Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Answered: Recommendations for BPO providers?

Recently I came across the question "Recommendations for BPO providers?". The question itself needed to be clarified a bit, since at first sight it seemed like a BPO provider needs advice regarding their operations. 
However, the question referred to the users' point of view: How to manage BPO providers, follow up the outsourced processes, measure their results, etc. The following post is about these questions.

When shall you turn to a BPO provider?

First of all, let's make it clear: you only need to manage - or use - a BPO provider if you have a large amount of tasks which are not parts of your core business. NEVER outsource processes that are parts of your core business! Doing so might seem cheaper in the short term, but on the long run it can ruin your business (imagine a great amount of core know how becoming lost if you want to change the BPO provider or for any reason...it's just bad).
So, in case you decide to outsource your processes to a BPO provider, you shall have a number of resource and working time consuming tasks you want to spare on. That's great, but be sure to manage the BPO provider of choice appropriately. Of course, a number of details can be included in the service agreement or other contracts, but there are many operative questions, problems or routines that cannot.
We do assume in the following parts that your business processes are clearly defined and perfected to create the best organizational and business environment that keeps your business sustainable and well - operating.
In order to avoid a chaotic transfer period related to the BPO provider's job, it is great to follow the next steps:

1. Have your carefully engineered processes in writing.

Also make it available to the BPO provider, so that they will be familiar with your expectations. However, point is that you have a clear understanding, of what needs to be done in certain processes and you will know exactly what and how can you expect from them.

2. Model your processes

Have your processes in a written form? Great! But how will everyone know what exactly you want them to do in a process? The written processes shall be...well, modeled in standard BPMN notation. (which we have covered already in the blog) Make sure that your process is defined in line with the standards, so there can be no questions or misunderstandings related to the contents of your process.

3. Implement your model in a workflow system you own

Ok, you might say " Nah, the BPO provider shall have an appropriate software system to cover this!" And while this is right from a certain point of view, there's also a great danger related to this approach: what if - for any reason - the BPO provider ceases to exist, you want to change your BPO provider, you need processes to be performed differently, etc. ? If the BPO provider has the software AND your process data (entered into the system they use) then their power over you is almost endless. In this case your BPO provider could stop your company as it is by shutting down the software or deleting data from it. This is why it is a must to have your own workflow system before you decide to work together with a BPO provider company.
So, if you followed the previous three steps and found an appropriate BPO provider, it will be really easy for you and them to start the work in an organized way. Most everything will be really clear to both sides, and in case of any questions or doubt, the answers can be found quickly and easily.
But the best part is still to come.
What is the single most painful problem of working together with a BPO provider?
You need to be able to see through and control - in some ways - the process completion. Now if there are only a few simple processes, it can be easily using almost any software. But what if you have 50-100 processes outsourced, which consist of 10 steps each? What if more instances of given processes are running (eg. many customers have the same invoice problem at your customer service)
You cannot keep 1000 deadlines, tasks, persons, statuses and other process - relevant information in your head! So, you do need a system that supports the management of your outsourced processes.

4. Manage and automate your outsourced processes

In case your modeled business processes are implemented in a proper - ideally cloud based - workflow system, the system will take care of your process flows and will keep your business running. Also, you will only have to focus on problems that arise during operations and resolve these in a focused way, instead of looking for the problematic parts and then try doing something about them.  Also, this way you can make sure that your processes are implemented exactly as needed or if needed, you can adjust your processes even together with your BPO of choice. Also do not forget that a really great workflow system will provide you with a graphic process editor interface. A good example for that is xFLOWer, a Cloud based workflow system that includes a process editor tool that implements all processes after they are created in a visual editor, without the need of programming or serious IT skills.
Also it is worth to mention automation. Consider if you can automate certain process steps  - eg. certain decisions or events that always trigger the same action, and so on - and choose a workflow system that is able to automate the most tasks. This will save you massive amounts of working time, and therefore tons of money.