business process outsourcing management
The key to managing business process outsourcing successfully
Business process outsourcing, or BPO, has become an increasingly important component of the strategy of many large corporations.
Even though working with the help of partners and providers has always been a feature of the interdependent nature of humans and work, with the growth of the Services industry as well as its growing utilization of BPO, has given an urgency to the narrative and a focus that it perhaps did not have earlier, to the extent of coming together as an independent industry.
It follows, therefore, that managing business process outsourcing occupies an important role in the scheme of things of outsourcers that is commensurate with the importance of BPO in its strategy and scheme.
The term BPO is used in its widest meaning, which includes not only third-party providers and external partners but also units of the same company or another company that is within the same management umbrella, providing BPO services to the principal.
Why is it important to manage BPO?
The answer is the same as the need to manage anything. Since the actions of a company, being an artificial entity created by humans, are all deliberate, designed to achieve one or more goals, they need to be well directed, especially since the company accesses resources that are limited.
Its actions should move the company towards the desired goals and hence add value to its being and existence.
For an outsourcer, this process would start with the initiation of the thought process for outsourcing business processes and go on to cover the BAU (business as usual) situation when the initial decisions have been taken and the partner has started delivering.
Regular clients of oWorkers save up to 80% when they outsource to us, even when they don’t invest in managing the outsourced processes.
The same opportunity is available to all clients.
Our pricing is transparent, with a choice of per hour or per output unit pricing.
Managing business process outsourcing while setting up the service
The outsourcer needs to ensure that the outsourcing of its business processes is done in a manner that meets defined goals and delivers expected value.
How?
Seeding the thought
In a business, there are no givens.
If business process outsourcing has to happen it needs to be put on the table and the pros and cons thrashed out.
How will it be put on the table?
By someone in the company, typically in the leadership team with at least a part ownership for performance, who, as part of her role of keeping track of competitors, or marketplace, or developments in the business world, realizes that this could be a possibility.
If convinced, she will put it on the table for a discussion, highlighting, to the best of her capability, the pros and cons, and proposing that the pros outweigh the cons.
Thus, she would become the sponsor of the new initiative.
As an acknowledged leader in the space of data based BPO, clients of oWorkers have been kind enough to spread the message, seeding the thought with other corporate leaders and bringing many of them into the business process outsourcing fold.
Requirement identification
If conceptually agreed by the top management, the initiative would perhaps move to the next stage, that of identifying the business processes that could constitute the initial phase which would also validate or demolish the beliefs based on which the initiative was launched.
This step might also involve the setting up of a group of project team who would be charged with the responsibility of execution.
This step of managing business process outsourcing would also formalize the initiative, with a documentation of the plan, assignment of responsibilities, etc. so that evaluation becomes possible later on.
If the company has preferences, such as only shore providers to be considered, these would be made a part of the plan.
As a leading provider of BPO services, oWorkers is led by a team of professionals with over 20 years of hands-on experience in the industry.
They are well equipped to guide clients regarding their outsourcing questions, including identification of need.
Seeking providers
This is the time for the rubber to hit the road. So far, the discussions and deliberations have been internal.
However, if an external provider has to be identified, the discussion needs to move beyond the corridors and boardrooms of the outsourcer and into the ‘public’ domain.
There are several ways one could initiate this process:
- Let providers already known to your company, know of your plans
- Explore trade directories and industry events where providers would flock to
- Issue a Request for Proposal (RFP), a process usually preferred by large enterprises and mandatory for government departments. A standardized proposal form where you specify the information you need for your selection of the right partner, it is useful in decision-making even if a formal RFP is not issued. If nothing else, it helps you and your company further crystallize their thoughts.
oWorkers is ISO (27001 and 9001) certified and leverages the best technologies for client projects, thanks to its enduring partnership with leading providers.
Shortlisting
Managing business process outsourcing calls for selection of a partner who will be a value creator for your company in many different ways.
In addition to the ability to support the immediate requirement, it is ideal to have a partner with the capability of supporting a variety of processes, the variety that your company could possibly have, as well as supporting growth.
While it is understood that each client will have their own list of criteria for this selection, most shortlisting criteria are likely to include many of the following:
- Prior experience in similar delivery
- External validation of capability
- Pricing
- Access to suitable manpower
- Technology resources and skills
- Financial position
- Leadership capability
- Transition experience
The shortlisting process is usually followed by a detailed evaluation of the shortlisted few, followed by the selection of one, with at least one other as backup in the event the primary selection does not work out.
oWorkers has been a consistently profitable enterprise.
It pays local and social taxes for its employees and is deeply rooted in the communities it operates in.
It counts itself lucky as it always finds itself in client shortlists when they go about seeking a partner.
Finalize terms and sign contract
Since the end goal of the process was to initiate business process outsourcing with a provider, it ends with the selection of the partner.
As it is an engagement between two businesses, it is formalized through a contract signed by both parties.
