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

Click on image to enlarge.

Jim Rockenbach, President, FastFire^TM Advisory Sales, Inc., says the underlying problem is usually that the company tries to take its product or service to market from a tactical sales approach instead of building a foundation through a strategic sales approach first.

“The problem is they end up with marketing and sales not integrated,” Rockenbach explains. “Sales is saying and doing one thing and marketing is saying and doing another thing. The two aren’t on the same page, so the message to the market space is clouded and confused. Then everybody wonders why they’re not hitting their numbers.” It happens in early-stage companies as well as large enterprises.

In a tactical sales approach, a sales force merely tries to sell another product or service from a numbers game. FastFire helps its clients first take a strategic approach to the market. It starts with building a foundation around capturing strategic customers–those who bring more value than just the money they spend on a particular product or service.

“When companies outsource their sales efforts to us,” says Rockenbach, “we first identify two-six target clients within a specific market segment. Then we actually capture those clients and subsequently build a methodology and process around how we did that. It includes such factors as the sales process, articulating the value proposition, sales tools, number of contacts, and the actual meetings it took to close the sale. We then build what we call a ‘capture strategy guide’ that we turn over to our client’s internal tactical sales force (or to the FastFire outsourced sales force) to begin to capture market share.”

Rockenbach claims that once his company captures one or two strategic targets in a particular segment, he knows they’ll also capture the next 10. Those strategic sales become the foundation for sustainable sales growth. The tactical sales force then has a story to tell–one that actually works–and documented best practices. They know the concept, ideal prospect, ideal prospect value, how to start the conversation around a particular product or service in a particular market, the sales arguments, and collaborative-discussion questions.

At this point, the process is easy to replicate, so the client can move seamlessly into a tactical sales model and really start capturing market share. As Rockenbach points out, “You cannot just walk out into a market space with a product or service that nobody knows about and for which you don’t have a story to tell around it, and not know how the market space perceives the value, and expect to be successful.”

Moving a Healthcare Client to Marketing Success

“We take companies from a market space position and accelerate them into a market-leadership position,” states Rockenbach. FastFire’s outsourcing clients include global enterprises (PricewaterhouseCoopers and SunGard were the first two clients), SMBs, and early-stage companies. No matter the size, they all have the same tactical-versus-strategic-approach problem. But the extent of the role that FastFire plays in the client organization often does depend on size.

Building a foundation is always the first step. From there, FastFire’s responsibilities might be to train the client’s internal sales force, recruit a sales force, or even become the outsourced sales force. At Pensacola, Florida-based KAMedData, for example, FastFire is the outsourced sales force on an ongoing basis.

Niels K. Andersen, President and CEO of KAMedData, began outsourcing his sales force function to FastFire in spring 2006. KAMedData is an outsourcing provider with best-practice services and products in consulting, medical staff development planning, and optimization for patient throughput. It’s also the parent company of three other companies (KontactIntelligence.com–a software developer in physician recruitment and retention management software for hospitals and healthcare systems; VeritasHealthCare–a staffing firm providing nurses, healthcare technicians, pharmacists, etc. predominantly for the US Department of Defense providing civilian staffing to augment active-duty personnel at military treatment facilities; and eCVMedSearch–a physician and healthcare executive recruitment firm).

Andersen cultivated a sales force for four years, but they didn’t deliver the necessary results. He had formal sales training as part of his career development and successfully sold in other roles before founding KAMedData. However, Andersen says, “Now sales is only one of many important aspects of my job — business development, software design, consulting, operations, accounting and finance, HR, strategic planning, and customer relations–all are equally important and require attention on a daily basis. So it was difficult for me to be able to pay attention to the sales side as much as I needed to in order to have an effective internal team. For success in sales, you need to really on focus on it–or find the right people to do that for you.”

He turned to FastFire. Rockenbach had significant sales expertise in the healthcare industry and in technology. Andersen comments, “He understood the strategic planning requirements and needs of C-level executives in hospitals as it relates to the consulting and technology needs of our clients and quickly picked up on how to sell to our target market.”

