Future of Sourcing - BPO https://futureofsourcing.com/tags/bpo en 8 Factors to Consider Before Choosing an Outsourcing Company https://futureofsourcing.com/8-factors-to-consider-before-choosing-an-outsourcing-company <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/8%20Factors%20to%20Consider%20Before%20Choosing%20an%20Outsourcing%20Company.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/8%20Factors%20to%20Consider%20Before%20Choosing%20an%20Outsourcing%20Company.png" title="8 Factors to Consider Before Choosing an Outsourcing Company " class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1953-HssH2UE0PKc"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/8%20Factors%20to%20Consider%20Before%20Choosing%20an%20Outsourcing%20Company.png?itok=3mhso1gp" width="624" height="325" alt="8 Factors to Consider Before Choosing an Outsourcing Company " title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <h1>8 Factors to Consider Before Choosing an Outsourcing Company&nbsp;</h1> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/top-7-reasons-why-you-should-outsource-a-software-project">Top 7 Reasons Why You Should Outsource a Software Project</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>From being a startup to a scale-up, businesses today have the advantage of cutting-edge technology and a diverse talent pool to realize their vision. But when growth is happening at a faster pace and wider scale than expected, there&rsquo;s a danger for some companies to fall behind.</p> <p>This period of growth can cause small businesses to fail if they have limited resources to keep up with the velocity of change. For those ready to take the next step, however, their growth plans often include business process outsourcing (BPO) as a strategy.</p> <p>Outsourcing enables businesses to team up with a third party that already has the resources, expertise and capacity to support growth.</p> <p>How can a scale-up business select the right outsourcing partner for their business? Here are eight factors to consider when choosing an outsourcing partner:</p> <h2>Scope of Projects</h2> <p>The most crucial question to ask when a small firm is scaling up is the variety and scope of its projects. In the <a href="https://www.spiralytics.com/blog/e-commerce/" target="_blank">e-commerce</a> industry, for example, retailers have to establish and maintain their presence across multiple sales and marketing channels to cover the entire customer journey efficiently. Over time, the scope of work can be overwhelming for a small team left to manage different projects all at once.</p> <p>This is the reason a number of businesses choose to outsource transactional processes, such as HR and payroll management, accounting and even customer and technical support services. Outsourcing to a reliable partner enables businesses to allocate more of their time, energy and financial resources to revenue-generating strategies instead.</p> <h2>Size of the Team</h2> <p>In the digital economy, a business can grow quickly overnight. But given the size of their current teams, not all companies can keep pace with the demands of expansion just as swiftly as operational changes take place. So, most employers <a href="https://boothandpartners.com/blog/here-are-4-reasons-why-you-should-consider-staff-leasing-for-your-business/" target="_blank">consider staff leasing</a> as a solution to these gaps in human resources.</p> <p>A remote team trained extensively by an outsourcing firm can step in and provide support services to clients almost immediately. What&rsquo;s more, the client won&rsquo;t have to incur additional training costs to bring workers up to speed. And should the client encounter logistical problems, as seen with the COVID-19 lockdowns, a remote team will still be available to ensure that the client&rsquo;s operations run smoothly.</p> <h2>Expertise and Quality Assurance</h2> <p>Building your business through outsourcing isn&rsquo;t just a numbers game. Increasing your available workforce is only part of the benefit of finding a reliable outsourcing company.</p> <p>The most trusted names in the BPO industry also invest in the upskilling of workers and their mastery of digital tools to guarantee that clients receive the level of proficiency and service quality they require.</p> <p>Because of the effort of outsourcing firms to future-proof workers&rsquo; skills, they are able to set the standards of service of <a href="https://ebcallcenter.com/outsourcing/how-to-choose-between-in-house-outsourced-customer-support-teams" target="_blank">in-house and outsourced teams</a> on par with one another. At other times even, subject matter experts from a third party may have a better grasp of a discipline than a self-styled resident expert would.</p> <p>Apart from training, senior staff members at outsourcing firms also monitor team productivity and perform quality assurance checks regularly. This is done to give clients peace of mind when it comes to the firm representing their brand to customers.</p> <h2>Cost Efficiency</h2> <p>By comparing the cost of outsourcing with its benefits, a number of businesses have seen the efficiency of hiring a third-party firm as opposed to managing routine and time-consuming tasks in house.</p> <p>When choosing an outsourcing partner, it&rsquo;s best for the client to be clear about specific processes that they need &ndash; right down to the everyday tasks of workers and how the quality of service will be measured and reported back to the firm.</p> <p>This way, the firm can immediately audit the services they are required to provide and calculate the expenses associated with them. The client can then compare the rates based on which services promise to do more for less.