Call Center in India
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Tips for Reducing The Cost in Call Centers
It is a continuous thought priority to all call centers to know how they can save money in their contact centers and throughout their operations.
Few tips which is step by step to go for the cost reducing
Make a Team: Make a team which will do the review. Because call centers efforts are heading for at customer service, process improvement and potential cost reduction, form a team that can bring different disciplines to the process. Also include general training and quality training, human resources, center scheduling, telecom traffic, IT, marketing, and returns and replacement if all of these areas are within responsibilities.
Take the opinions and input of all of team members. Challenge them to assess how things could be done differently, and make them answer the question, “How can costs are reduced without lowering the standard of customer service?” These meeting we can keep in the starting of the year to set up the target.
Marks the Achievements: By marking your achievement, it will be indicator to know the performance measures up against set standards and plans. The major achievements include contacts per hour; service level; abandon rate; attrition/turnover rate; call-handle time; talk time; after-call work time; contact-to-order ratio; transaction volumes for Internet, phone and mail; non-phone volumes and others.
Review: Labor’s cost, quality and availability is becoming an issue for many call centers, particularly in seasonal businesses where the selling curve is more compressed. Review advertising media costs and results, and exchange information with other human resource departments. Review pre-hiring testing, employee selection criteria and practices. By review process we can know the possible improvements and cost reductions for the process. It will help us to know more about a place for temporary agencies rather than relying completely on in-house hiring.
Revenue Generation: As part of their mission, many contact centers are charged with becoming revenue centers in addition to taking orders and providing customer service. By revenue generation reports we can show about success with cross-selling, up-selling, outbound selling and increasing the company’s average orders. It will be really help full for the cost saving in call centers.
Labels: call center, call centers
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
ERP gets easier for SMB
Good news for the small medium business (SMB) for which you must be waiting from long time. Now the ERP gets easier for the SMB. A few years back the Enterprise resource planning (ERP) was a self-important expression with expensive software to match. ERP is helpful for the managers to do their responsibilities more efficiently, boost sales and reduce costs. ERP is business management system that gives a support to the mangers of the companies to command of data and workflows to get the clear report of each factors of the business.
The essential part of the business like planning, manufacturing, sales and marketing are also cover with ERP. It also covers activities like inventory control, order tracking, customer service, finance and human resources. For example, ERP software can automatically indicate to the managers when it notices that stocks have gone down in a sales depot. Dealing with the suppliers is sometimes very difficult for the managers but with ERP it will be easier for a company manager to deal with suppliers.
ERP software is now available in much cheaper rate for small business also because now a day’s number of computer users is increasing day by day. A large group of people are using various kind of software to manage all the official details. ERP software, once a privilege for the global multinational, is available on much cheaper rates.
SaaS (Software as a Service) – It is refer to renting of software over the Internet, much like Web based e-mail. SaaS is also contributing to software becoming cheaper and easier to use. Industry officials say the emergence of SaaS and cheaper ERP software has dramatically lowered the barrier for users. Top ERP solution providers are now targeting just about every company, size no bar Consider the case of SAP, the global leader in ERP software, which once was associated largely with multinational giants.
On November 21, 2007 SAP India announced record-breaking quarterly growth for the third quarter of 2007 with the addition of more than 714 new customers till September 2007, translating to more than two new customers per work day in 2007. "A growing SMB (small and medium business) market, opportunistic investors, and middleware technologies converge to make the SMB market for ERP applications one of the most competitive environments for market growth and product innovation within enterprise applications," ---- Says Gopakumar Sivanandan of SAP India.
A spokeswoman for rival Oracle India spokesperson agrees. "Mid-sized companies are driving India's GDP growth today," she says. Microsoft recently launched Microsoft Dynamics NAV designed specifically for medium sized companies.
“Dynamics NAV delivers integrated functionality to support solutions for financial management, supply chain management, CRM and E-Business." According to Sushant Dwivedy from Microsoft India,
For small and medium enterprises sometimes it was very hard to pay the cost at one time.
Earlier it was required Rs 10 to 15 lakhs can be done at a fraction of the price for ERP software. Though it must be that renting out software involves a recurring cost every month. The onetime cost of an ERP package needs returning costs in training and support and to that extent, renting the ERP software over the Web could be a lot better Consider.
