“First comes thought, then comes organisation of that thought into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, you will observe, is in your imagination…” (Napoleon Hill, 1883 – 1970, American writer and philosopher).

The National Outsourcing Association was started by an outsourcing pioneer as part of BR (British Rail) and BT (British Telecom) relationship in the mid 1980s. The requirement for independent knowledge on outsourcing was first recognised at strategic meetings between BR and BT at the Post Office Tower on the 17th May, 1987, which is recognised as the official start date of the NOA.

The first open meetings took place in the second half of the 1980s and grew significantly in the early 1990s. The association was formalised at a seminal meeting at the Reform Club, London on 20th April 1993. This provided an official foundation, which led to the commencement of regular meetings, a repository for the association’s best practice, the creation of a “Toolkit” and making other contributions towards our industry. A secretariat was added from early 1994 and the beginnings of the organisation as we know it today.

Initially the members saw these meetings as simply a forum for exchanging ideas. In some respects however, they were responding to a growing need to share best practice and create a body of knowledge and expertise that could carry the industry forward. It was via this wider vision that the NOA became more firmly rooted.

The NOA is formally incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in 1995 and currently has over 350 fee-paying members. These comprise a majority of blue chip user organisations, some of which manage Europe's largest outsourcing deals, as well as premier suppliers, consultants, legal advisors and human resource managers in the field.

The NOA has encouraged and supported similar European associations and on the 9th June 2004, in Amsterdam, we collectively came together as the European Outsourcing Association (see www.e-oa.net ).

The NOA…

• Communicates the benefits on lessons learned in outsourcing, offshoring, nearshoring etc
• Delivers information on market developments (benchmarking; contracts; research; tariffs etc)
• Lobbies government, regulators and the EU on issues affecting its members