</p> <h2>Infrastructure</h2> <p>Another crucial factor to consider when outsourcing services is the business climate of the BPO firm&rsquo;s country of operation. They can work to upgrade their technical expertise and infrastructure, but all these components will prove useless if their base of operations isn&rsquo;t friendly to overseas businesses.</p> <p>This is why clients <a href="https://selectvoicecom.com.au/best-outsourcing-country-asia/" target="_blank">choose the best country in outsourcing</a> before deciding on a suitable partner. Businesses should determine whether the country of operation has the latest telecommunication networks to handle data-intensive work. It&rsquo;s also crucial that the outsourcing destination has a power grid large enough to support entire industries without the risk of prolonged electrical failures, which delay services significantly.</p> <h2>Compliance</h2> <p>Aside from having infrastructure support, an outsourcing partner should also show a track record of complying with regulations &ndash; among them, data privacy and intellectual property laws in their country of operations. The client should ask the firm to guarantee adherence to laws protecting both the business and the outsourcing partnership. Without this protection, a client could end up at risk. Compliance should be one of the first questions outsourcing partners discuss.</p> <h2>Communication</h2> <p>The outsourcing firm should appoint contact persons ready to respond to the questions and concerns of the client 24/7. This practice builds a culture of trust and transparency between the firm and its stakeholders. Account managers should work closely with workforce managers who will then cascade the client&rsquo;s requirements to the teams on the ground helping to support the business.</p> <h2>Culture</h2> <p>The final test when choosing a potential outsourcing partner is the company&rsquo;s overall workplace atmosphere. It&rsquo;s critical for the client to see whether their own values are reflected in the way the firm does business and cares for their team &ndash; and whether the people who work for them are also enjoying a well-balanced life and career free of toxicity in the workplace. In the end, having the right leadership and management culture will set the top firms apart from all the others.</p> <p>When businesses experience rapid growth, they may find that outsourcing to a trusted third party has benefits that go beyond addressing gaps in skills and project management. However, clients will have to weigh their options closely to ensure their outsourcing partner is representing the business the best way they know how.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/outsourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Outsourcing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/compliance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Compliance</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/bpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">BPO</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="8 Factors to Consider Before Choosing an Outsourcing Company - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/8-factors-to-consider-before-choosing-an-outsourcing-company"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 31 Mar 2021 02:00:00 +0000 Regina Del Rosario 1953 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/8-factors-to-consider-before-choosing-an-outsourcing-company#comments 4 COVID-Era Trends Impacting the BPO Industry https://futureofsourcing.com/4-covid-era-trends-impacting-the-bpo-industry <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/4%20COVID-Era%20Trends%20Impacting%20the%20BPO%20Industry.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/4%20COVID-Era%20Trends%20Impacting%20the%20BPO%20Industry.png" title="4 COVID-Era Trends Impacting the BPO Industry" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1891-HssH2UE0PKc"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/4%20COVID-Era%20Trends%20Impacting%20the%20BPO%20Industry.png?itok=qgdt3s-f" width="624" height="325" alt="4 COVID-Era Trends Impacting the BPO Industry" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/women-in-global-sourcing-aditi-pany">Women in Global Sourcing: Aditi Pany</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>From Asia to America and beyond, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.</p> <p>The industry saw a <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/07/08/2059311/0/en/COVID-19-Pulls-Q2-Global-Sourcing-Market-Down-5-ISG-Index.html" target="_blank">double-digit decline in managed services</a> in the second quarter of this year, with total global spending down 16%. A Deloitte poll conducted in April 2020 showed that <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-covid-19-a-wake-up-call-for-the-bpo-industry.pdf" target="_blank">32% of businesses believe the end of the pandemic will bring with it a reduction in outsourcing</a>.</p> <p>Yet, the pandemic has been an unexpected catalyst for rapid transformation of the traditional BPO model, shifting beyond brick-and-mortar facilities to one focused on business flexibility and agility with work-at-home arrangements.</p> <p>What&rsquo;s next for the BPO industry? Here are four emerging trends to consider.</p> <p><strong>Work-at-Home Is Not a Continuity Plan&mdash;It&#39;s a Business Model</strong></p> <p>According to a <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ChrisGreenough/impact-report-how-the-bpo-industry-is-responding-to-covid19-233131839" target="_blank">BPO survey</a>, 80% of BPOs had less than a tenth of their workforce in a home-based model before the pandemic. On average, BPOs migrated 52% of their agents to a work-at-home model during the pandemic. Yet still, 50% of BPOs remain unconvinced a home-based business model is viable long term.