The cost of the ERP for SMB is available for three users at Rs 25,000 a month, for five users at Rs 35,000 a month and 10 users at Rs 60,000 a month. No hardware, no personnel, no software cost is required in addition to this. Oracle and SAP have attractive pricing that make affordability a huge attraction. Oracle starts at as low as Rs 2,800 per user license, though it calls for implementation and support cost Much cheaper versions are also available from the Open Source movement, which uses operating systems based on free, modifiable platforms like Linux. Source – HT Times
According to market researcher Gartner, revenues from business platforms in India grow from $12.1 million in 2005 to $16.4 million in 2006, with all leading vendors posting double-digit growth. The Indian ERP market is expected to see a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 25.2 per cent over the next five years. The market was $83 million in 2004, and is projected to be over $250 million in 2009.
Labels: call center, call centers
Friday, December 21, 2007
Is your turnover rate unacceptably high?
Some companies are realizing that their call center staffing processes are not only inefficient, they are also very costly. Many are seeking an alternative and are turning to RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) as an option. Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is a growing trend in which companies outsource all or part of their hiring functions to find better-quality people to staff your call center. RPO can be used successfully to fulfill a range of hiring needs for organizations; and is particularly well suited to call centers. Specifically, RPO delivers benefits for call center operations that include sourcing higher-quality candidates, improving fill ratios and “show rates”, decreasing turn-over, and reducing hiring costs.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is a form of business process outsourcing (BPO) when an employer outsourcers or transfers all or part of the staffing process to an external service provider.
An RPO engagement can be structured in one of three ways depending on the needs of the company: Enterprise, Selective or Project RPO.
In Enterprise RPO, the partner manages the entire process across all skill categories and all locations. Selective RPO involves managing a subset of locations or a subset of recruiting processes, such as sourcing, screening, interview scheduling or offer letters.
In Project RPO, the RPO provider delivers hires for a one-time hiring project.
In all three scenarios, a dedicated RPO team works directly with the hiring manager to create a tailored program to meet the call center’s specific needs. The team can work on-site at the client’s locations, off-site in its own facility or a combination of the RPO Benefits
Organisations that partner with RPO specialists can realize a range of significant and sustained business benefits, all of which can be measured.
These benefits include--
Securing the best talent: Competition for the most talented individuals is increasing. Organizations need to secure the best people quickly and efficiently to help them build competitive capability.
Cutting recruitment costs: By transforming processes, utilizing best practice, and replacing a fixed cost base with a variable charging structure, RPO can significantly reduce the cost of recruitment.
Removing the administrative burden:RPO providers take on the burden of operational recruitment activities, making organizations free to focus on value-creating and strategic activities.
Delivering higher quality services:There are many stakeholders in a recruitment process; through improving processes and measuring experience and outcome, RPO providers can demonstrate highest quality services.
Mitigating operational risks:Risks come in many forms, and the expert knowledge of an RPO specialist can help organizations mitigate the risks associated with an inability to scale their business operationally to meet changing market demands, and the risks of non-compliance to legislative and regulatory change.
The more sophisticated and experienced RPO providers will also have a system of “forward-looking” analytics to ensure that hiring goals will be met for each “hiring class.” This predictive process analyzes how many candidates are in the pipeline.
How to hire an RPO provider
If you think an RPO partner could measurably improve the quality of your call center hires while containing costs, research several firms and choose carefully. The field is expanding quickly but there is a wide range of experience, knowledge and track record of success/failure. Specifically, you may want to ask potential providers some key questions, including--
How many RPO clients do you have?
How many hires do you support annually?
What experience do you have with call centers? And what types of call centers?
What percentage of your clients is reference able?
Are your recruiters dedicated to one client or do they work on multiple clients at the same time?
Do you have the flexibility to scale up and down as my needs change?
What is your client renewal rate?
As call center recruiting, hiring and retention remains a challenge for many companies, RPO is emerging as an important option. With turnover down. Significantly decreasing costs -- an increasing number of call center and human resources professionals have embraced RPO as an innovative strategy and a smart business decision.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Five Employment Testing Mistakes to Avoid
With tight budgets and a wealth of candidates on the market, it's common for companies to cut corners when hiring. However, eliminating important screening and evaluation tools can be costly in the long run. By avoiding these five typical employment testing mistakes, you can help reduce turnover, avoid discrimination lawsuits and save time and money.
