Empower the Project Team

There is often a big gulf between senior decision makers on the Project Steering Committee and the team leading the outsourcing process. Senior people determine their business objectives and set strategic direction but have limited knowledge about how service providers deliver services. The outsourcing project team works very hard to deliver what they believe senior executives want. The team may feel reluctant to propose alternatives to the Project Steering Committee if the alternatives aren’t exactly what senior management asked for. As a result, in their quest to deliver what the Project Steering Committee asked for, they may require customized processes that disregard the service provider’s proven processes. The project timeline stretches out while the service provider tries to develop customized processes or the project team spends unrecoverable time backtracking to redesign parts of the solution.

The best way to avoid this totally unnecessary slow down is to spend time up front establishing ground rules for the Steering Committee, project team and the service provider, building trust and empowering the team. Good leaders delegate real authority, actively listen and build trust. Senior leaders need to be aware of their positional power and ask the right questions, and the outsourcing team and the service provider need to feel comfortable raising issues and proposing solutions.

Do your Homework

The decisions made when establishing an outsourcing relationship have a long-term impact on your company.  Service delivery is the service provider’s core competence; time and again I’ve seen the buyer succumb to the temptation of letting a service provider guide their decisions regarding in-scope services and how those services will be delivered. This is particularly true when there is a pre-existing relationship or when the business development lead has exceptional relationship-building skills. This approach often seems like a great time saver because the service provider appears to have all the answers. When entering into any type of outsourcing relationship — large or small — it’s always a case of pay me now or pay me later.

The time you invest in external market research, emerging competitors and solutions, site visits to service providers’ customers and developing exit scenarios is time well spent. Internally, it will save you time and money if you invest in a detailed current state assessment, which includes baseline costs, systems and process documentation, service standards and performance data, employee profiles and so on. Investing in these two steps allows you to develop a fact-based point of view in the context of your organization. You will make better long-term decisions about which service provider is the best fit, which of the service provider’s capabilities and services you will evaluate, and which solution will help you achieve your goals. Your investment in market research and competitive intelligence ensures that your expectations and the provider’s ability to deliver are well aligned. In the long run, you’ll have realistic expectations and save both time and money. Travelling in a straight line is always the shortest route.

Invest in Governance

Transition and change management plans invariably lay out detailed plans and controls for orderly transition to new technology, processes and workflow. They include detailed internal communication strategies and user training. Intense discussions take place and energy is invested in developing detailed employee retention agreements and severance packages, followed by timed communications about job elimination. Typically, limited resources are invested in developing good governance and management practices and protocols. Sometimes this important work isn’t started until transition is underway.

While you can get by with weak governance processes, you are denying your organization and your service provider feedback. This minimizes the likelihood that you will ever reach high levels of performance and systematically engage in continuous improvement activities with your provider. The provider will invest their time and energy in those clients that have good practices and allow them to thrive and grow.

In the absence of thoughtful governance, you’re placing a whole lot of faith in the service provider to meet your sometimes changeable expectations. The only predictable route to excellence is investing in governance – the controls, tools, competencies and communication processes necessary for proficient supplier management and a healthy relationship with your service provider.

Conclusion

It may seem counter intuitive that you can shorten the timeline to achieving your outsourcing goals by spending more time in three key areas. Empowered project teams craft better solutions. Informed leaders make better decisions. And comprehensive governance programs ensure you and your service provider stay focused on all the right things.

Linda Tuck Chapman is a seasoned Outsourcing Advisor and Governance expert. You can reach Linda at (416) 452-4635, lindatuckchapman@ONTALA.com or visit ONTALA Performance Solutions at www.ONTALA.com

Click here to download the free paper by Genpact.

This is the story of how Rio Tinto, a leading international mining group, and Infosys BPO, its outsourcing service provider, crafted a solution based on their faith in each other.

Infosys BPO had the hunger to penetrate new sectors, including the mining sector in the APAC region, states Asheesh Mehra, Head of BPO Asia Pacific, Japan and Middle East.

Rio Tinto had a problem: its growth led to a “significant shortage” of qualified people to recruit into its procurement department, according to Scott Singer, Head of Procurement. Outsourcing to Infosys extracted cost and added value to the processes (the usual suspects) but did not solve the original problem.

Today, two years into the relationship, the original driver to outsource still exists because Rio Tinto is still growing. The two partners, who now know and trust each other, came up with an unusual solution. Infosys agreed to send 10 of its up-and-coming procurement stars to work in the global procurement department of Rio Tinto for six months to a year.

Project Palm

The outsourcing relationship began with Project Palm. In 2007 Infosys made a strategic decision to focus on the Asia-Pacific marketplace, according to Mehra. A veteran of the BPO business, he moved from Chicago to Melbourne to build the service provider’s BPO practice across APAC. At the same time, Singer was moving from Connecticut to Brisbane to head the procurement efforts for the mining company.

Rio Tinto had difficulty hiring both procurement professionals and transaction employees in many of its key markets but especially Australia, notes Singer. The company, which Singer calls “a large, complex organization,” processes 2.5 million purchase orders a year. The procurement executive, who had outsourcing experience, looked to India to solve its labor needs.

The mining company had a second objective: it also wanted to create an offshore Center of Excellence.

In June 2008 Rio Tinto put out an RFP for Project Palm, a sourcing and procurement deal. “We wanted a service provider that would become an extension of our procurement department offshore,” Singer explains. The mining company has a large number of procurement, buying and supply chain professionals in 50 geographies.

“Being called to the table to bid on Project Palm was exciting, especially after having lost a small piece of business to competition. The objective was very clear for us – focus on a solution that provides true value and a partnership,” Mehra states.

The proposal included:

• Bid management
• Supply chain market research
• Global indices
• Master data management
• Central expediting

This was a global proposal, performing the work for centers in Perth and Brisbane in Australia, Voreppe, France and Salt Lake City in the United States. Infosys won, even though it was “a new entrant in the procurement outsourcing space at that time. They won because they demonstrated they were willing to work with us. They had a strong partnering and business improvement orientation,” says Singer. The fact that Infosys was strong in SAP was a plus, too, since the mining company was consolidating its IT with a global implementation of SAP.

Infosys knew it had to deliver on its promises. “Rio Tinto told us Project Palm was a showpiece. We had to prove procurement outsourcing worked. If we messed this up and didn’t deliver as promised, it would discourage other outsourcing efforts at Rio Tinto. This outsourcing engagement had a lot riding on it,” recalls Mehra.

The mining company was happy when Infosys saved 400,000 Euros in 24 hours when its workers identified a small process improvement in France.

By early 2009 the outsourcing was in a steady state. “We communicated well, monitored the deliverables closely and ensured we kept our promises,” says Mehra. “The results showed our company outsourcing is the way to go. We said ‘well done’ and gave Infosys a pat on the back,” adds Singer.

Project Beech: Combining procurement with finance and accounting

In September 2009 Rio Tinto issued a new RFP that combined sourcing and procurement with finance and accounting processes like accounts payable and expense management in a procure-to-pay solution. The mining company asked its two leading candidates to assemble a team and travel around the world with Rio Tinto executives to craft a solution together. The service providers visited the mining company’s offices in Australia, Canada, France, Singapore and the UK.

“We knew they were assessing us on a number of parameters while the team travelled the globe and chiseled the solution for Rio Tinto,” says Mehra. “We had our A team!”

Once again, Infosys won the deal. It currently provides these services in Pune, India; Lodz, Poland; and Monterrey, Mexico.

Mehra says Infosys co-located its employees on one floor in India when it merged FAO with upstream procurement outsourcing. “This synergy created a great opportunity for business transformation,” says Mehra.

Just eight months in, Infosys is already “streamlining the process and providing continuous improvement,” says Singer.

