Sweat Rewards

It's not surprising in super-cost-conscious 2001 that outsourcing has become a way of life. In fact, outsourcing in smaller companies is rapidly increasing-it's up 25 percent from 1999, adding to the $400 billion outsourcing marketplace. And 36 percent of larger companies (those with sales of more than $50 million) use outsourcing, according to The Outsourcing Institute. With so many companies embracing it, a growing business has emerged: outsourcing management and consulting.

"The use of outsourcing consultants is hot," says Jose E.V. Cunningham, managing director of The Outsourcing Institute. "There have been outsourcing consultants for years, but now, more than ever, the business world is looking for neutral consultants"-meaning third parties who evaluate a company's outsourcing needs, help construct an RFP and help negotiate and manage outsourcing contracts.

Robert Mattern's outsourcing management company, Wilmington, Delaware-based Mattern & Associates LLC, is testament to the demand: His sales are well into the six figures, and he expects sales to double in the next year.

Before starting in 1997, Mattern, 40, sold outsourcing contracts for two support services companies. Many of his clients had outsourcing problems-some outsourced services they'd be better off doing in-house, while others committed to bad contracts. Mattern says his business these days is half evaluating companies' support services systems and half representing companies in the outsourcing process. "We sit on the client's side of the table," he says. "People are so used to being sold things, no one is looking out for their interests. We are."

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This article was originally published in the December 2001 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Sweat Rewards.