1) Testing Just for Skills and Not for Job or Cultural Fit. Skills are quantifiable. Valid assessments reveal indicators of a skill or application proficiency. This is only part of what the candidate brings to the job. When behavior, attitude and personality are not assessed in the hiring process, you are only evaluating half the candidate. A candidate who tests as an expert in a given skill can still be a bad fit for the job, company culture and organizational morale. It is just as important to learn if a candidate’s behavior, attitude, and work-related values are likely to enhance or interfere with their success as an employee. Skills can be improved with training. Counter-productive behavior, such as theft, substance abuse or aggression, is a different story. Take a three-dimensional look at candidates during the selection process to measure skills and behavioral traits.
2) Using Invalid Assessment Tools. Be wary of assessment tools that are the lowest price in town. Like anything else, you get what you pay for. Shortcuts may have been taken to reduce development costs and thus lower price. Validity of a test refers to its value as a source of reliable, relevant information about the people taking the test. A test cannot be valid unless it is reliable. Test reliability depends primarily on the quality of its construction. Test construction, using skilled test developers, professional content analysts, editors, subject-matter experts and industrial psychologists, takes time and money.
3) Testing for Skills Unrelated to the Job. The content and design of the test should relate directly to the job. To the courts, the critical issue of determining job discrimination is whether a testing tool is an effective means for assessing the job-relevant knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA’s) of job candidates. Employers can justify their desire to identify candidates that are most likely to be successful employees. For most job titles, a demonstration of content validity is considered acceptable legal proof of validity. The objective for the employer should be to measure job-relevant skills and stay out of the courts.
4) Accepting Poor Test Quality. Fair and objective tests do not rely on “tricknology.” Tests should never be designed to trick or confuse a candidate. Instructional design is a science that applies theoretical tools to accurately measure a candidate’s skill level. Look for tests based on real-world applications, not on certification examinations or textbook definition. At Qwiz, we utilize Blooms Taxonomy, an instructional design tool, to categorize the level of proficiency required to correctly answer a question. Once a test is developed, it is constantly reviewed to maintain its integrity and relevance. Good tests require good questions and the development does not stop once a test is published.
5) Relying on Tests Exclusively to Make the Final Decision. Effective hiring processes combine many components, including résumé review and tracking, skills and ability assessments, behavioral and personality assessments, interviews, and background and drug screening. Assessment scores are guidelines and should never be used as the sole basis for making hiring or promotion decisions. Many companies seek to match qualified people to positions that are defined and required for the success of their organization. Skills and competencies tell just part of the picture. The most productive employees bring with them the best combination of skills, attitude and cultural fit.
How to Identify a Reliable Employment Testing System
When you consider investing in an employment testing system to help make hiring and advancement decisions, it's important to recognize that not all tests are created equal. Here’s what you need to know to make the best choice.
The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing describe many types of information that testing companies should be able to provide to test users. Although The Standards do describe employers’ best practices, it should be stressed that they are not laws. In specific situations, legal and practical considerations will take precedence.
A testing company should provide test users or potential test users sufficient information so that, before they adopt a test, they can evaluate the suitability of the test. In particular, the test user should be able to learn the following:
· the purpose of the test
· what the test is intended to measure
· how the test is administered
· whether the test has a stringent time limit
· the average time required for a test session
· how many questions are on the test
· what type of questions are on the test
· the intended test takers
· the score(s) generated by the test
· how the score(s) should be interpreted
· common misuses of the test, if any
The testing company should explain the proper interpretation of test scores. This is especially important if, instead of being reported in raw form (for example, number of correct answers), the scores are converted to a special scale (examples: percentiles, stanines, a scale of 0 to 10, or a scale of minus 3 to plus 3).
If the test includes overall or composite scores that combine the results from several subscales, the testing company should explain how these composite scores are calculated, and how they should be interpreted. For example, do all subscales receive equal weight? If particular misinterpretations of the scores are likely, test users should be forewarned. If the testing company scores the tests and the scoring system automatically assigns labels, categories, or descriptions to test takers, such as “unqualified” or “advanced programmer,” the testing company should be able to provide a rationale for these assignments.