For example, Rio Tinto wanted to reduce the number of invoices blocked for payment by the system. Because the partners merged the process, Infosys can do a root cause analysis immediately and solve any problem. “This is possible because we do both price file maintenance and invoice processing in Pune,” he explains.

“We are a transaction-intensive organization,” Singer continues. He points out procure-to-pay includes a lot of data elements, any one of which can slow the process and create inefficiency. Tying the two processes together is the key to eliminating problems. “Infosys is playing an integral role in streamlining work,” he says.

Today Infosys runs two of the mining company’s 10 global procurement centers, processing 3,500 invoices a day. The partners use a hybrid model. For example, one of its biggest purchases is hydrocarbons like diesel fuel and lubricants. Rio Tinto retains ownership of category management, but Infosys handles vendor and market analysis to support the category managers.

On the other hand, Infosys has now taken over less strategic categories like office supplies and print management.

Results include:

• Savings: $500,000 a year in sourcing spend
• A reduction in cycle time
• A reduction in invoice back log
• Standardization and enhancement of processes and on-boarding new business units on the common process design
• Integration of Rio Tinto’s procure-to-pay process by looking at end-to-end service levels and exploring synergies
• A focus on business metrics as opposed to stand-alone process metrics (Instead of looking at the number of days it took to process the invoice, the focus is to track the invoice payments within the payment terms, thereby maximizing discounts, minimizing penalty interests and adding to vendor satisfaction).

“The intangible benefit is creating a unique cross-geography work force that supports our growth,” says Singer.

A novel solution

Rio Tinto still has labor shortages in a number of geographies. Singer approached the Infosys executives and asked if the service provider would put its “best and brightest” into his procurement operations for six to twelve months. “This helps me and it helps them by strengthening their procurement outsourcing abilities. Their employees will be stronger procurement professionals when they return home,” he explains.

Singer says when he proposed this solution he realized it was not Infosys’ normal business model. Agreeing “was a statement of their desire to support us and develop their skills.” The first 10 Infosys employees in this program will be moving to Canada and Australia shortly.

Why this relationship works

Mehra says this relationship is successful “because both the organizations see a trusted partner in each other. This has fostered creation of seamless opportunities in building tomorrow’s enterprises. Besides this, we have seen cultural fit among ourselves, and this has helped us quickly solve any issues that surface,” says Mehra.

The relationship goes “way beyond the contract. It’s a mindset,” says the mining executive. Infosys wants to understand the mining business, he continues.

Singer says the mining company wants to continue “to integrate Infosys into our business.” He copies Infosys executives on every communication to his team. “I treat the Infosys staff like they are my own staff,” he says.

He also visits the Infosys centers at least twice a year, and the Infosys team travels to Australia just as often. Last year the combined team averaged 75 trips. “Travel helps bridge the divide between geographies,” he says.

As this relationship matures, Singer says he hopes to add more knowledge-based work. In a partnership like this, anything is possible.

Direct procurement

Direct spend typically represents 60 – 70 percent of total spend and consists of raw materials, production inputs, and transportation services necessary to manufacture and deliver a final product or a service.
In manufacturing, retail, health care, pharmaceuticals, utilities, and consumer packaged goods there is a clear “line in the sand” between direct procurement and indirect procurement. The direct procurement team is horizontally integrated with production. The CPO has a “seat at the table;” the company expects him or her to drive measurable, bottom-line impact and a competitive advantage.

Outcomes should create differentiation or competitive advantage. Therefore, the direct procurement team is a strategic corporate resource. If this is not the case or there are some important categories where they cannot generate top-tier results, consider outsourcing.

Here are two real-life case studies of successful outsourcing direct procurement:

A “best of breed” strategy: One of the largest spend categories for a newspaper is paper. This publicly traded commodity requires highly specialized procurement expertise. It may seem counter-intuitive to outsource procurement, but outsourcing to a recognized specialist is a good way to get access to top talent, targeted expertise, and plenty of buying power.

A “top-tier provider” strategy: Healthcare procurement outsourcing is a large and rapidly growing specialty. In the United .States, companies outsource over 70 percent of direct procurement in healthcare to a third party. In Canada, this number is 12 percent but growing fast. In a recent large-scale healthcare procurement outsourcing project, ONTALA’s client cited access to top talent and the specialized expertise necessary to drive 12 – 17 percent cost savings as the catalyst for change. The buyer will achieve savings by leveraging the scale and scope of the provider.

Indirect procurement

Indirect spend in manufacturing, retail, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, utilities, and consumer packaged goods includes categories such as office equipment and supplies, facilities, technology and telecom, contingent labor, HR and finance transaction processing, commercial print, media buy, third-party legal, MRO, and travel. Indirect spend typically represents 30 – 40 percent of total spend, but investment in indirect, non-core procurement is often a fraction of the direct procurement organization.

With 30 – 40 percent of total spend in scope, it is obvious that indirect procurement actually is important. The resource-starved indirect procurement team is often short of top talent and influence. Hmmm…this looks like a golden opportunity in the making.

And what about services companies like banking and insurance, engineering, or marketing firms where virtually 100 percent of third-party spend is indirect goods and services? Or is it? Arguably 60 to 70 percent of total spend also consists of inputs necessary to produce services sold to customers. So doesn’t that mean that 60 – 70 percent of indirect procurement spend has strategic importance? Yes, most but not all.

How much is your company willing to invest in attracting and retaining top talent internally? Objectively analyze the strategic importance of indirect spend categories. How do results compare with external benchmarks? Are these results sustainable? What is the outcome of a pragmatic analysis of internal procurement capabilities versus what is available externally? Have you done a comprehensive financial business case on a category-by-category basis and as a whole? Do you know if and which categories are candidates for procurement outsourcing? What is the payback — short and long term?

Here are two real life case studies of successful outsourcing indirect procurement:

A “hybrid” strategy: Sourcing technology and telecom in a financial services company is a good category to implement a hybrid strategy. There may be a mature sourcing organization that understands internal business drivers but only sources this category every three years. They will not have current benchmark data and best practices sourcing strategies. This may be a good case for hiring an advisor and/or purchasing benchmark data and research.

A “top-tier provider” strategy: ONTALA recently developed an outsourcing strategy for indirect procurement for utilities sector companies. Indirect spend represented less than 20 percent of total third-party spend. There was a scarcity of top talent and obvious savings opportunities but insufficient capacity to effectively pursue. In short, indirect procurement was an under-resourced poor cousin to the strategically important direct procurement team in a rapidly changing industry. The solution was outsourcing indirect procurement.

Some helpful tips:

1. Determine whether, if done well, the spend category or categories could become a competitive advantage.
2. Realistically identify important bona fide risks of outsourcing some or all procurement functions. Then do the math, ensuring financial benefits significantly outweigh risks.
3. Objectively assess skills, capacity, capabilities, results, and the strategic importance of your company’s procurement organization. Look at this on a category-by-category basis and as a whole. To be strictly objective about the assessment, you may want to hire a qualified third party. Would outsourcing some or all categories drive greater value than maintaining status quo? Is the best approach a hybrid solution consisting of outsourcing and upgrading internal capabilities and/or hiring advisors on a case by case basis?
4. Selectively outsource to a best-of-breed provider with a proven track record in the specific category and/or outsource to a top-tier provider, with deep, reference-able expertise in both the category and your industry.
5. Develop a viable exit strategy, before you outsource.

Conclusion: Proceed, with caution

Linda Tuck Chapman and ONTALA Performance Solutions (www.ONTALA.com) are expert advisors in outsourcing, strategic cost management, and governance. Contact Linda at (416) 452-4635 or by e-mail at lindatuckchapman@ontala.com.

The growth of buyingTeam can tell you something about both the effectiveness of the work we do and its emerging importance. Founded in 1994, our offering was established as a response to an opportunity to exploit an area of corporate spend where maximum value has not traditionally been extracted. Having grown at more than 25 percent per year for more than five years, we are now we are the largest shared-services procurement function in Europe, constantly building and sharing our expertise across more than a hundred categories. We help many household names; and many of our clients have been with us for over a decade, testament to the success of our approach.