Since FastFire took over the sales effort, KAMedData now has a high rate of software sales and renewals. In addition, in a six-month period, Andersen says the effort moved from its former pull market strategy (where potential clients heard about KAMedData and its family of companies largely from networking and referrals) to a push strategy. “With a push strategy, we have a more aggressive marketing and advertising campaign coupled with defined client-development goals via proactive sales calls executing against achievable revenue objectives,” Andersen explains.

Why Outsource a Strategic Function?

Building the strategic foundation is not as easy as it sounds, especially considering a key issue is speed to market. Speed to market will accelerate a company to a market-share position, and that creates shareholder value. “It doesn’t matter what methodology or sales process you use,” says Rockenbach. “What matters is that it closes business in the shortest amount of time.”

Speed requires a wealth of expertise not only in selling but also insight and knowledge in various market segments the company wants to target. FastFire brings that expertise to the table. Rockenbach, for example had 18 years’ experience in executive sales in 14 market spaces (healthcare, healthcare technology, pharmacy technology, finance, banking, insurance, professional services, professional services technology, manufacturing, retail and wholesale, etc.)

Rockenbach says that whether the client is a small company where the CEO or founder is also still the sales force or, at the opposite end of the spectrum, it’s a large company with a sales force not attaining sales goals, the first step in outsourcing the sales function is deciding to trust resources like FastFire. Because of the nature of the contracted performance goals, the outsourcer must represent the client company with the same passion as the founder would.

FastFire’s approach differs from a consulting firm. “We don’t come in and tell our clients how to sell. We don’t know how to sell a product or service unless we’ve sold it and sold it in a particular market segment,” says Rockenbach.

Once FastFire succeeds in capturing strategic clients/partners, they’re turned over to an account manager in the client’s organization who takes on an up-sell objective. The outsourced FastFire sales force is the hunter; the client’s internal team becomes the cultivator.

How the Relationship Works

When a company outsources to FastFire, the outsourcer first conducts an assessment as to how the sales organization is doing and how it is integrated with marketing and PR. Then both parties engage in an initial planning project to define the client’s needs.

Rochenbach says the planning discussion starts with understanding the client’s exit strategy for its business. Does it want market share, want to go public, or want to sell the company? This understanding sets the sales objectives (a realistic picture of how many clients the sales force must capture, how many calls will that take, etc. to meet the objectives), determines such factors as how many sales people will be needed and what level of experience they will need, and determines how the parties will measure “success.” Next they define reporting functions and details.

Sometimes FastFire operates out of the client’s office but most of the time works virtually. The FastFire executive assumes the title and role of VP of Sales in a small company or Director of Sales in a larger company. Its sales reps are titled “sales executives,” “sales representatives,” or whatever the client prefers. Whether FastFire’s team is the only sales force or is working with the client’s internal sales team, the identity and integration is seamless to customers.

The pricing model is a fixed-fee arrangement (with differing parameters for a tactical sales engagement from a strategic engagement), plus commissions and bonuses.

FastFire has a track record of quickly accelerating its clients to successfully achieving their objectives. KAMedData is a good example. Since FastFire came on board in spring 2006 as KAMedData’s only sales force, KAMedData has increased its sales goals and is building a durable and reliable sales foundation.

“Thanks to outsourcing our sales function, we have been able to secure an experienced sales structure and department where we can plan our revenue targets, report on our status, and make needed adjustments quickly,” says Andersen.

He adds, “Early this year, we’ll look at next steps. One item we will look at is whether we need to build an in-house team here that FastFire can train, manage, and mentor to eventually start taking over our needs.”

Lessons from Outsourcing Journal:

• In small and mid-sized companies, where the owners and executives wear many hats, it is difficult to devote enough time and attention to developing an effective in-house sales team. Outsourcing this effort allows the executives to focus on the core business.
• Speed to market in sales processes depends on expertise not only in selling but also insight and knowledge in various market segments the company wants to target. An outsourced sales force will bring this expertise to the table along with best practices.
• Outsourcing the sales function requires trusting the service provider’s sales team. Because of the nature of the contracted performance goals, the outsourcer must represent the client company with the same passion as the founder would.
• Commissions paid on sales the outsourcing service provider achieves will act as an incentive for faster time to market.