The contract should, hopefully, not throw up any surprises as the details should have been discussed during the rounds of engagement preceding the formalization.
oWorkers possesses the flexibility to ramp up and ramp down, beyond contractual terms, by a hundred headcount in 48 hours, to handle unforeseen spikes.
This can save clients a lot of money as otherwise they would need to maintain a bench.
Transition – a key step in managing business process outsourcing
Well begun is half done, they say.
Transitioning plays a key role in the BPO world. It can make or break an arrangement.
It is often simplistic to say that it is a ‘lift and shift’ operation.
What is being done under the management of the client shifts to the management of the vendor.
That is all.
The BPO ambitions of many businesses, and providers, with such a view of the transition process, have come to a swift end.
There are many nuances that can only be understood by leaders with the experience of transitioning business processes.
In fact, the very fact that people are needed for the task should be proof enough that it cannot be boxed inside a process flow.
There is some element of creativity, thinking, decision-making that is required, which can only be documented to a point.
Beyond that, it is human intelligence.
Besides, human beings, through force of habit and personal idiosyncrasies, develop routines and methods that do not bear documentation.
It should happen in a manner that minimizes disruption to services and feels like there has been no change, it has always been handled that way.
Once the contract has been signed, it is expected that as the owner of the process, the client will lead the way during the transition, as they know the process best and they need to define expectations.
However, as a relationship matures, there is no reason why a trusted partner cannot become the final word in the execution of a particular business process.
The following would be some of the steps that need to be taken for a successful transition:
- An Implementation or Project Plan that define timelines and roles and responsibilities
- Estimating the resources, in different roles, required (by the vendor) and the dates for each
- Knowledge transfer though either resources receiving on-the-job training on the client side, since the work is happening there, or classroom training, followed by on-the-job performance supervised by client staff. Of course, a combination of the various options available is always possible.
- Technology handshake
- A ramp plan, how much volume will be taken on progressively
- Reports and other monitoring requirement definition
If this has not been done at the contracting stage, the parties will develop and agree on an Implementation Plan which defines the steps each of them must take to reach a steady state.
In other words, reach a point at which the activities envisaged in the contract are running at the expected level.
The timelines are also defined in the Implementation Plan. Some Project Plans include a Trial Run designed to create comfort for the outsourcer.
This would be done based on established criteria for success or failure.
oWorkers boasts of a project management team that has successfully handled over 50 transitions of varying degrees of complexity, across different industries and functions.
It has been a key to us having many satisfied clients over the eight years we have been in existence.
A client’s delivery experience begins the moment a contract is signed and the transition process is initiated, and our project management team ensures that there are no loose ends.
Managing business process outsourcing requires ongoing monitoring
While well begun may have been half done, it is just that, half done.
You are about to see the fruits of the labor that has gone into this initiative, that of outsourcing business processes.
To ensure that the effort yields fruit that is sweet, you need to have in place a process through which you are able to monitor the process, and jump in with interventions if the need is felt.
Without taking away from the vendor’s capability and interest, it must be recognized that each of you are running your own business first and foremost and have a responsibility for its success.
While clients and partners may be the path through which our business becomes successful, our first responsibility is to our own business.
The vendor can have multiple clients, each worth its weight in gold.
A watchful eye of the client is necessary to ensure that your business is getting the attention it needs and deserves.
And this is an ongoing activity, for as long as you have business processes outsourced to a partner.
Hence, it makes sense for this process to be robust.
Selection of a partner and transitioning, while important, are generally one-time activities, till you decide to change partners or outsource new processes.
The contract entered into between the two parties would normally define the scope of the reports and MIS required by the client to monitor the process.
In addition, outsourcers like to periodically satisfy themselves that the system is working smoothly and that they will not be saddled with nasty surprises the moment they take their eye off.
This can take several forms:
- Client representatives are embedded into the vendor organization, as a method of ensuring that the situation on the ground is as reported in the MIS.
- A periodic review meeting between the leadership teams where typically the vendor would present to the client and showcase the quality job their team is doing, against an embedded plan.
- A ‘calibration’ process in which experts from the vendor’s team engage with experts from the client’s team to ensure that they are ‘calibrated’ on their understanding of the business processes, what is good, what is not good, based on which quality scores are published.
The QA (Quality Assurance) and QC (Quality Control) processes that are standard for oWorkers represent the client and aim to detect and resolve errors before they impact the client.
Across varied processes and varied measurement systems and scales, oWorkers delivers over 98% accuracy.
Its representatives routinely participate in client calibration exercises.
Summing up
Managing business process outsourcing becomes easy when you work with a partner like oWorkers who have the necessary experience and skills to succeed and help clients succeed in their business process outsourcing initiatives.
With an emphasis on a multi-cultural and multi-ethnic work environment, oWorkers supports clients in over 22 languages across their three global centers, all equipped to operate on a 24×7 basis, for clients who need the coverage.
oWorkers works with marginalized communities and helps some of them gain a foothold in the global digital economy.
The work you outsource will help us move a few more become independent, contributing members of society, able to support their families and dependents.
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