Service Lines

Procurement. The nature of indirect spend means that in-house procurement functions face an insurmountable challenge. There are hundreds of categories, all of which all require deep knowledge to procure effectively. There are thousands of stakeholders, all with knowledge about their area but who need procurement’s support. There are tens of thousands of suppliers, all which invest heavily in selling to you; for large contracts it is not unusual for a supplier’s account management team to be larger than the entire procurement function it is selling to.

All of this means that procurement functions have a requirement for a huge variety of skill sets. Skill sets such as category expertise, change management, stakeholder engagement from senior executives down, facilitation, negotiation, supplier management, data analysis, technological know-how – and so the list goes on. And to make matters even worse, indeed insurmountable, the demands on a procurement function, and therefore the skill sets required, change from one week to the next. The odds, therefore, are heavily stacked against internal functions being able to consistently meet an organization’s needs.

Partnering with buyingTeam provides organizations with a simple and effective solution to this seemingly impossible challenge. Some examples of the types of projects organizations engage with us to run are as follows:

• Procurement outsourcing
• Transformation programs
• Savings implementation programs
• Individual category reviews
• Consulting and change management programs
• 100-day savings campaigns
• Spend analysis

Distinctive Capabilities

At buyingTeam, we view indirect spend (indirect procurement) differently. To us, it’s the essential activity that enables organizations to run. Key to our approach – and our major strength – is the way in which we take great care to foster deep connections with our clients and gain an acute understanding of their needs and organizations. This intimacy is fundamental to delivering extraordinary results, leveraged through shared technology, expertise, knowledge, manpower, and more. And when we talk about extraordinary results, let’s be clear: we’re talking about something very different from procurement BPO and a one-size-fits-all approach. We’re different because we deliver massive benefits through evaluating and reshaping your practices and behaviors to match your specific needs.

buyingTeam is a pure-play provider of procurement solutions – procurement is all that we do. We offer unbiased advice and act independently of suppliers. Unlike some of our competitors, we are paid only by the organizations we work for. We never receive money from suppliers, either directly, or indirectly in the form of rebates.

buyingTeam at a Glance

Founded in 1994
2010 revenues: $30 million
200 employees
Headquartered in London, UK
Global delivery centers: London, Leeds, Cwmbran (UK), Geneva (Switzerland), Madrid (Spain), and Berlin (Germany)

For More Information

Telephone: 020 3465 4500
Fax: 020 3465 4501
E-mail: info@buyingteam.com
www.buyingteam.com

Certifications

• Gold accreditation by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS)
• ISO27001

Outsourcing Center asked 12 leading ITO and BPO service providers about the forces driving their investments for solutions over the next five years. Market volatility, market differentiation, lack of investment capital, collaboration, globalization, and rethinking how work gets done are among the top business needs for which buyers are asking outsourcing providers for help.

Speed is the theme that emerged in the interviewed providers’ descriptions of their investments in solutions addressing these forces. Here’s a rundown.

Cloud technologies

Wipro Technologies is establishing strong system integration capabilities in private clouds and in integration of public and private clouds. Rajan Kohli, CMO, says, “Our investments are geared at creating platform cloud solutions that successfully deliver business value to clients.”

According to DonSchulman, General Manager for IBM’s global F&A and SCM business, IBM continues investing in its BPO Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) offerings. He says, “Our cloud-based BPO solutions are specifically designed to enable quick deployment of this technology in order to drive rapid benefits. This includes immediate cost-efficiencies, increased scalability, and easier access to technology innovation as well as sustainable performance improvements for client organizations.”

Infosys BPO is investing in services for the cloud as well as services on the cloud “to help clients achieve faster process efficiency and effectiveness,” says Ritesh Idnani, COO.

Joanne Olsen, Senior Vice President, Oracle Cloud Services, points out that “The economy may be officially out of a recession; but organizations have learned that, in the ‘new normal,’ extreme volatility and uncertainty will persist.” Making large capital investments without a fast return on investment is no longer an option; yet, given the uncertainty, organizations need to accelerate the pace of innovation and become more agile and responsive.

“Flexibility and speed are the key attributes for any outsourcing solution for the foreseeable future,” predicts Olsen. Oracle has invested in cloud services to enable clients to achieve financial flexibility and business agility to adjust to changing market conditions and demands quickly and efficiently. With cloud services, they pay for what they use and move their capital expense to an operating expense.

Allied Digital Services is also investing in the cloud delivery model to help companies move from the own-and-operate (cap-ex) model to a services-based (op-ex) model. Kevin Schatzle, President, refers to this as an “IT evolution” enabled by advances in virtualization technologies and the development of remote management tools. As part of the evolution, Allied Digital invested in an integrated delivery framework with customized best-in-breed infrastructure management tools integrated on a common platform that enables visibility to all critical components of an organization’s IT infrastructure.

Partha Sakar, CEO at Hinduja Global Solutions, says “Cloud concepts certainly will disrupt the playing field, but success in many of the disciplines will continue and always require well-trained, compassionate, culturally compatible and, as appropriate, proximate resources.” Therefore, HGS is also investing in building more remote data centers in proximity to current and future growth markets.

Industry-specific solutions / platforms / collaboration

“Companies are looking for new ways to harmonize business processes on an end-to-end basis across their enterprises, so we’re responding to that and investing accordingly,” says IBM’s Schulman. “Our strategy has been to focus on a tighter linkage between F&A and SCM businesses to facilitate more cohesive end-to-end capabilities.

Schulman says companies are increasingly recognizing the need to address both the outsourced and retained portions of their finance and procurement back-office processes in a more integrated, holistic fashion. This requires technology that enables visibility across all processes including non-outsourced scope. He says clients are also looking closely at creating vertical integration of their business to find new ways to interact with their vendors and customers in a consistent manner.

“In fact, we now have the technology available to establish a shared platform that goes beyond individual processes,” says Schulman. “We are able to drive standardization across companies and even industries by connecting data from many disparate sources. Access to this kind of information enables companies to proactively identify and respond to emerging trends, both large and small, for enhanced business agility. At the same time, this technology will help clients innovate their processes in ways that differentiate their enterprise.”

Gordon Coburn, Chief Financial & Operating Officer at Cognizant, says “Tectonic shifts in the economy, society, and technology are driving organizations to create an environment where work becomes a more fluid and intimate collaboration between employees, customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders, delivering continuous business value.” New virtualized platforms are enabling real-time collaboration within organizations and with external partners, leading to new ways of working, managing, and innovating.

To achieve new ways of working, Cognizant is investing in frameworks and methodologies that help companies assess their ability to create more collaborative and virtual ways of working.

Deepak Patel, CEO of Aditya Birla Minacs, also predicts “virtualization” of enterprise business models will accelerate business opportunities for the BPO industry. Aditya Birla Minacs is investing in robust process capabilities aligned to vertical domains. He says market forces are now providing outsourcing service providers with “a unique opportunity to dive deeper into the core processes of their clients and move up and across the value chain.”

TCS is investing in building a strong pool of industry domain experts. It is also investing in acquisitions (such as Citigroup Global Services Ltd and Supervalu’s India captive) to gain vertical expertise.

In addition, TCS continues to invest in building beyond its current seven vertical platform BPO services. These services deliver a process as a service, leveraging the cloud. “Over the next few years, we will invest in strengthening our platforms and increasing service coverage,” states V. K. Raman, Head, Domain Services, TCS BPO Services.

Infosys BPO is investing in vertical domain competencies not only by lateral hiring but also mandating certifications and process trainings that enhance employees’ domain capabilities. “Inherent in the vertical approach is the deeper understanding of the industry nuances. If you are talking to a publishing company, you need to know about royalty accounting. If you are talking to an insurance carrier, then knowing about blue book reporting is where the conversation will veer,” says Idnani.

