The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) is the industry association with collaboration at its core. Founded decades ago by Debi Hammill with the support of her husband, and her brother Scott, the organization sets itself apart from other industry groups by its focus on knowledge sharing, collegiality, and the high level of the membership. Its industry events have a distinctly different feel, more of a close-knit symposium or forum, rather than an industry bash. The attendees are usually top management, and serious learning takes place.
Founder Debi Hamill sat down with Cognitive Business News founder Loren Moss to talk about the event’s post-pandemic move from annual events in Orlando to two events, one in Chicago and the other in New York. Hamill explained what makes the IAOP different as an organization focused on learning, with its COPS certification system, and what makes the Outsourcing World Summit an event on an entirely different level than the typical trade show.
Cognitive Business News: I’m here with Debi Hamill, longtime leader of IAOP, the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals. We’re here in New York City at the offices of Kirkland & Ellis, which is a founding member and sponsor of the IAOP. First, great to see you again. I haven’t seen you since before the pandemic.
Debi Hamill: It’s a long time, Loren, and I’m so glad to see you here. I’m so glad.
Cognitive Business News: I’ve been coming to IAOP often, for about I think almost 15 years, and it’s great to see. The thing I love so much about this organization is: one, it’s a leadership-focused organization. There are a lot of events, and there are a lot of other organizations out there, and they all have their place.
Some are functional, where they talk about, you know, here’s how to use the X2 4000 software platforms and what the different buttons do, and those are valuable. Other ones are kind of big parties or big bashes where all the salespeople get together and entertain each other. But this one brings together leadership, and really, we talk about strategy across outsourcing, whether it’s CX, IT, or back office. Tell me about when you originally had the concept of IAOP, why you felt the need was there, and how you guys have evolved and become what you are today.
Debi Hamill: You got an hour and a half?
Well, we started this a long time ago, in probably the late ’80s. I was 5 at the time. My husband, Michael Corbett, was a thought leader on the topic of outsourcing, and he spoke all over the world, and we created training programs. He wrote the Outsourcing Professional Body of Knowledge.
And we had tremendous opportunities with events. We did the Outsourcing World Summit, the first one in 1998. We’ve done it 40-something times around the world. And then, in 2005, some of our key sponsors, Kirkland & Ellis being one of them, and seven others said, “You know what we don’t have? We don’t have something that’s an advocate for the profession.” Outsourcing is a profession.
These are professionals. So that was kind of the turning point. So in 2005, we became IAOP, with the help of who? The sponsors who became our founding members. They helped us develop it, helped us create the thought leadership, and have stayed with us, you know, ever since, and it has evolved. The pandemic was hard for everybody.
And we knew we had to make changes. No one was going to be going to an 850-person event for four days at a resort. That wasn’t happening anymore, and we kind of had to pivot a little bit. And so we have a bit of a new model. The way we’ve evolved, it’s always been about content and thought leadership and bringing people together. So, the connection piece is huge.
Cognitive Business News: Right.
Debi Hamill: So that’s really what our focus is now. We want to connect people with the resources they need, meaning, “Hey, here are your thought leaders.” And we want to bring this connection to a smaller group. So our Outsourcing World Summit is now about 200 people. Everything we do is hosted by one of our partners, and it’s an opportunity for everybody to come together in one spot over a two-and-a-half-day period. And they do everything together now, We go out in the evening.
But what has developed from this is these long relationships between thought leaders. They learn from each other, and they’re so willing to share. And that’s what makes it exciting for me, and seeing people I’ve known a long time, you know, because they all become your friends, and you share this amazing experience. So for me, IAOP is just an opportunity to bring that kind of knowledge and that kind of knowledge-sharing and connection. You need a partner sometimes to get something done. If you want to innovate, you’ve got some great things going on: you need to find the right partner. We don’t even like to say service provider; it’s a partner.
Cognitive Business News: Right.
Debi Hamill: So the buyers, the advisors, service providers, they’re all partners to do something you couldn’t have done on your own.
Cognitive Business News: And you know, one of the things that impresses me is that the leadership is who attends IAOP. You know, I’m always impressed by the quality of people. You have CEOs of large global outsourcing firms here, you have serious people- as you mentioned, the thought leaders. People know what they’re talking about, and they’re not up there selling a product.
Debi Hamill: Nope.
Cognitive Business News: It’s not like, “Here, I’m going to tell you why my IT platform is better than the other IT platforms.” There’s none of that. But it’s really about things like legislation that affect outsourcing. I think the panel today is about the new European law and how that affects the use of artificial intelligence.
Debi Hamill: Because it’s coming for us.
Cognitive Business News: Exactly, exactly. The things that we heard yesterday, we’re learning from practitioners, and whether they’re outsourcing leaders, whether they’re advisory leaders; Avasant, for example, has always been a big participant in the event.
Debi Hamill: Huge supporter of IAOP.
Cognitive Business News: Yeah. But I mean, then we have like these partners of Kirkland & Ellis and other law firms, Baker McKenzie, I think yesterday, that are sharing knowledge of, “This is what I’ve seen, this is what I see in the contracts when it comes to…” And the questions that you get from leaders. So it’s the primary high-level event. And there are some other prestigious events, but they’re usually put on by somebody trying to sell something; with IAOP, it’s people trying to learn something.
Debi Hamill: And share it. That’s the thing that amazes me, is the willingness to share it.
Cognitive Business News: The collaboration.
Debi Hamill: And learn from each other. It’s not competitive. That’s the thing that I love about it, you know? You can have a panel with six advisors, and they’re all going to share a point of view that’s helpful to the audience, you know, so it’s great.
Cognitive Business News: Yeah. Now you have a big event coming up, and when I say big, I mean big in content and value. I don’t mean big as in an industry bash with 20,000 of your closest friends. But tell me about your upcoming Chicago event.
Debi Hamill: So this will be the third year we’re doing it in Chicago. It’s hosted by HCSC. Dan Schuffert, a wonderful guy, is on our strategic Advisory Board. They had this beautiful space they let us use. Baker McKenzie also has a beautiful space that they hosted us in. And it’s the opportunity to bring about 200 people, it’s about the limit. And we don’t do breakouts anymore. We do everything together. Every speaker is in front of every attendee. Every attendee hears all the content, and we record it. So we make all of that available to our members who could not attend.
Cognitive Business News: Got it. And so, you know, as a native Midwesterner, Chicago’s kind of the capital of the Midwest.
Debi Hamill: It’s great!
Cognitive Business News: So, looking forward to that.
Debi Hamill: Turns out it’s very convenient for everybody, and it’s become kind of my favorite city. No knock on New York! I was born and raised in New York, but Chicago is great, and I’m going to see you there, right?
Cognitive Business News: Yeah, yeah. Now, for those people who want to find out more about IAOP, what’s the contact information?
Debi Hamill: Oh, sure, just go to https://www.iaop.org/ or e-mail me: [email protected].
Cognitive Business News: You know, looking forward to seeing it, looking forward to seeing the organization continue to grow in quality. And the thing I like about it, too, is that it spreads across outsourcing. Because there are IT-focused events, there are CX-focused events, there are back-office focused events. But you bring it all together, and it’s the leadership and the issues that affect outsourcing and global service delivery across the different vertical sectors.
Debi Hamill: Thanks, Loren. You said it beautifully!
Cognitive Business News: Absolutely. So, see you in Chicago.
Debi Hamill: See you in Chicago!
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