Support for Claims
If the testing company claims that use of the test will result in a specific outcome, such as reduced turnover or increased productivity, they should also report the basis for that claim, including supporting evidence. The evidence should be detailed enough that the test user can judge whether the same results were likely to be obtained in the test user’s own setting with the test user’s own candidates and/or employees.
If the testing company claims that test scores can predict job performance (that is, that there is a correlation between test scores and a job performance measure), they should also report the basis for that claim, including supporting evidence. The evidence should be detailed enough that the test user can judge whether the same results were likely to be obtained in the test user’s own setting with the test user’s own candidates and/or employees, and using the test user’s own preferred performance measures.
Accuracy of Measurement
There are two common indicators of a test’s accuracy of measurement: its reliability and its Standard Error of Measure (SEM). The test company should be able to provide this information on every test. If a test generates scores on more than one scale, the reliability and SEM should be available for every scale. The reliability is reported as a decimal number between zero and one, with higher numbers being better. The reliability allows a comparison of one test with another, even though the two tests may be of different types or different lengths.
The SEM gives the likely margin of error in an individual’s test score, in terms of the scale in which the score is reported. The SEM makes it possible to define a “confidence zone” around an individual’s score on a test. However, the SEMs of different tests usually cannot be compared because SEM is influenced by factors such as test length.
What Test Users Should Do To Ensure the Validity of Their Tests
The Standards include a number of guidelines that, if followed, will maximize the validity of the test user’s testing process. This validity concerns the entire process, including the test itself, the test administration procedures, the interpretation of the test results, and the decisions that are based on the test results.
Test users should note that, by increasing the validity of their testing program, they are simultaneously increasing its effectiveness and its legal defensibility. Further, the test users are legally responsible for the validity of their own testing process.
Before adopting a test, a test user should be comfortable that the test is appropriate for its intended use. In particular, the test should:
· provide the information necessary to support the test user’s employment decisions
· be suitable for the job for which it would be used
· be suitable for the test takers who will take it
· generate scores that are relevant and comprehensible
· have appropriate reliability
· be convenient to administer and score
If the population of test takers contains a large number of individuals who are members of protected classes (for example, minorities, women, and people with disabilities), the test user should investigate whether the test would be suitable for those individuals.
Beware of test score misinterpretations. There are many ways that a test score can be misinterpreted, but they can all be avoided if the test user knows enough about how the test is constructed and what the scores mean. One common source of misinterpretation is scale names that are ambiguous or misleading. For example, if a candidate scores high on a scale titled “Assertiveness,” does that mean she takes initiative, or does it mean she is argumentative? Does it mean she takes the lead in social situations, or does it mean she defends her ideas energetically? If the test user has investigated the intent and the content of the Assertiveness scale, he or she will be able to interpret this score more accurately.
Depending on the subject matter, tests may become out of date as jobs and technology change. The test may no longer be applicable to how the job is performed, or it may contain references that reveal its age (for example, math problems involving 10-cent cups of coffee). In the first case, the test is no longer job-relevant; in the second case the test may remain relevant but the obsolete references may be distracting to test takers. The test user is responsible for using only tests that are job relevant and up to date.
The Responsibilities of Test Users
1. Inform test takers about the test(s) they will be given and how the scores will be used. Even in employment situations, where these answers may be obvious, the information should be communicated at least briefly.
2. Inform test takers how different test taking strategies will affect their scores. Test takers should be informed that certain test taking strategies that are unrelated to the subject matter being tested may enhance or inhibit their test performance. For example, let them know whether guessing is a good or poor strategy. Make sure they know whether they can go back to questions they have skipped. Tell test takers if certain parts of the test are more important than others.
3. Have a clear policy on retaking tests. The Standards recognize the right of test users to set their own policies on retakes. Once it is defined, the policy should be clear and should be applied uniformly.
4. Inform test takers of their rights if the integrity of their test score is challenged. The test user should have a clear policy for the situation when a test taker’s results may be invalid because of cheating or because they did not complete the test properly. In that event, the test user should inform the test taker of their rights to contest the test user’s decision.