In its vertical approach, Infosys BPO is also investing in offerings that focus on its clients’ revenue. For example, the provider is focusing on warranty administration in the manufacturing space and sales effectiveness improvement by managing trade promotions for the consumer packaged goods sector.

Wipro is making focused investments in “productized” solutions that combine software, services, infrastructure, consulting, and BPO skills to provide industry-specific reusable solutions. The service provider is identifying platform solutions that address specific vertical industry needs and combine BPO, IT, and infrastructure insights to offer “full-function outsourcing.”

Analytics

IBM remains focused on innovation, including continued investments in integrated analytics that drive additional process optimization. Schulman explains, “Advanced analytics capabilities through mature BPO providers is going to empower companies with game-changing business insight that would be difficult to achieve on their own. When data is standardized across companies and even across industries, analysis of that information will drive insight and visibility into behavior patterns that clients have never had access to before. This information will enable rapid, actionable business decision making from a big-picture perspective that will help drive better overall performance that is sustainable over time.”

Infosys BPO is also investing in high-end analytics services.

Terrence McCrossan, Division Vice President, Marketing & Strategy at ADP, says the forces driving ADP’s investments over the next five years include a growing need to address clients’ focus on financial compliance and controls, globalization, and user expectations. Together, the forces cause an increased emphasis on reporting/analytics and flexibility.

Flexibility

According to Angela Hills, Executive Vice President at Pinstripe, “Market fluctuations are creating demand for companies to scale up and down at a moment’s notice. The need to be scalable and flexible are two of the driving forces in how we are investing in solutions.” She points out that the ability to resource appropriately to meet client needs not only impacts clients but also “has a huge impact on the success of our organization.”

Wipro has invested in multi-tenanted managed services to offer clients a flexible delivery model with just-in-time capacity and predictable high-quality standardized services. The provider is also investing in Centers of Excellence and widely available third-party tools to build accelerators to improve the delivery schedule.

Green technologies

In addition to adding solutions to its IT for Green portfolio, Wipro is now partnering with SAP to collaborate on perpetuating green IT through “green consulting.” Kohli says more such investments will likely follow.

Core processes

Aditya Birla Minacs’ vision is “to be firmly embedded” in its clients core processes, says Patel at Minacs. He predicts that the depth and breadth of outsourced services will grow. Accordingly, one of Minacs’ growth strategies includes “acquiring the right assets that enhance our solutions portfolio and strengthen our capabilities to take on even those processes that are considered core today.”

Time to value

Some of HP’s investments in response to market forces also focus on speed. Buyers’ increased interest in multisourcing means provisioning IT products and services from multiple providers. This leads to smaller, shorter-term relationships. “With higher volumes of smaller deals, HP is investing in a smarter application of technology to ease the cost and complexity of on-boarding new clients and speed time to value in these quick-turn contracts,” explains Russ Daniels, Chief Technology Officer for HP Enterprise Services.

A market shift in expectation of configure-to-order instead of build-to-order for provisioning IT is causing HP to invest in standardization and fully managed, globally delivered IT services that help clients achieve execution speed as well as reduce cost and achieve greater reliability.

Daniels says that faster time to value is also the driving force behind HP’s investment in fully automated self-service delivery of infrastructure, application, and business services that help clients realize the full potential of “IT as a Service.”

What are we to conclude from all the change on the horizon? First, the providers are addressing buyers’ needs. Second, whenever there is a great degree of change, there is also a high degree of risk – especially when speed is a major factor. For advice about risk mitigation, read Eight Biggest Areas of Risk for Buyers of Outsourcing Services, Upcoming Changes Point to Need for Buyers of Outsourcing Services to Alter their Way of Thinking, and Buyers Face Decisions around New Opportunities and Risks in Outsourced IT Solutions.

Xchanging provides procurement, accounting, human resources and technology services across industries. These include Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing, Retail and Real Estate among others. We combine functional expertise with deep industry domain knowledge to provide industry-specific outcomes for our customers to become the global business processor of choice.

Enterprise Partnerships

Xchanging was created on a unique idea called ‘Enterprise Partnerships’ (EP). Instead of just taking outsourcing contracts on a simple fee-for-service basis, we form joint ventures with large organizations to perform their back-office functions. The resources and assets from the customers’ organization are transferred into the EP in order to create a service platform. Xchanging has operational control of the EP and the partner has boardroom representation. As processes are standardized, the EP can add third-party outsourcing contracts, benefit from scale advantages, and begin to generate revenues. In partnering, the profit and capital upsides are split 50:50 with the customer so that our interests are aligned with those of our partners.

Service Lines

Procurement. We source in excess of £1 billion of spend on behalf of our customers. We specialie in the procurement of indirect spend with global infrastructure deals in categories including contract labor for permanent or temporary staff, travel, telecoms, facilities, IT, utilities, fleet and logistics, and office supplies. We act either as an agent between the customer and the supplier, or we deliver a fully managed service where we contract directly with suppliers, on-selling their goods or services to our customers. By leveraging our supplier relationships and applying our trading expertise and buying power, we drive savings to our customers’ bottom lines.

Our procurement outsourcing service is a talent-driven business and that talent is unrivalled; Xchanging has approximately 230 procurement and finance experts globally. These experts have extensive experience within most industry sectors; this includes Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Defense, Insurance, Telecommunications and Construction. The procurement offering typically delivers savings of 5-25% across all categories with very little structural impact on our customer. We deliver bespoke procurement teams either on site or remotely to deliver strategic sourcing or more a tactical buying unit when applicable, with very little of the heavy lifting associated with standard outsourcing.

Finance & accounting. We provide an F&A service that covers accounts payable, accounts receivable, order management and tracking, treasury functions, financial reporting, tax consulting and internal audit services. This service is split into three areas; Procure-to-pay (P2P), Order-to-cash (O2C) and Record-to-reports (R2R). P2P focuses on invoice processing, supplier management and sourcing. Within P2P we manage around £3 billion of spend, perform over 2.5 billion transactions and process 2 million invoices and procurement card submissions. Leveraging the SAP and Oracle system expertise, our capabilities drive three main benefits for customers; cost reduction, improved controls and process efficiency. O2C includes the management of multiple payment channels and processes, paper orders and credit management. This ensures information and funds flow efficiently from point of order to customer payment, and ensures upstream support for the customer. R2R encompasses the range of routine transactional operations undertaken typically by clerks in finance. These operational functions include fixed asset register maintenance, tax reporting and compliance, and audit management.

Human resources (HR). We provide a complete set of employment services. These services cover the entire employment life cycle from recruitment through to payroll and pensions payments. Our aim is to provide an integrated approach that uses the underlying employment data in the wide variety of HR tasks and activities. Data integrity and responsiveness is crucial to delivering reliable, high-quality HR services. We undertake the administrative processing and manage the supply chain for HR-related categories of spend such as car schemes, medical assurance, travel and training. We provide expert advice on the various facets of HR; be it pensions calculations, learning and development, performance measurement or international recruitment, relocation, immigration and tax compliance.

Xchanging delivers HR and payroll services and support to 1.25 million employees and pensioners and their dependents across multiple locations and countries. We run a number of back-to-work and medical compensation schemes for a wide variety of customers in the USA, the UK, and Australia. For example in Australia, we manage the end-to-end process in placing employees back into the workforce. We manage this for 37,500 employers in a government-managed scheme. In 2009, we successfully returned 7,940 injured workers back to work.

Technology. We have substantial technology capabilities covering a broad range of services and end-to-end solutions, which make us a credible technology partner; but we are still small enough to maintain a personal local approach, aligning with the interests of our customers to add significant value to their businesses. We sell four types of technology offerings including Technology Advisory Services, Technology Implementation, Technology Production and Technology Outsourcing. In addition, we have a number of technology niches where we have unique capabilities that provide a competitive advantage over our competitors. These include Insurance Software, Oracle Transportation Manager, Workflow Practice, Market Settlement Platform, Product Lifecycle Management, SWIFT and Legacy Managed Services.

