Business process outsourcing
Tom Klein advises companies not to underestimate governance in the transition process.
ERP systems, geographies, and so on. We’ve got this down to a science where we actually have it modelled in an algorithm, enter the inputs and out pops a transition plan based on proven success factors. But how you do that is a reflection of what the client is able to accept, how ready they are, what the risk points are, or what dependencies they have in their organisation that may or not be reflected. Has the client assigned their “A” team to lead the programme. All of these change elements are very hard to systematise, but are critical is setting up the program for success.
And then lastly: if the client is willing to celebrate success and willing to incentivise your employees and they want to recognise them, then that demonstrates a partner-type of relationship and an understanding that you are not just a vendor. Rather, your team and our team are one: we view success the same way.
What questions should a CFO ask themselves before embarking on this journey?
I would suggest they ask themselves a few questions to test their maturity and readiness for a genuine BPO transformation.
First, are they a first-time outsourcer or multi- generational? So what is their maturity level – what is their organisation’s ability to adapt and change? What is the degree of process standardisation and systems standardisation, and their business complexities in terms of the number of business or legal entities or countries they have, because that adds huge
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complexity. We then need to ask: how important is fit to them and why?
Then, I think they need to look at whether they have congruence in their organisation about what the objectives are and what they want to accomplish. You would be surprised about the number of opportunities or engagements we have where we’re midway down the path and somebody from some other part of the organisation is on a completely different page in terms of what to accomplish. And then finally, I think they need to ask whether they have the expertise to do the evaluation and manage an outsource partner once they are someway down this path.
In short, it centres around the readiness questions, the maturity questions and is it going to be better, faster, cheaper than you’re doing it yourself in-house? These are all some of the considerations.
What have you learned over two decades of helping clients transition to more efficient processes? Don’t underestimate governance in this entire process – or overestimate what automation can do. Otherwise, you will fail on both ends. I’ve been involved in a lot of deals, some of them are good, some of them are not so good. The ones that are not so good tend to involve either poor governance or were a bad fit from the start. You have to know yourself before you try to know somebody else. So getting the culture and values to fit well has to be one of your top criteria. ■
Finance Director Europe /
www.ns-businesshub.com
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