</p> <p>Research shows, however, that working from home benefits both companies and employees. This was proven long before the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. A <a href="https://nbloom.people.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj4746/f/wfh.pdf" target="_blank">2013 experiment</a> showed that home working led to an increase in performance, improved work satisfaction and lowered attrition rates among call center employees in a Chinese travel agency. A recent study by <a href="https://ryanadvisory.com/5th-talent-work-at-home-study-key-reading-for-front-office-bpos/" target="_blank">5th Talent</a> revealed that 46% of agents would prefer to work full-time at home, while 52% would prefer to have some blend between the office and home.</p> <p>Similarly, at Everise we found employee retention and the efficiency of employees is significantly higher when in the work-at-home environment. This translates to more experienced, better-trained agents who improve customer satisfaction metrics. Together, these factors have aided our ability to increase employee experience as well as improve delivery and satisfaction for our clients.</p> <p>It is evident the future of work lies in hybrid working environments. Either way, the mandate for an ongoing home-based option is clear;investing in a remote work culture ensures employees and companies alike not merely survive but thrive.</p> <p><strong>Remote Workers Pose a New Security Threat</strong></p> <p>Despite predictions the BPO market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200924005348/en/Business-Process-Outsourcing-Market-2020-2024-Forecasting-Strategy-to-Undergo-A-Paradigm-Shift-from-Crisis-to-New-Normal-during-COVID-19-Pandemic" target="_blank">over 7% between 2020 to 2024</a>, research by Technavio says data breaches are likely to hinder market growth. Work-at-home employees could be the biggest loophole in your data security strategy.</p> <p>A<a href="https://jumpcloud.com/blog/the-it-guide-to-managing-remote-workers" target="_blank"> CISCO study</a> found that nearly 6% of employees admitted to transferring files between work and personal computers when working from home. This puts a company&#39;s data at risk and could potentially create significant loss.</p> <p>However, the data privacy of our agents is of equal importance. BPOs need robust internal IT support to help monitor and assist their remote workforce, as well as to implement secure work systems and protocols. Building an honest and people-first culture is a non-technical solution to combat this.</p> <p><strong>Prioritizing Data Compliance</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/consultancy/deloitte-uk-covid-19-a-wake-up-call-for-the-bpo-industry.pdf" target="_blank">Deloitte</a> cautioned that when outsourcing, clients were forced to make rapid decisions on critical and sensitive topics such as security, data privacy and service obligations without realizing the full impact of these decisions when their outsourced delivery teams had to work from home due to the pandemic.</p> <p>It is evident now that if BPOs move to a remote work business model, they will be subject to harsh data security requirements. Their solution will be evaluated on its ability to demonstrate:</p> <ul> <li>compatibility across varied systems and devices;</li> <li>flexibility to cater to various alert workflows;</li> <li>accountability to detect non-compliant objects and people in the remote environment; and</li> <li>balance between customer and agent data privacy.</li> </ul> <p>Remote monitoring helps to ensure sensitive data is always protected, no matter from where it has been accessed. Nonetheless, BPOs are now tasked to ensure that their technological solution has the performance, infrastructure, and endpoint security necessary to comply with, and maintain, a secure and functional work-at-home environment.</p> <p><strong>Training and Development Programs Are Worth the Investment</strong></p> <p>When remote working, the physical distance between agents and their supervisors can cause misperceptions as to the agent&rsquo;s performance. It potentially hurts the agent&rsquo;s key performance indicators (KPIs) and, ultimately, job satisfaction.</p> <p>The tethered model requires investing in innovative recruitment and retention strategies. An example is agents who conduct product support. They may have extensive hands-on experience with the client&#39;s hardware both during training and in practice, which works well at the brick-and-mortar locale. However, the same product support can be more challenging when they work remotely. This means reinventing how remote employees train to achieve the depth of product knowledge they need.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/bpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">BPO</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/covid-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">COVID-19</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/coronavirus" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">coronavirus</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/training-and-development" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">training and development</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="4 COVID-Era Trends Impacting the BPO Industry - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/4-covid-era-trends-impacting-the-bpo-industry"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Mon, 16 Nov 2020 17:00:00 +0000 Sudhir Agarwal 1891 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/4-covid-era-trends-impacting-the-bpo-industry#comments What Will Customer Service Outsourcing Look Like in the New Normal? https://futureofsourcing.com/what-will-customer-service-outsourcing-look-like-in-the-new-normal <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Business%20Outsourcing%20%20%281%29.