As a global business processor we design, build, and run a range of business processing solutions. We embed our Intellectual Property (IP) to create a solution faster and more cost-effectively than customers can themselves. We host the software and hardware to run systems and provide the extensive data warehousing facilities needed by our customers. Our services are aimed at companies that wish to use IT services to improve organizational effectiveness and profitability. For instance, we have designed, built, and now operate one of the most comprehensive suites of insurance-related document management services in the world. These are employed by the global participants of the London insurance market.

Industry specific services. We also provide a range of industry specific services which draw on the above functional expertise, combined with deep industry domain knowledge.

• Banking and securities services. In the banking and securities industry, we provide retail investment account management and securities processing services. By the end of 2010, we will be the largest independent investment account processor in Germany, where we will administer approximately 1.5 million accounts on behalf of our customers. In securities processing our services include trades processing, corporate event processing, handling of corporate annual general meetings, regulatory reporting and tax services.
• Insurance services. Xchanging is one of the leading providers of business processing services and software solutions to the insurance industry internationally. This includes processing of insurance policies, premiums and claims, and broking services. In 2008, in partnership with the London insurance market, we embarked on an ambitious project of making this market paperless through the Insurers’ Market Repository (IMR). In 2009, we successfully implemented and upgraded IMR. The development of the IMR is a key part of the London insurance market’s effort to achieve more efficient business processing. In the Americas, we provide claims processing services to companies for their injured workers’ compensation as well as other areas such as professional, auto, product, general and consumer warranty liability claims. Our services include the initial claim intake, adjusting the claim, medical and non-medical bill review and claim payments.

Distinctive Capabilities

Our “go to market strategy” is to provide a range of offerings to meet the varying needs of customers for outsourced services. Our unique offering for dealing with complexity and scale is partnering. On top of this, we provide four offerings: Outsourcing, Products, Straight Through Processing and Business Support, for customer flexibility and repeatability. In short, a distinctive “1+4 Go to Market Strategy.”

Partnering – maximizing value together – Xchanging addresses complex industry specific business processing and cross-industry processing in human resources, finance and accounting, technology infrastructure and large-scale procurement. Our partnering offering is open book with profit sharing so that our interests are aligned with our partners.

Outsourcing – guaranteeing sustainable savings – Xchanging takes on business processes or categories of spend where we already have platforms proving our capability and credibility. Through outsourcing we scale up our platforms and deliver services to an agreed specification and usage charge or cost baseline.

Products – delivering the best solution – Xchanging supports essential parts of the business processing value chain with application software, such as Genius for international insurance carriers. Our products are long-term strategic assets that can be tailored for customers’ specific needs. Products enable us to extend our reach both geographically and across the value chain.

Straight Through Processing – optimizing the value chain – Xchanging extends the scope of the services delivered to customers, reducing the number of interfaces and where possible automating them. These additional services extend the process flow that Xchanging is already operating, to maximize the efficiency of the process as a whole.

Business Support – applying know-how for results – Xchanging offers experts to support specific business activities and customer improvement projects. Through business support, customers have access to Xchanging’s capabilities and re-usable assets. Business Support includes services such as corporate immigration support, resourcing, program management and process improvement, and Six Sigma training and support.

Xchanging at a Glance

• Founded: 1999
• Revenues: £750.4 million
• Employees: Over 8,000
• Service lines: Procurement, Finance & Accounting, Human resources, Technology, Industry-specific services
• Headquarters location: 13 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1HN, UK
• Locations of global delivery centers: Australia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, UK, and USA

For More Information

Telephone: +44 20 7780 6999
Fax: +44 20 7499 0169
E-mail: info@xchanging.com
www.xchanging.com

Certifications

Non industry-specific certifications and recognitions:

• SAS 70
• India – ISO 9001, ISO 9001: 2008, ISO 27001 and ISO 27001: 2005
• Europe – ISO 9001: 2000, ISO 27001: 2005, ISO 9001: 2008
• CMMi (v1.2) Level 3 and CMMi (v1.1) Level 5 in a number of our Indian operations
• CMMi (v1.2) Level 3 in Singapore

Industry specific certifications and regulations:

• Xchanging is the largest processor of ACORD messages; ACORD certifications include: Technical Accounts and Financial Accounts, Claim Movement messages, and Document Transmission
• Xchanging has two full banking licenses in Germany
• In the USA, Xchanging has 283 adjusters licensed in 39 states, resulting in 2,994 individual adjuster licenses
• Xchanging’s Solon (USA) site obtained a Payment Card Industry (PCI) certification, which includes requirements for security management, policies, and procedures

Awards and Recognitions

• David Andrews named Entrepreneur of the Year’ by the Economic Times, India’s most respected and circulated financial daily
• Xchanging receives a Bronze Chairman’s Award from BAE Systems for its implementation of the Enhanced Resourcing Services (ERS) solution
• Xchanging features in the 2010 Global Services 100 List, recognizing service provider excellence and maturity to serve the global market; it recognized Xchanging in four categories in its 2010 survey – Top BPO, HRO, Procurement Outsourcing and Top Industry-specific BPO vendors
• Xchanging’s Funded Learning Programmes Services receives Grade 1 Outstanding from OFSTED for BAE Systems’ provision of apprenticeships
• Xchanging won the Pegasystems’ Innovator of the Year Award in the European Insurance sector category

Case Studies

1. Human Resources – how Xchanging made it work
   http://www.xchanging.com/CustomerSolutions/Casestudies/Documents/20101029UKEPHRMadeWork.pdf
2. Xchanging delivers a world-class document repository
   http://www.xchanging.com/CustomerSolutions/Casestudies/Documents/20100901CS0028.pdf
3. Xchanging delivers world-class IT services to support global trading
   http://www.xchanging.com/CustomerSolutions/Casestudies/Documents/20100901CS0027.pdf

These 100 lessons learned focus on issues related to each phase in the outsourcing life cycle – provider selection, contract negotiation, structuring governance, transition, ongoing services, and contract exit or renewal.

The lessons learned are a valuable body of knowledge and insights gained by real-world experience as to what worked and didn’t work in outsourcing relationships. You can apply these lessons learned in your relationship to help ensure your success in achieving anticipated outcomes.

Click here to download 100 Lessons Learned by Buyers of Outsourcing Services.

Minacs was founded in 1981 as a temporary staffing business. In 1985, the company shifted its focus to providing customer relationship management (CRM) services and the outsourcing of customer contact center solutions. Since then, Minacs has rapidly grown into a recognized global organization providing high-value business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions centered on Customer Life cycle, Marketing, Finance and Accounting, Receivables Management, Procurement, and IT solutions and services.

Today, over 16,000 Minacs experts across three continents and 32 centers spanning Canada, Germany, Hungary, India, Jamaica, Philippines, the UK, and USA power our solutions through a global delivery model that helps our clients enhance revenues, profitability, and customer service.

As an industry-leading business process outsourcing provider, Minacs believes in proactively evaluating the efficiency and effectiveness of our contact center processes, policies, technology, and employees. Regular evaluation leads to streamlined operations, greater value for our clients, appropriate customer satisfaction levels, and win-win scenarios for our clients and for Minacs. We pride ourselves on our ability to innovate and our customized, boutique approach to customer service delivery. Minacs has designed and delivered flexible, innovative solutions for our clients that have improved customer satisfaction, service, and quality while reducing total cost of operations.

While some clients view us as experts in a single part of their business, others have engaged Minacs as a partner that supports multiple areas of their business. This breadth and depth of experience provides us with a unique perspective and a singular objective: to add value and deliver results at virtually every stage of our client’s customer relationship lifecycle.

