BPO Best Practices
Published February 28, 2012 11:59 AM
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Updated February 28, 2012 12:31 PM
1 Min Read
Accenture's latest research surveyed 263 buyers in a range of BPO services, including insurers. Twenty percent of respondents, dubbed "high performers," indicated they had been able to extract greater business value from their BPO relationships. The research also found statistically significant differences in the performance and behavior of high performers and typical BPO relationships. Some of the widest statistical differences were in areas focusing on mindsets and attitudes, or on the execution of soft programs, such as organizational alignment and collaboration or change management. Accenture derived a list of eight best practices based on trends found in these results.
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1. Taking a holistic approach to managing the scope of the BPO relationship.
High performers consider the entire, end-to-end business process to be in scope, including elements managed within the clients enterprise, those run by third parties as well as related processes that may impact overall performance.
2. Adopting a collaborative approach to governance.
Collaborative BPO governance is much more than a set of committees or a schedule of meetings; it also comprises the attitudes toward the relationship and the behaviors that strengthen it.
3. Making change management a priority.
High performers execute carefully planned programs to manage the effects of change during transition and beyond. For example, nearly 85 percent of high performing engagements proactively refine their objectives as the relationship matures compared to just 40 percent of typical engagements.
4. Focusing on benefits beyond cost reduction.
Both client and provider look for value beyond cost cost reduction is important but is not the prime motivation. 67 percent of high performing engagements include business benefits beyond cost in the business case compared to 26 percent of typical engagements. Furthermore, 58 percent of high performers will consider service options with greater value, even at higher costs, compared with 31 percent of typical performers.
5. Targeting strategic business outcomes.
High performers aim for specific strategic outcomes -- not just more efficient transactions that can be measured, such as helping clients increase revenues.
6. Leveraging domain expertise and analytics.
Clients look to their providers deep industry knowledge and ability to analyze data to more predictably drive business outcomes.
Lars Sundström
7. Aligning the retained organization with the outsourced processes.
High performers place as much importance on the clients internal transformation as they place on transforming the outsourced processes. According to the research, 90 percent of the high performers reported that the client and provider were able to productively resolve conflicts. This was true only with 44 percent of typical performers.
8. Using technology as an enabler.
In high-performance BPO relationships, technology is a source of innovation and advantage, not just the infrastructure of delivery.