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Business%20Outsourcing%20%20%281%29.png" title="Business Outsourcing" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1816-HssH2UE0PKc"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Business%20Outsourcing%20%20%281%29.png?itok=TlB2uEaM" width="624" height="325" alt="Business Outsourcing" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-related-news field-type-entityreference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Related news:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/strategies-to-drive-procurement-compliance-and-manage-rogue-spend">Strategies to Drive Procurement Compliance and Manage Rogue Spend</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Amid the pandemic, it&rsquo;s fair to say the outsourced service operating model, particularly in customer service, has experienced forced change. While cost has always been the key driver in services outsourcing, Covid-19 has caused a monumental shift from cost being the critical point, to risk management and quality as the metrics and measures that now matter most. Call centers have had a particularly tough time of things; the actions that many of them have taken have been admirable, but it&rsquo;s becoming clearer that long-term change has accelerated to the short term.</p> <p>As businesses begin to ramp up again, companies will be reviewing what has worked and what has not. Now is the time for BPO&rsquo;s to show that they are capable of shifting to new capabilities to help facilitate the &lsquo;new normal&rsquo; and to look at providing a very different service operating model &ndash; one that maintains performance levels at its very heart.</p> <h1>Flexibility and Business Continuity are Re-defined</h1> <p>During Covid-19, a remarkable number of customer service teams were able to cope, but it&rsquo;s fair to say that it wasn&rsquo;t always an easy or comfortable effort. Many models relied on superhero efforts from customer service staff, with people working overtime and losing sleep to make sure service was not disrupted. As companies start to plan for a return, they are reviewing what they need from their delivery models, and now is the time for BPO&rsquo;s to sit up and take notice if they are to stay in the game.</p> <p>Business continuity planning has been challenged to the core, and senior decision-makers will also be looking to eliminate processes that aren&rsquo;t working. Customer service agents themselves have new expectations: the pandemic has forced flexibility in the form of remote working onto many businesses, and the world of outsourcing has to evolve to embrace this necessity. Gone are the days where people will be willing to be crammed into call centers five days a week to facilitate a company&rsquo;s customer service. At the same time, those running any form of the remote working model need to be fully prepared. Isolation, loneliness and lack of motivation can all be part of a cultural cost that businesses will face without putting in place the proper infrastructure to support their remote teams.</p> <p>However, what many BPOs are realizing is that the issue of flexibility isn&rsquo;t just about location: it&rsquo;s about having a multichannel customer service environment mapped to specific query types and customer segments. Automation has, for many years, played a significant role here. It has been clear that organizations that were proactive in their response to coronavirus tended to have higher levels of automation running throughout the company or had fast-tracked their technological innovation to cope with it. Virtual assistants and chatbots were, in many cases, the saving grace for companies that raced against time to get their customer service agents up and running during lockdown.</p> <p>However, while automation may help to ease accelerated volumes and route out simple queries that need not be directed to human customer service agents, it&rsquo;s not enough to help with some of the other issues raised by the pandemic. Outsourcers were quick to realize the difficulties introduced by illness among customer service agents, the challenges of childcare amongst employees and the accelerated demands that have been placed on customer service teams due to increased demand for services during the pandemic.</p> <p>Automation is also not a replacement for empathy, which has become paramount in a world that has experienced lockdown and a distinct lack of human contact. During lockdown, in our discussions with customer service agents, we heard time and time again that what many customers wanted was not just a solution to their problem, but also assurance from another human being that business would continue as usual. Automation rolled out carelessly can just become a landing place for customers, not a solution to their problems.</p> <p>It&rsquo;s clear that what is needed is a truly flexible workforce that can work where and when required, but one that is completely capable of empathy.</p> <p>This is where the gig economy can work. Those taking on crowdsourced gig customer service tasks can operate where and when they want to, with the nature of gig naturally flexing to meet the scaled demand of queries we have seen during coronavirus. It&rsquo;s called &lsquo;GigCX&rsquo;, and the technology platforms that route queries to gig crowds are available to make this a realistic and viable part of customer service operations. As Suzi Caesar, Global Director of Customer Experience at Sage, says: &ldquo;it&rsquo;s no longer about bringing the people to the work: it&rsquo;s about bringing the work to the people.