Key Differentiators

Company Viability and Future: Minacs, and its parent company, are financially strong at approximately $350 million and $30 billion annual revenue, respectively.

Client Satisfaction and Longevity: Our top 10 clients have been with Minacs more than seven years, and we have positive, growing relationships with many Fortune 1000 company clients in such vertical markets as healthcare, technology, manufacturing, telecommunications, and online services.

People Make the Difference: Minacs is an industry leader that understands that the long-term engagement of employees is vital to the success of understanding the unique needs of a client’s customers.

Local Presence / Global Reach: Minacs has delivery locations across the globe with over 30 locations in North America, Canada, Europe, and APAC including India and Philippines.

Technology-Driven Innovation to Improve Performance: Ability to leverage technology to improve performance, utilize customer data, and provide reporting capabilities to enhance customer and market-related decisions and targeting.

Robust Infrastructure: Each day Minacs meets or exceeds the demanding infrastructure, security, and regulatory requirements of its clients.

Flexibility: Minacs’ breadth of capabilities and proven track record as a true business partner enable us to track and quickly act on clients’ growth trends.

Quality: Quality is a way of life at Minacs with certifications in ISO (ISO 9001:2008, ISO 27001), COPC, and Six Sigma methodologies.

Aditya Birla Minacs at a Glance

Founded in 1981
Revenues: $350 million
Employees: 16,000+
Service lines: Business processes, IT infrastructure, IT applications

US Headquarters
34115 Twelve Mile Road
Farmington Hills, Michigan 48331
T 248 553 8355
TF 800 832 1935
F 248 488 3691

Canadian Headquarters
180 Duncan Mills Road
Toronto, Ontario M3B 1Z6
T 416 380 3800
TF 888 646 2271
F 416 380 3830

India Headquarters
Millennium Towers,
ITPL Road, Brookefields,
Bangalore, India 560 037
T 80 4109 6000
F 80 4117 9888

For more information

Telephone: +91 80 4144 6000
Fax: +91 80 4095 2514
E-mail: minacsinfo@minacs.adityabirla.com
Web site: www.minacs.adityabirla.com

Service Lines

Manufacturing and Retail – The range of services includes:

• Marketing Solutions: Service and parts marketing, service and lease renewal appointment scheduling, certified pre-owned marketing and administration, customer data management, dealer portals, e-mail marketing, event marketing, incentive management, invoice messaging, lead management, loyalty cards and programs, on-demand marketing, point-of-purchase marketing, wholesale parts programs
• Retail & Channel Support: Web-based process automation and administration, marketing and sales, warranty and service contract administration, finance and insurance sales and administration, wholesale and fleet sales, service and administration, retail inventory management, retailer/franchise and employee incentive and recognition, program and process marketing, launch and operation
• Lifecycle Communications: Comprehensive communication plans, integration across all online and offline channels (voice, print, web, email, text, mobile etc) and touch points, communication design, development, production and delivery, prospecting and sales, welcome, up sell and cross sell, sales-to-service conversion, product service and maintenance, account activation, maintenance and service, customer care, technical support, loyalty, product and subscription renewal and repurchase, systems customization or development, data integration, enhancing, cleansing and management, intelligent analytics
• Technical Assistance Center: Consumer education and product support, technician assistance, parts restriction programs: reducing costly unnecessary replacement, corporate, field and channel helpdesks; repair center / dealer assistance: parts identification, ETA inquiries, ordering and shipping; dealer breakdown assistance: walkthroughs, diagnostics and escalations, field support
• Customer Care and Assistance: Customer relations, customer service driven up-/cross-sell, consumer affairs, service renewals, product recall notification, buyback prevention and administration, subscriber services, telematics customer and emergency assistance, Industry segment / domain specific solutions
• Manufacturing Industry Solutions: Warranty administration and auditing, closed loop service marketing, parts marketing, retail inventory management, product buyback prevention/administration, product lease and subscription renewal, field and on-site staffing and analysts, dealer assistance

High Tech - The range of services includes:

• Marketing Solutions: Product/subscription marketing, customer retention and loyalty prospecting and sales: outbound sales, up-sell, cross-sell, win back
• Channel support: Distributor, service provider and partner support
• Order management: Processing, fulfilment and inventory management
• Technical support: Integrated multi-channel tier 1-3 support
• Customer service: General inquiries, billing, inbound sales
• Product testing
• IT services including wireless asset management, using GPS/ RFID technologies
• Outsourced software product development
• IT infrastructure management
• Finance and accounting
• Strategic sourcing and procurement

Teleom, Media and Entertainment― The range of services includes:

• Customer Acquisition and Retention: Lead management, welcome calls and service activation, cross-sells and up-sells, application renewal and upgrade processing, account reconciliation, service bundling and fitting, equipment/device provision and activation, loyalty campaigns, promotion management, revenue assurance
• Customer Services: General billing and service, consumer education, activations, escalations, order payment processing and plan care; automated contract renewal campaigns for revenue assurance and an optimum customer experience; documentation, correspondence and contract management back office; Integrated real-time performance reporting; speech analytics and data mining; enhanced eCare solutions: including managed SMS, chat, e-mail management, and co-browsing; voice self-service, virtual hold and interactive voice response (IVR) management that provide 12 times the cost savings of standard voice support; fully managed support: for your consumer, small and medium, and corporate businesses with customized SLAs based on the unique needs of each customer segment; automated high-speed multi-channel communication delivery; associates’ training curriculum: design and delivery
• Technical Support: Tier 1-3 technical support including complex fix scenarios from smartphones to advanced PC troubleshooting; network, field and event management for extended benefits in all aspects of the customer life cycle, reducing costs within your operating models while enhancing customer experience; fully integrated charge care models that transform a revenue-enhancing opportunity into a one-stop shop for an entire realm of customers, whether subscribers or not; innovative diagnostic and triage automation solutions bring advanced cost reduction and customer satisfaction strategies into complex technical support; remote computing and peripheral support with white-labeling options
• Receivables Management: Customer retention solutions: welcome/reminder calls, customer care, pre-collect; early-stage collections: pre-charge-off, letter service; late-stage collections: contingency collections, legal network; secialty programs: primary, secondary, tertiary, quad, quint placements; skip and cure programs; skip trace services: state-of-the-art technology-driven ability to locate new contact information in quick time on very large numbers of accounts; highly trained skip tracers at your site for additional research and support; early out and primes: core capabilities on these types of account profiles; specifically trained collectors; experience with designing the most appropriate dialer strategy to produce effective outcomes on these profile types; letter services: all aspects of letter delivery to the consumer from initial placement of accounts to collector driven, conversation-specific letters with proven aggressive and effective results; charge-offs: charge-off account profile experts and specific approach understanding of what it takes to be effective and profitable for our telecom clients
• Telecom Business Services: Telecom operator services, telecom equipment manufacturer services, telecom tower and infrastructure management services, telecom handset manufacturer services, technician and field provisioning management, distribution support management, network and event tracking and support, 24×7 partnership with client field and network management teams, technician/field provisioning, back-office processing: research, analysis, and back-check service mitigation, finance and accounting, strategic sourcing and procurement, internal IT systems, IT infrastructure management

Banking and Financial Services - The range of services includes:

• Retail Banking: Origination and customer acquisition: targeted campaigns, new products, KYC/form processing, customer referrals, account opening, inbound and outbound up-/ cross-sell programs, based on marketing initiatives; branch services: documentation, helpdesk, servicing and reporting; deposits, check and payment processing: automated clearing house (ACH), wire transfers, wholesale lockbox, scan/mailrooms, check truncation, Check 21 integration, verifications, data entry/documentation, Courtesy Amount and Legal Amount Recognition (CAR/ LAR), transaction processing and transmissions; account servicing: rate, fees and charges; standing instructions and bill payments; recoveries, remittances, reconciliations, adjustments and exceptions; data management and analytics; customer care: multichannel, multilingual CRM, escalation and help desk; collections: retention driven, or early out to late stage delinquency; mortgages and loans; cards solutions; fraud prevention; IT services: domain-intensive capabilities in branch automation, mortgages and loans, cards, payments, check truncation; application/information, third-party products and IT infrastructure management; finance and accounting; procurement and sourcing
• Commercial Banking: Transaction processing and documentation support: across trade finance, factoring, commercial lending and credit, payments, cash management, treasury, securities, money markets and custodial services; pan-generation technology skills: from legacy to contemporary, from corporate ERP systems to banking back-ends for architecting solutions with Straight-Through Processing (STP) to trigger operational actions and to meet legacy-wrap-and-extend needs; TradeFree™ suite of global trade services products: implemented in over 20 banks providing customized solutions for their needs; our solutions integration approach: reaches beyond banks to deliver interoperability with your enterprise, customers and partners, on multi-technology platforms across the global financial supply chain; payment processing and integration: MERVA, PCCONNECT, SWIFT Alliance; RTGS/ Fedwire, Bolero and CHIPS; Reuters, and with cash concentration, sweeping and pooling systems; protocols and interfaces: SWIFT, FIX, EDIFACT, Fedwire, FCI, etc; compliance: validation and integration of products with your systems, e.g., AML and other regulatory standards such as UCP600
• Capital Markets and Investment Banking: Origination and sales support: forms processing, KYC/verifications, documentation and records, new account set-up, account maintenance, compliance; securities/ capital markets: pre-settlement/settlement, confirmations, transfers and contras, reconciliations, corporate actions, taxation – processing, analytics, reporting; portfolio management: research, monitoring, analysis and reporting; investment bank institutional support: requests for information (RFI) and for proposals (RFP), performance reporting, market commentaries; research and advisory: pitch books, market intelligence; pension/ retirement funds: enrollments, contributions statements, fund calculations, payroll/dividend processing, payouts management, reconciliation, loan processing/cancellations and refinancing; Investor relations / customer care: shareholder services, trading, withdrawals, transfers, reconciliation, tax advice, change of address, product inquiries; Master data management, transfer agency, custodial support; regulatory compliance support: documentation, review and reporting; IT services: application management and support, information management and IT infrastructure management; finance and accounting: including specialized/technical/corporate functions; procurement and sourcing solutions

Insurance - The range of services includes:

• New Business and Underwriting: New customer acquisition support: including sales force / agency inquiries; illustrations, research, quotes; application filling support; new applications: document-/image-capture, mail room, processing forms, level 1 and 2 data entry; accompanying illustrations/ document verification, level 3 verification; KYC checks of customer/policy information, data entry; underwriting, case management, rating and rate class assignment; set-up policy accounts, policy/ contract/welcome kit printing including welcome calls; new customer care: issue certificate of insurance; enhancements of benefits; targeted cross-sell, up-sell per campaign requirements, or analytics-driven customer life-stage-specific strategies
• Policy Administration: Policy transactions: fee reversals and charge-backs, check cancellations, ECS (registration and transaction processing), payment reconciliation, change in vesting date, beneficiary or policy holder updates; renewal accounting: receipts, duplicate receipts; reinstatement of lapsed policies: revival accounting; benefits management: plan administration, additions/ deletions of riders, amendments and upgrades, surrenders, refunds, withdrawal, maturity of policies, survival benefits, actuarial support, trust accounting; Document handling/ workflow management; exception management; regulatory requirements; integrated front office/customer care: voice and non-voice customer support in multiple languages for sales, product inquiry and premium services; business Intelligence (BI) system implementations for data mining; IT services including legacy apps modernization and data conversion; applications management, Web enablement, mobility enablement
• Claims Management: Comprehensive managed claims services: notification, adjudication, subrogation, payments, decision support, including medical records optimization; process automation: digitize, index, abstract and analyze records: high frequency, low severity claims; claims accounting; medical records abstraction: document management, data aggregation/analysis; actuarial support, claims data analysis and segmentation; fraud management: inconsistency identification process, fraud detection, resolution, records standardization; analytics: data collection, processing and extraction; application development and management, legacy systems modernization/reengineering, data conversion, solution integration including with third-party products

Healthcare and Public Sector- The range of services includes:

• Revenue Cycle Management: Pre-admission and pre-service: patient referrals management; verification of patient information, credit, authorizations and liability; and scheduling; registration/ patient information services: determining patient insurance/ authorization/payment sponsorship; care completion services: discharge management, extract and print Explanation of Benefits/ Payments (EOB/ EOP) statements; billing, cash and revenue assurance such as insurance co-payments and deductibles; post service: claims processing – verifications, collections, denials, rejections, reconciliations and credit management; third-party liability determinations; grievance management such as resolve appeals, and disputes; IT: workflow-/rule-enabling and integrating existing applications (such as business rules to extract information from EOP and reconciling inbound payer remittances with individual patient payments); document imaging and Electronic Content Management (ECM) solutions; Master Data Management (MDM); payments: EDI/application/system integration and batch billing, reimbursement support; also inbound remittance advice (from payers) management such as lockbox/bank; finance and accounting: transaction accounting support, such as end-to-end accounts receivable (AR), collections and reconciliation; knowledge-driven/ technology-based controllership functions such as Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) solutions for single-point visibility into costs, utilization and revenues; strategic sourcing and supply chain management
• Citizen Services: Integrated CRM solutions: onshore service delivery capabilities; integrated voice/non-voice/data/online solutions integrated with back-office transaction processing and IT/data center support; transformation assessment/roadmap implementation of suboptimal contact center operations; citizen access and convenience: case management and workflow systems; self-service portals; document management, imaging, ECM solutions including Government Paperwork Elimination Act (GPEA) compliance implementations; revenues/tax management: end-to end collections (early out, late stage, primary/secondary, etc.); IT services: solution integration (across multiple agency systems); application management, e.g., legacy systems modernization, Web-enablement: information management including implementation of business-rules-based automation; mobility, smart card and wireless asset management solutions (including a RFID / GPS); F&A: transaction accounting including a AR /AP management, collections and reconciliations: implementation of accounting/business systems; controllership activities, including a budget monitoring/reporting, statutory compliance including a Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), and Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) audit support

The Minacs global footprint
(Click to enlarge image)

Awards & Recognition

• Dataquest Top 20 BPO listing: Ranked India’s #8 BPO company in 2010
• Ranked #8 among top Indian BPO firms by NASSCOM 2010
• Among Top 100 BPO firms by Global Services 100 (Neo Advisory and Global Services) in 2010
• Ranked among Top BPO Vendors in three categories (Top Industry Specific BPO Vendors, TOP BPO Vendors, and Top Call Center and Customer Management Vendors) by Global
• Services 100 (Neo Advisory and Global Services) in 2010
• Named by the State Government of Maharashtra* for the 8th Information Technology Award for 2010 under the category IT enabled services (BPO)
• Ranked #7 among top Indian BPO firms by NASSCOM 2009
• Named by the State Government of Maharashtra* for the 7th Information Technology Award for 2009 under the category IT enabled services (BPO)
• Dataquest Top 20 BPO listing: Ranked India’s #9 BPO company in 2009
• 2008 & 2009 – IAOP and FORTUNE® Magazine Global Outsourcing 100: Leaders category. Also best 10 in revenue growth and among companies with sales and marketing industry focus.
• Top four BPO service provider: Global Services 100 (neoIT and Global Services) in 2009
• Selected in the Leaders category of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) 2008 Global Outsourcing 100
• Top among seven international vendors to consider in the “Decision Matrix: Selecting a Contact Center Outsourcing Vendor” by Data Monitor 2008
• IEXcellence Award for excellence in workforce management in 2008
• In the big league of Genpact, HCL Technologies, Patni, WNS – AMR Research
• Innovation Award by CIO magazine, CIO Asia, awarded the CIO 100 in 2007
• Ranked among top 20 companies in India to watch in 2007 by Business Today