5. When testing individuals with disabilities, take steps to ensure that test score inferences accurately reflect the individuals’ ability. When modifying a test or test administration procedures to test an individual who has a disability, the overarching concern is the validity of the inference made from the test score. The law allows test users to modify their testing procedures to accommodate candidates’ disabilities; it also allows test users to refuse to modify their testing procedures if a modification would impair the usefulness of the tests. The primary goal is for the score(s) generated by the testing procedures to be an accurate (valid) indicator of the candidate’s qualifications for the job. The test user is responsible for deciding whether a modification is appropriate in a particular situation.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Move over India, Bulgaria is here
Beware India, Eastern European nations like Bulgaria, Latvia, Romania and Estonia have been declared the new tech outsourcing leaders of 2005.
On the other hand, Singapore, Israel and Sweden, the so-called tech-savvy nations score low as per the assessment made by Brainbench, a global leader in online skills, that asseses job skills and knowledge on a global scale.
However, India and Russia still lead the list in total certifications, while California and Texas were the largest overall within the US.
The recently held Brainbench contest has shown surprising results that challenged commonly-held views about concentrations of the world's technical talent pools .
Within the US, Virginia, Delaware, and Vermont ranked highest as a percentage of total population. Oklahoma and Kansas make the top 10, while California, and New York didn't rank in the top half.
Top-ranking nations included those with Slavic, Arabic, and Turkic majority languages, but very few Asian countries other than English-influenced India, Pakistan and the Philippines.
The brainbench tests that are supposed to go on till April 4, were conducted in English in which participants took online tests of their skills, knowledge and aptitude over 400 areas covering a range of Information Technology, Finance, Health, Administration, Call Center, Written and Verbal Skills, and General Business Applications.
During the contest period, the tests are available free of charge to anyone registering with Brainbench, including their 6 million existing users. Approximately 100,000 tests have been completed in the first week.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Managing Outsourcing Relationships
Successful outsourcing depends on three main factors: It should be the right strategic decision; the match needs to suit both parties; and the relationship needs to be well managed. Although the formal association between buyer and provider starts when the contract is signed, successful relationships begin much earlier.
Exploratory conversations can provide the foundation of a good match if parties are candid about factors crucial to a sourcing relationship.
Setting Goals and Expectations
Each party should discuss short and long-term goals and expectations. These influence how performance will be measured. Discuss cultural and geopolitical differences. Talk about what a mutually beneficial relationship might look like and whether the scenario is feasible.
Partners foster successful outsourcing relationships when they explore their respective expectations, capabilities and cultures, appreciate one another's goals and requirements, and understand what deficiencies must be overcome and what differences must be reconciled. These conversations, together with due diligence, reduce the likelihood of failure.
If the conversations suggest that a mutually beneficial relationship can be forged, use the outcomes of these conversations to develop and document a vision of a relationship that suits each party. Documenting this shared vision provides clarity and a reference point to which the parties can return.
Measure Performance
Focus performance measurements on outcomes, value and accomplishments. To be meaningful, the measurements must benefit the buyer and be achievable by and motivate the provider. Performance measures should be clear and manageable and readily evaluated with data easily collectible at a reasonable cost.
Periodic cost-benefit analysis can help assess progress. A balanced scorecard, with a quadrant for degree of alignment with the buyer's strategic goals or value contributed by the provider, will also further this assessment. Benchmark performance at the commencement of the contract to establish a baseline for ongoing performance measures.
Although consistent performance measurement is crucial, circumstances change over time and metrics may need to be modified. Increasing volume or complexity in the service, growing ambiguity in targeted outcomes, a new buyer initiative, or an increased need for collaboration may necessitate a review of performance measurements.
Partners who understand how their respective businesses work and what each can realistically expect from the other, are more likely to work through such changes. If the buyer and provider have built a flexible relationship, one that can bend without breaking, they will be better able to work as partners to redefine the service.
They will be able to recast how performance will be evaluated -- and rewarded or penalized -- in light of their respective goals and capabilities. Such communication and collaboration are the best hedges against failure due to a growing misalignment of the parties. Begin discussions early so if new requirements cannot be satisfied or do not fit the provider's objectives, an orderly transition can occur.
Develop Incentives
Incentives based on the quality and value of the transaction should be established. Managers' incentives may be tied to the value they add to the outsourcing relationship, performance achieved, and problems resolved. Incentives for executives may be based on the added value they drive out of the outsourcing arrangements.