&rdquo;</p> <p>We&rsquo;re likely to see the introduction of more GigCX into new service operating models, alongside traditional call center staff, virtual assistants and chatbots.</p> <h1>Innovate and Future-proof</h1> <p>There is no denying that many organizations&rsquo; outsourcing models could do with a variety of amendments and improvements. As lockdown eases, we can begin to evaluate where growth needs to take place, where our attention should be focused and what the future of outsourcing will look like. Any bypassing of red tape needs to be reviewed too - to ensure that short term changes (in areas like data security), forced by the pandemic, don&rsquo;t become long term costs.</p> <p>We know now that de-risking the outsourced customer service model is a top priority. To do this, organizations ultimately need to be looking at how they can make the nature of their outsourcing more flexible, taking into account automation, but also innovation in the form of new channels such as GigCX.</p> <p>To further eliminate risk, businesses should be looking to future-proof every channel, be that full-time call center staff, chatbots, virtual assistants or the GigCX crowd. The gig crowd is, for example, completely capable of answering increasingly sophisticated queries as experts become more trained and can even move up to a pre-sales capacity. Chatbots and virtual assistants are also getting smarter, which leaves humans to take care of the empathy that is so needed right now.&nbsp;</p> <p>We also need to aim high in the future. There is absolutely room for outsourcing in the new CX service operating model. Still, it depends entirely on the ability for outsourcers to adapt in the new environment, and for businesses to choose the best partner that will help them to reduce risk and prioritize quality simultaneously.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/outsourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Outsourcing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/covid-19" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">COVID-19</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/business-continuity" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Business Continuity</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/bpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">BPO</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/risk-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Risk Management</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/automation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Automation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/human-resources" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Human Resources</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="What Will Customer Service Outsourcing Look Like in the New Normal? - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/what-will-customer-service-outsourcing-look-like-in-the-new-normal"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 09 Jul 2020 22:29:01 +0000 Roger Beadle 1816 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/what-will-customer-service-outsourcing-look-like-in-the-new-normal#comments Vesting in practice https://futureofsourcing.com/vesting-in-practice <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FOS%20Digital_Kate%20Vitasek_Slider%20Graphic%20%281%29%20%281%29_107.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FOS%20Digital_Kate%20Vitasek_Slider%20Graphic%20%281%29%20%281%29_107.png" title="Vesting in practice" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1133-HssH2UE0PKc"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/FOS%20Digital_Kate%20Vitasek_Slider%20Graphic%20%281%29%20%281%29_107.png?itok=tqewwIjg" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>By design this column has, for the most part, examined the theories and research of academic and economic luminaries that have helped form the basis of modern outsourcing and my own research and development efforts in the realm of collaborative outsourcing.</p> <p>This month I&rsquo;d like to take a brief break and share a real-world achievement that employed Vested Outsourcing principles, while also sending out some kudos to a friend and colleague who was instrumental in instilling those principles into the ground-breaking and award-winning Microsoft/Accenture OneFinance alliance on outsourced financial services.</p> <p>Microsoft uses the Vested framework for its back office procure-to-pay business process outsourcing (BPO) agreement with Accenture. The Microsoft/Accenture team has come away with multiple awards in the outsourcing arena, receiving the industry&rsquo;s top awards from the Outsourcing Center, the Shared Services Outsourcing Network and the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals.</p> <p>But that&rsquo;s really the end of the story. The real story is how Microsoft and Accenture put their global financial services alliance together.</p> <p>In 2006, Microsoft decided that it needed to completely restructure its major global finance processes and operations because its global system was a patchwork of inefficient and disjointed processes. For example, Microsoft found that it was using 77,000 active procurement vendors and its finance operations used up 370,000 hours annually simply producing reports. It discovered that its Procurement and Finance Operations did not have any processes that were considered &ldquo;best practice.&rdquo;</p> <p>Obviously a better system was needed; the company&rsquo;s senior management determined that outsourcing would help improve quality and cost structures. But Microsoft wanted to go beyond the conventional notion of outsourcing, or shifting the &ldquo;mess for less.