Seven Steps to a Successful BPO Strategy in 2013 by guest blogger Ben Trowbridge

Two things are certain about Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) in 2013. First, it will continue to grow. Second, many companies will enter BPO arrangements without a clear BPO strategy and without being absolutely clear about the rationale and expected benefits for their businesses.

By applying some degree of strategic planning upfront and with some 'due diligence', the chances of getting a good result are much improved. A BPO strategy is the route map to achieving the best way to transform your company's business processes - whether through outsourcing, in-house shared services or through another vehicle. It must nest within and support your overall business strategy, just like the company's sales, production, marketing or IT strategy. A successful BPO strategy should include the following steps:

1. Process/solution strategy - This is the 'what': what do you want your processes to look like, what is the required output and what are the required service levels? Which processes should be in line for outsourcing and which should be retained by the business? How will the interfaces be managed and who will be responsible for controls? Are you prepared to have the processes delivered remotely from another country, either near-shore or offshore? What will happen to the staff that currently provides the service?

2. Sourcing strategy - This is the 'how': how will the processes be delivered?
How do you organize the business to provide those processes, how do they integrate with the other business processes and how should they be organized? This point is critical in determining whether outsourcing is appropriate at all.

3. Supplier strategy - If outsourcing is the answer, next you need to decide whether you choose niche suppliers, best of breed, one or many suppliers, an established player or a start-up. What relationship do you want with the supplier? How do you want to share the risk and the rewards with the supplier? How do you want to incentivize the supplier?

4. Commercial strategy - How do you want to structure the deal? Should it be a fixed-price contract, or are you looking to develop a partnering structure - whereby both parties share risk and reward and are jointly incentivized to reduce costs and improve efficiency over the lifetime of the deal? Or are you looking for something in between?

5. Systems strategy - Are your systems stable or are you looking to implement new systems in the foreseeable future? Do you do this before, as part of, or after the outsourcing/shared services implementation? Are you looking for the outsourcer to take over or use your existing systems, or do you expect to use the outsourcer's systems?

6. Transition strategy - How will you handle the implications of the Acquired Rights Directive (ARD) or Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations - TUPE in the UK? Are you prepared to handle a 'big-bang' transfer of responsibility or do you want to plan a phased implementation? Is this going to be by process or business unit?

7. Operations strategy - How is the new operating environment going to be managed and governed? What is the relationship going to be with the service provider - whether in-house or outsourced - and how is the performance going to be monitored and controlled? What will be the mechanism for reversing the service transfer should delivery not be up to the required standard?
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Ben Trowbridge, Founder & CEO, Alsbridge, Inc.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2013 from IAOP and the IAOP Pulse Blog! We had quite a 2012 – record breaking attendance at the Outsourcing World Summit, the 2nd annual Latin America Outsourcing Summit and China Week. We launched several new chapters, the IAOP Member Hub, Pulse magazine and the IAOP Pulse blog, not to mention building onto the COP program and introducing Global Supply Risk Monitor (GSRM) to help our members monitor risk through country and city reports…just to name a few of the IAOP happenings last year.

In 2013 there will be no rest for the wicked. The 2013 Outsourcing World Summit is fast approaching and we have several new items on the agenda: the IAOP Publisher’s Cup golf tournament, the Global Services Mall Sneak Peak, new advanced COP tracks, keynote speaker John Brandt and so much more!!

We’ve got travel on the brain! Later this year, we’ll be traveling to Costa Rica for the 3rd annual Latin America Outsourcing Summit; we’ll be spending a week in Europe for, you guessed it, Euro Week; we’ve got COP Master Classes in Denver, Toronto, Hong Kong and the Netherlands – and we’re thinking maybe Kuala Lumpur and a couple other destinations would be nice, too. On top of that we’ll be launching more IAOP chapters!!

So, as you can see, 2013 is rounding out to be a busy year here at IAOP. We look forward to working with everyone and making this another successful year.
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Kate Tulloch-Hammond, IAOP Manager of Media & Communications