Consider sharing cost savings with the provider and rewarding the provider's volume, quality, and customer/end-user satisfaction improvements. Base provider incentives on realistic, diverse metrics that encompass overall satisfaction. Measure and track results. Ensure that rewards bear some relationship to the benefits gained. Consider recognizing costs incurred by the provider to achieve improvements. Assess penalties for deficiencies in the provider's performance. Apply incentives and penalties in the first case they are relevant and consistently thereafter.
While establishing and modifying metrics and instituting well-crafted incentives and appropriate penalties in this manner will not avert a provider's failure to meet requirements, they do build a foundation conducive to success.
Establish Governance
Good governance furthers the relationship and the respective business objectives of the parties. Governance is the agreed upon set of roles, rights, accountabilities, principles, procedures, and escalation processes that guide decision making, issue resolution, and changes in the outsourcing arrangement.
Poor governance structure was one of the most frequently cited reason for failure. Suitable governance, however, sustains relationships by providing standard procedures that reduce the confusion, inconsistency, and inefficiency associated with ad hoc responses of different individuals with different skills and ways of operating.
Governance should be sufficiently clear and detailed to avoid uncertainty, yet flexible enough to allow for quick, innovative responses to issues and changes that inevitably occur over the life of the contract. To establish a governance model, assign a cross-functional team with provider and buyer representation to:
Identify the types of issues and changes that may arise during the relationship;
Design a governance model that describes each role required for governance;
Define the rights of the buyer and provider;
List the accountabilities of the buyer and provider;
Principles to guide decisions and actions;
Set procedures for handling issues and changes;
Create a process for escalation if initial steps are unsuccessful;
Vet the model with other representatives of the parties;
Revise the governance model, as necessary, based on feedback.
Designing and documenting appropriate governance prior to entering the contract builds the relationship. When used consistently, good governance strengthens trust and eases issue resolution.
The Management Team
Management of an outsourcing relationship requires certain key skills and actions, including strong communications capabilities that are regularly exercised. Inadequate communication ranks high on the list of causes of outsourcing relationship failures. Open and continuous communication, both ad hoc and structured, between management teams, is critical.
Select managers with tactical and strategic general management capabilities. Look for strong communication and negotiation skills. A good understanding of the buyer's business and each party's objectives are vital to a manager's success.
The outsourcing relationship manager must effectively communicate with the provider daily to ensure consistent and reliable service that meets the buyer's requirements across all departments. Communication will increase as the service grows more complex.
Slippage in alignment between the buyer's and the provider's objectives, or between performance and requirements can be costly. Therefore, the manager must be firm, yet capable of negotiating solutions and brokering accords to maintain alignment and a positive relationship.
In order to negotiate solutions feasible for both the provider and the various buyer groups served, the manager must understand the human resource, financial, and IT implications of these solutions. Day to day decisions in connection with the outsourcing relationship must be based on a clear understanding of both parties' strategic goals and of the service and performance metrics, and awareness of continually changing business needs and goals. The manager should be open to, and even welcome such changes.
The executive who heads the buyer's outsourcing relationship management team must exhibit the same qualities and capabilities but have a deeper understanding of the provider's strategic objectives and how to best leverage the outsourcing relationship. This individual bears responsibility for maintaining alignment, ensuring proper direction and health of the relationship, accomplishing business objectives, and ongoing contract performance. Success in these areas requires frequent telephone and e-mail communication, and face-to-face communication as necessary, with the provider counterpart.
Structured meetings are necessary to properly manage and fully benefit from the outsourcing partnership. Meetings should be in-person as often as is practicable, but make full use of telephone and video conferencing on other occasions.
A strategic sourcing partner can bring great depth and breadth of experience to developing and executing an organization's strategy. Frequent informal communication and periodic joint strategy sessions allow the buyer to gain the provider's insights and foster continuing alignment of the parties.
These sessions provide an established forum in which the provider and buyer can share their respective visions, reassess priorities and metrics, and adapt the relationship to changing business conditions.
Establish a schedule for action-oriented meetings of buyer and provider representatives. Guide these meetings with a standard agenda and press for decisions and assigned action items. Agenda items for managers' meetings, usually at least weekly, should address operational and tactical aspects of matters.