&rdquo; Microsoft&rsquo;s vision was to shift the focus from transactional accounting to a more strategic approach that would leverage &ldquo;business insight.&rdquo; It also wanted to achieve consistency and standardization worldwide. This project became the OneFinance initiative.</p> <p>Microsoft&rsquo;s vision was to shift the emphasis to business insight rather than bean counting at the lowest possible price. Basically, it needed an unconventional approach that was not simply about outsourcing work, but about outsourcing a transformation of the work through achieving desired outcomes and changing its definition of winning to create a mutually beneficial win-win mentality.&nbsp; The company also needed a partner it would share that vision with over the long term, one with a vested interest in achieving that win-win mindset. That partner was Accenture.</p> <p>The result was a Vested model &mdash; a performance and outcome-based relationship that focuses on outcomes, not transactions and that embraces defined and measurable outcomes; that focuses on the what, not the how; that optimises pricing incentives and that has a governance structure based on insight, not oversight.&nbsp; Those features embody the five rules of Vested Outsourcing.</p> <p>The OneFinance initiative outsourced back office finance transactions in 95 countries to Accenture. Both parties operate the agreement with incentives designed to improve performance and deliver increased value year-over-year. They share in the risks and rewards of doing so. This innovative outsourcing relationship vests Microsoft and Accenture in each other&rsquo;s success: they are most successful when they both succeed.</p> <p>In February 2007, Microsoft signed the outsourcing agreement with Accenture, with an original contract term of seven years at a value of $185 million. The contract spanned Microsoft&rsquo;s entire back office finance processes, including AP, Expense reports &amp; invoices, Requisition to Purchase Order process and General Accounting.</p> <p>Within 28 months Microsoft and Accenture had&nbsp; extended the agreement to 2018 and expanded the scope, increasing the total the contract value to $330 million.</p> <p>Microsoft and Accenture have gone on to win multiple awards, including:</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"> <li>In 2008, the Outsourcing Center, Everest Consulting&rsquo;s research centre award for Most Strategic Outsourcing Contract for 2007.</li> <li>In 2010, the Shared Services Outsourcing Network award for Best Mature Outsourced Service Delivery Operation.</li> <li>In 2011, Microsoft&rsquo;s Finance &amp; Procurement Global BPO team received the International Association for Outsourcing Professionals&rsquo; Global Excellence in Outsourcing Award for innovation.</li> <li>In 2011, the SSON ASIA award went to Srini Krishna, Director, Finance Operations, Global Vendor Management, Microsoft Finance, for his personal contributions to the outsourcing industry.</li> </ul> <p>Srini was the most recent award winner, receiving the Shared Services &amp; Outsourcing Excellence Award for his personal contributions to the outsourcing industry. SSON&rsquo;s annual Shared Services Excellence Awards honor, recognize and promote both captive and outsourced shared services that demonstrate winning practices and tangible results.</p> <p>Srini is an expert in our field and was instrumental in crafting the OneFinance partnership with Accenture using the Vested model. He manages the OneFinance outsourcing business model and relationship with Accenture and is also the co-author of the Microsoft OneFinance Case Study that details exactly how Microsoft developed its Vested arrangement with Accenture.</p> <p>&ldquo;What became a core driver for the team was to create an outsourcing model aimed at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of executing Microsoft&rsquo;s financial processes&rdquo; says Srini.</p> <p>I&rsquo;m really pleased to congratulate Srini for his great achievement and for his tremendous contributions to the Vested concept.</p> <p>Using the Vested model, Microsoft and Accenture share a vision and they share success. They are on the same journey, working together to drive out waste and create world-class financial processes and a sustainable infrastructure for the twenty-first century.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/best-practice" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Best Practice</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/bpo" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">BPO</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/finance-accounting" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Finance &amp; Accounting</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/governance" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Governance</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/microsoft" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Microsoft</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/p2p" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">P2P</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/procurement" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Procurement</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/vested-outsourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vested Outsourcing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Vesting in practice - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/vesting-in-practice"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:47:24 +0000 Kate Vitasek 1133 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/vesting-in-practice#comments