Client Accolades

• Leading automobile manufacturing company recognized Minacs Marketing Solutions as Premium Partner 2009 – among its Top 15 suppliers – American Honda
• Premier Partner Award – leading automobile manufacturing company, headquartered in Japan honored Minacs for demonstrating excellence in quality, value and customer service (2nd consecutive year) – Mazda
• Top Supplier award – major automobile manufacturer – General Motors
• Ranked #1 for customer support by Consumer Reports subscribers for seven consecutive years for a Global Consumer Electronics Leader – Apple
• A major U.S. financial services client was ranked #1 for customer satisfaction in a Group 5 shareowner Services survey ranking transfer agents. At the time, Minacs provided 100% of the service for the client – Capital One

Infosys BPO has been consistently ranked among the leading BPO companies by key industry bodies such as the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, FAO Today, and NelsonHall, among others. It also has very robust people practices, as substantiated by the various HR-specific awards it has won over the years. Our company has consistently been ranked among the top employers of choice, besides pioneering efforts in diversity hiring and other industry best practices. Our senior leaders contribute widely to industry forums as BPO strategists and speak regularly at leading Ivy League business schools such as Harvard, Wharton, and Sloan, among others.

Distinctive Capabilities

Infosys BPO addresses customers’ business challenges through integrated IT and business process outsourcing solutions. The services we offer unlock business value by applying proven process methodologies and business excellence frameworks to significantly reduce costs, enhance effectiveness, and optimize business processes. Infosys BPO focuses on integrated end-to-end outsourcing and delivering result-oriented benefits to our clients through reduced costs, ongoing productivity improvements and process reengineering.

Our company differentiates itself from the competition through “Business Value Realization” and emerged as a trusted and a valued collaborative partner with stakeholders through consistent focus on improving their process metrics and end business metrics. We continue to demonstrate realization of business value, immense customer satisfaction, and co-creation to sustain long-term partnerships.

Service Lines

Banking and Capital Markets: The Banking and Capital Markets practice of Infosys BPO has matured over the last seven years, offering comprehensive services across various segments and having successfully migrated over 200 processes using our eSCM and ISO-certified transition methodology. The solutions combine domain knowledge, strategic program and process management experience with consulting, technology and proven integration and support capabilities. 

Manufacturing: The Manufacturing practice of Infosys BPO serves clients across High-Tech, Industrial Manufacturing, Aerospace and Automotive and Resources. The process platform helps clients perform a wide range of functions, including OEMs, component manufacturing, distribution, VAR and R&D, through a distributed ecosystem. Infosys BPO’s Manufacturing practice has centers in Mexico, Poland, the Czech Republic, India, Philippines and China. 

Communication Service Providers: Infosys BPO is a trusted transformation partner of global CSPs, delivering integrated solutions to help effect a business transformation and fulfill customer expectations. The CSP practice has over 4,000 professionals with deep domain expertise providing business solutions across PSTN, ISP, VOIP, broadband, ISDN, and mobile telephony. 

Retail and consumer packaged goods: The Infosys BPO Retail and CPG practice offers a wide range of industry-specific context solutions, supply chain solutions, store solutions, customer-centric solutions and analytics. The practice has customized training programs that provide conceptual and specialized knowledge relevant to the retail and CPG industry. 

Insurance: Infosys has been a pioneer in Insurance Business Process Outsourcing since 2003. The Infosys BPO Insurance practice is focused on being a change agent, enabling and promoting cost-effective and efficient business processes across the insurance life cycle in property & casualty, life, annuities, and reinsurance. Our success stories reinforce our commitment and dedication towards creating better processes and change. We have successfully delivered 25 – 40 percent cost savings to our customers by leveraging our Global Delivery Model.

Finance and Accounting: Infosys’ award-winning FAO practice delivers end-to-end finance and accounting services and offers outsourcing as a strategic tool that enables CFOs to meet their objectives. Our client portfolio in F&A currently includes global clients across Banking, Manufacturing, Telecom, Publishing, Media & Entertainment, Automotive, Services and Distribution.

Customer Service Outsourcing: The Infosys BPO Customer Service Outsourcing practice provides a consistent customer experience across all channels of customer support through customized solutions, right sourcing, and continuous training. We leverage our Global Delivery Model and state-of-the-art technology to reduce the overall cost of operations. Our impetus on hiring, training, and quality ensures that we incorporate customer service into processes. 

Human Resources Outsourcing: The Infosys BPO Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO) practice combines global sourcing and delivery capabilities to offer flexible and cost-efficient solutions for acquiring, administering and developing talent. Our componentized HRO offerings enable customers to embark on the HRO journey easily and realize benefits promptly. Through our transformational expertise, our customers save up to 40 percent on operational costs and enhance productivity by up to 30 percent. Our suite of innovative tools measure and improve HR/business metrics.

Sales and Fulfillment: The Infosys BPO Sales and Fulfillment Practice offers solutions that impact your top line by accelerating revenue enhancement through sales support processes. We improve your profitability by better cost containment in the supply chain through fulfillment operations. 

Certifications

eSCM level 5 certification

ISO 27001:2005

ISO 14001: 2004 & OHSAS 18001: 1999

SAS 70 Type II

TR19:2005

Infosys BPO at a Glance

Founded in 2002

Revenues: $352.1 million

Employees: 19,300+

Service lines: Business processes, IT infrastructure, IT applications.

• Horizontals – customer service, finance & accounting, human resources, knowledge process, legal process, sales & fulfillment, sourcing & procurement
• Verticals – manufacturing, communication service providers, media & entertainment, banking & capital markets, insurance, healthcare, retail & CPG, energy, utilities & services

Headquarters: Bangalore, India

Global delivery centers: India: Gurgaon, Jaipur, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai; China: Hangzhou; Philippines: Manila; Brazil: Belo Horizonte; Poland: (Lodz); Czech Republic: Brno; USA: Atlanta; Mexico: Monterrey 

For More Information

Telephone: 918041877777

Fax: 918040670034

E-mail: bpo_marketing@infosys.com

www.infosysbpo.com

Case Studies

Infosys BPO partners with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey to improve efficiencies and create cost savings in its claims processing system. Click here to download.

Infosys BPO partners with Philips in the journey to transform its Shared Services Centers. Click here to download.

Infosys BPO enables T-Mobile UK to faster realize the benefits of outsourcing its Finance Directorate Functions. Click here to download.

Awards and Recognition

• Infosys – Australasian Shared Services Excellence Award along with NAB for Best New Services Delivery.
• Infosys BPO – Two Awards at the North American Shared Services Excellence Awards  
• Infosys BPO – Royal Philips Electronics Breakthrough Award 2009 
• Infosys –  Ranked second in The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals “Global Outsourcing 100”
• Infosys BPO -Awarded 5-Star Rating by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
• Infosys Technologies – Wins Top Industry Awards for Client Management of Large Outsourcing Relationships
• Infosys BPO – “Most Dynamically Developing BPO Center in Poland” award from Forbes Magazine
• Infosys BPO – “BPO Organization of the Year” and “Fun at Work” awards from Stars of the Industry
• Infosys – American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) award for excellence in inclusivity
• Infosys BPO – Excellence Award for Diversity Hiring Initiatives
• Infosys BPO – e-SCM-SP Capability Level 5 Certificate from Carnegie Mellon University’s ITSqc
• Infosys BPO – Listed as a Top Enterprise Provider in FAO Today’s Annual Survey
• Infosys BPO – Receives “positive” rating in leading analyst firm’s Comprehensive Finance and Accounting Business Process Outsourcing MarketScope report
• NelsonHall rates Infosys BPO among the finest payroll service providers

Infosys BPO’s Growth

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