledge and is an effective negotiator".

He is the editor of the Communications Law Handbook, published by Bloomsbury Professional in late 2009 ("this is a book which no serious practitioner of communications law can afford to ignore," The Commonwealth Lawyer, 2010).   He is also the author of a number of template agreements available through PLC (the PracticalLawCompany), including a template managed services agreement, and he was the only private practice lawyer on the legal working group of SubOptic (the main submarine cable industry body worldwide) which drafted a template fibreoptic system supply agreement.