Financial Services & Insurance | Outsourcing Center

Taking the Chaos Out of Government Outsourcing

Chris Pryer, Business Writer

For government agencies across the United States, the ability to deliver services to their citizenry is being sorely taxed (no pun intended). Budgets are being strained beyond limit. Quality — and quantity — of services is deteriorating. And the varieties of the prevailing political climate can wreak havoc on long-range planning and consistent and coordinated operational systems. Add to this the fact that many government agencies’ entire existing infrastructure for delivering services is suffering from such maladies as outdated technology, a stagnant work force and the typical bureaucratic red tape that is government’s calling card, and you have a recipe for guaranteed underachievement.

From Hamstrung to Power

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Italy — its name brings to mind the pungent parmesan and garlic odors, magnificent golden treasures in the cathedrals and palaces, crowded canals of Venice and mysteries of Pompeii. The nation holds many charms for tourists. Part of the culture of this historic land is endurance and pride. Those characteristics carry over into the business arena. There are people who created their businesses from nothing, and they have worked all their lives in those businesses. They are not open to change, says Stefano Valentini, an outsourcing consultant in Rome. He explains that Italy has a lot of small (under 50 employees) and medium (under 250) companies and that 80% of production comes from these companies. Although many executives even in the United States are just coming to grips with it, the fact is that a company can’t be good at doing everything. An attitude of mistrust and not wanting to let go of control of business processes only results in being hamstrung — as crippling as cutting the tendons at the ham

Wireless: To Be or Not To Be

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Wireless scares people, says Adam Braunstein, senior research analyst with the Robert Frances Group. The concept that you can get anything anywhere is easy to understand and sounds great, and what company wouldn’t want to give those capabilities to its staff and customers where appropriate? The problem is that the application is extremely difficult. There are several warring technologies out there, Braunstein explains, and the wireless carriers are having huge difficulties. Financial institutions and the healthcare industry are the early adopters of wireless technology. It’s also an ideal solution for a mobile sales force, traveling executives, field technicians, logistics and other processes. The media has touted the enormous benefits for companies to adopt this technology as an extension of access to the Internet while, at the same time, making a lot of noise about the immaturity of the technology and its failures in addressing business applications and user needs.

The Reasonings of CEOs and CIOs

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Difficult business problems require solutions that are based on sound reasonings. The Internet and new economy have so drastically changed the way business is done that today’s top execs must focus on how to change their companies. Change is necessary as technology and markets evolve, despite whether a company is competing successfully or losing market share. Long-range plans keep getting shorter and shorter, and the need for risk management in such an environment is increasingly recognized as a competency. Most organizations now are a hybrid of some internal departments or divisions and some alliances with outsourcers for various business processes. Why do so many chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief information officers (CIOs) turn to outsourcing as a strategy to achieve their business objectives? Upon what reasoning do they base these decisions? Adam Braunstein, senior research analyst with the Robert Frances Group, whose clients are the top echelon of Fortune…

Outsourcing in Uncertain Times

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

Corporate layoffs command the headlines. Inflation numbers are jumping up and the NASDAQ index is diving down. Yet some industries still can’t find enough people to meet their growing orders. Are we heading toward the locust years or new boom? While economists are debating the answer, businesses have to decide what to do. Should they hire more people to be ready for a surge? Or should they lay off staff to stay lean and mean in preparation for the hard times ahead? Decisions today can affect the bottom line tomorrow. But one thing is clear in the cloudy horizon: Outsourcing is one of the best tools to deal with change in uncertain times, says Michel Janssen, chief operating officer of Outsourcing Center in Dallas, Texas.

ASPs Hit the Wireless Bull’s Eye

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Our mission at the Outsourcing Center is to promote outsourcing to be the first choice in strategic tools to use in achieving business objectives. One of the best ways to do that is to present to you illustrations of excellence in outsourcing, thus showing the value and benefits that can be accomplished. Of the many fine relationships we encounter, the best become recipients of our annual Editor’s Choice Awards. In this very popular annual awards issue of the Outsourcing Journal, we relate their stories so that you may duplicate their successes.

Birthing a BPO: The VC Route

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

Web-enabled applications have made the BPO offering irresistible. Outsourcing typical BPO functions like finance and accounting or human resources continues to gain popularity because outsourcing helps companies reduce their risk. The outsourcing vendor is an expert in the field, so it can do a better job than the in-house folks who aren’t as up-to-date on the latest.

Flooded with Possibilities

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

No doubt, you’ve seen the ads with the cupped hands ready to cradle your life. With the accompanying slogan, You’re in good hands with Allstate, one would naturally assume that customer satisfaction is a high priority with this insurance company. When it comes to outsourcing, though, you can bet that Allstate is in the good hands of its supplier, EDS. Larry Moser, Senior Marketing Manager at Allstate and Product Manager for its flood and mobile home lines, recalls that a decision was made in 1986 that Allstate would join the Write Your Own Flood Insurance Program. He says the company subsequently looked at its processing operation and realized that writing flood was a lot different from its other lines (auto, life, property) and decided to explore what opportunities there might be for the processing of the flood business.

Downtime Detour

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Imagine that you own a retail gas store and the cash register goes down. You can’t sell gas or Twinkies. Now imagine, just for a moment, that you own over 1700 retail gas stores where this could happen. ARCO, a West Coast gasoline refiner and retailer, actually owns that many gas stores and a large convenience store network. Downtime can be disastrous, so ARCO outsourced its point-of-sale terminals to outsourcer, Getronics. When the Getronics help desk receives a call from one of the retail outlets, the staff diagnoses whether the fix will require a technician. If so, they must obtain the needed part from a depot, dispatch a technician to the site to install the part, and have it up and running within four hours from the time the call was placed — no matter how remote the location might be. It’s truly an extraordinary feat in logistics.

Feathering Each Other’s Nests

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Birds of a feather flock together aptly describes the beginnings of the outsourcing relationship between Commonwealth Bank of Australia and its supplier-partner, EDS Australia. Both organizations are huge, both are global, both are renowned for the top-notch services they provide for their customers, and both fly on the wings of innovation when it comes to business ventures. Commonwealth is Australia’s largest domestic financial services organization (largest domestic bank, largest funds manager, largest online stockbroker, and among the largest insurance companies). It has more than 10 million customers, more than 110,000 location points, 3000 ATMs, 120,000 point-of-sale terminals, Internet banking, online telephone banking; and its Web site handles more than 10% of the total trades on the Australian stock exchange on any given day. 1,400 Commonwealth employees transferred to EDS when the October 1997 contract was signed.

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