What do this month’s revelations about outsourcer Satyam mean for the marketing and selling of outsourced services? (Chairman Ramalinga Raju resigned on 7 January, admitting the firm had falsified accounts and assets and inflated its profits over several years).

First, a quick round-up of the headlines,

• which range from the near-hysterical (India’s Madoff? Satyam Scandal Rocks Outsourcing Industry in BusinessWeek),
• through an analytical look at the family ownership of other Indian SIs by Anthony Miller,
• to ComputerWeekly’s report on likely effects on Satyam customers (including Unilever, Sony, Tesco, Boots, Nestle and Fifa) and analyst predictions (”‘The Indian technology market had already been weakened by a tough 2008, and the badly dented broader market sentiment is sure to impact on other Indian IT services providers,’ said analyst firm Ovum”).

But other than the potential for Satyam’s customers to look elsewhere (which raises the question – would it be vulgar for marketing to target them?), does this change anything else?

It will certainly add power to a significant trend of the last 2 years – the rising influence of the Procurement department (and not only for outsourcing deals; this will be used as a wake up call for any major supplier decision-making).

So when we look back on this, it will be interesting to see if Satyam contributes to the effect started by the credit crunch to market increasingly on trust. In consumer marketing, you only have to look at the joy with which Lloyds TSB trumpets its record as Britain’s most trusted bank 8 years running.

And because we’re all human (whether deciding where to invest our life savings, or who to shortlist for a BPO deal), it seems likely that there will be knock-ons for who and what to focus on in marketing complex services. A few ideas to start us off:

• It would seem to be a good idea to start emphasising in-country and near-shore capabilities alongside the scale of offshore operations.
• Procurement can be a friend to prospective suppliers looking for a level playing field or hoping to sell on value/trust/reliability rather than just price. Time to start building relationships if you’re not already.
• There may be a backlash against the movement towards selling ‘business value’ as the way to get a prospect’s attention. We may find prospects a lot more engaged by hearing about guarantees of reliability & repeatability than about the benefits they already know they need.
• We mustn’t forget the power of the great examples that all outsourcers have of pulling off successful projects against the odds, or delivering advantage in a uniquely innovative way – mismanagement at the top of Satyam shouldn’t detract from the skills shown in building client relationships and delivering complex programmes.
• Finally, it is probably time to take a hard look at the strength of relationships between outsourcer and customer (and between customers themselves) – it’s going to be more important than ever that people are emotionally convinced that they are making the right decision (which means that they need to feel part of the pack, not out on a limb).