Agenda Items:
Performance metrics and issues;
Provider issues;
Buyer issues;
Upcoming changes in service;
Upcoming changes in buyer needs;
Improvement recommendations;
Strategic and major operating plans;
Relationship issues;
Major operating issues and changes;
Major personnel issues;
Unsatisfactory performance metrics and issues;
Contract issues.
Senior management often must meet monthly in the early stages of the contract, changing to bimonthly or quarterly when the relationship and service stabilize.
Establish the expectation of regular attendance, active participation, and timely and thorough follow-through on action items for all meeting participants. Replace any member who is unable to meet these expectations.
Evaluating and Repairing the Relationship
Despite their best intentions, individuals sometimes let a concern fester. Deteriorating relationships are inefficient and costly. If not improved, dissolution of the relationship, with its attendant costs, may result. Take a proactive approach by assessing the state of the outsourcing relationship, mending a faltering relationship whenever possible.
Periodically conduct joint buyer and provider relationship reviews. Reviews should cover:
Quality of the relationship, including communications and issue resolution;
How the relationship might be improved to better achieve goals;
Solicitation of examples of particularly good issue resolution or communication episodes;
Identification of unresolved issues or misunderstandings.
Share audit results with members of management. Repeat positive approaches identified, and remedy noted problems.
In the event established issue-resolution practices do not work, consider replacing one or more of the buyer or provider team members. Modifying the mix of personalities and introducing at least one individual with little to no history with the team may open an opportunity for resumption of a productive relationship.
It may be necessary to call a meeting to work through outstanding issues. In such a case, the buyer and provider might each identify their top five issues, exchange lists, and come to the meeting prepared to propose reasonable solutions. Third party facilitation may improve the efficacy of such a meeting.
Alternatively, one party may develop a list of the top five to ten issues. The other party is then given a period of time to research and validate the issues, and to develop a reasonable resolution for each valid issue. The provider and buyer then implement each proposed resolution within their area of responsibility, reporting progress to each other.
Develop Exit Plan
Not all outsourcing relationships work well indefinitely, despite the parties' best intentions and efforts. Prepare a well-defined contingency plan early in the relationship and update this plan periodically. People, the experts who perform and manage the service, are key to the plan. Be sure to address all legal, human resource, responsibility transfer, and change management requirements in the plan.
For an outsourcing relationship to flourish, the parties must begin with a shared vision. Regularly ensuring continued alignment of their respective expectations, goals, and requirements helps sustain the relationship. Establishing appropriate governance and strong management teams that communicate frequently and openly bolsters chances for success.
Performance measures satisfactory to both the provider and the buyer keep the relationship on track. Underlying all these actions must be a commitment to of the buyer and the provider to work as partners to achieve their respective goals.
Friday, February 25, 2005
HR issues - key challenge for Offshore Outsourcing
Bangalore: neoIT, the leading offshore advisory and management firm, has published a new white paper that examines the common challenges faced by offshore captive centres. The newest in neoIT popular white paper series, titled 'HR Challenges with Captive Centres', addresses the HR challenges faced in both setting up captive offshore centres and achieving efficient operations.According to the company release, while most global sourcing engagements tend to go to third-party suppliers, many organizations maintain wholly owned subsidiaries abroad for business processing and information technology services. Known as "captive" centres, these corporate delivery centres offer many advantages over third-party outsourcing, particularly when confidentiality is a major issue. However, captive offshore centres can present unique human resources management challenges, requiring different management strategies and policies, the release said."For successful management off offshore captive centres, HR must develop policies and practices that are highly flexible in order to adapt not only to local Government labour codes but also to recognize cultural and stylistic differences," said neoIT managing partner, Avinash Vashistha."Most importantly, recognizing and adapting to cultural differences can improve communications, productivity, quality and integration with the entire corporate organization."The 'HR Challenges with Captive Centres' white paper identifies the following seven areas that must be addressed for successful management of global resources and the overlaps between onshore and offshore operations: cultural, organizational structure, market positioning, training & development, recruiting, compensation & benefits and retention.The study goes on to examine the issues and resulting problems that can arise when these issues are not properly addressed, the release added.