Verifications Inc., founded in 1987, provides employment screening services to 3,000 clients. Brad Carlson, vice president of sales for Verifications Inc., says the way the sales force reported its activities left much to be desired. “We had been using a contact management program. Even with the new version, it was not doing what we needed, especially at remote locations.” A Web-based sales force automation tool let management monitor sales force activity and enable real time updates from the field with support from the corporate office.

Management decided a Web-based service provider could provide a solution without taxing the in-house IT department. Verifications Inc. looked into other offerings but found only Salesnet was able to customize to fit its precise way of selling. In addition, Carlson was impressed with the application’s ability to do forecasting, which he says was “the most important factor” for his organization. The company wanted the ability to do custom reports and track contact and sales results for its strategic planning. The program’s “ease of use” helped, too.

Verifications signed its outsourcing contract in July, 2002. Salesnet, founded in 1997, offers the Web-based application as a subscription for a monthly fee.

The change-over process was fairly simple. Carlson’s team interfaced with a Salesnet specialist on what type of information the company wanted to extract. “We spent close to 20 hours diving into our process. We told them exactly what we wanted.” Some fields in the contact management program would not transfer. Salesnet had to create customized fields for these.

Outsourcing Provides a Vast Improvement in Sales

Following a test of almost 100 accounts to be certain that there would be no data loss, Verifications sent all its client data to Salesnet. Carlson recalls, “We blasted our data to them with every single detail. Every iota of it was there.” Salesnet completed the data migration within 48 hours.

In the six months since deployment, sales have gone up 60 percent, according to Carlson, adding he is confident the company’s net earnings have exceeded that as well. “We know that the value has been incredible because sales have been going through the roof. Our people are now handling four times as many deals than they were prior to using Salesnet. Our people can now juggle a lot more balls more efficiently,” he reports.

Verifications Inc. uses a dashboard feature that helps its sales force gauge their progress. When users log in, they see a custom graph depicting their productivity. “Every time they log in, they know exactly how they are performing. “There is no dodging the bullet,” Carlson laughs.

The real-time visibility allows Verifications Inc. to leverage all of the processes with nimble agility and speed. “I am able to see exactly what my people are doing,” he explains. This is extremely valuable for Carlson. “Without question, real-time visibility is an asset for us. We have a totally live system of interaction throughout the company,” he explains. In the field, the sales team has the capability of real-time integration with forms, processes of information and account set-up.

Increased Firepower Throughout an Enterprise

Mike Doyle, CEO of Salesnet, explains that the application allows for business intelligence and interfacing. “We have built in a number of Web services that allow the application itself to communicate with other applications including legacy systems.” The application can assimiliate and then merge virtually any source within the enterprise. The architecture of the application can send and receive information to or from any application via extensible mark-up language (XML).

Salespeople can generate reports, ascertain trends and make forecasts, all on the fly. These capabilities lead to increased usage within enterprises. Doyle states, “From the time a company first signs on, the number of users increases 586 percent on average in 12 months.”

Beyond increased business agility, outsourcing to the ASP has been beneficial for Carlson in other ways over buying an application. “What made outsourcing so advantageous is that we did not have to redeploy the resources of our IT team to keep this function running. We just don’t have any infrastructure or IT time to devote to it,” he explains. In addition, the company was able to hold its IT costs down by spreading the expense over many years.

Denis Pombriant, vice president, CRM managing director of the Aberdeen Group of Boston, Massachusetts points to the resurgence of Web-based ASPs.” The emergence of application service providers in recent years has redrawn the SFA vendor landscape. The ASP value proposition is crystal clear: low cost of entry, quick payback, and virtually no risk.”

Pombriant continues, “ASPs in general promise cost reduction on at least two fronts: replacing large, up-front capital expenditures for infrastructure with one predictable, “pay-as-you-go” operational expense and reducing the total cost of ownership — especially in terms of support and maintenance.” The advantages are obvious for outsourcing as illustrated below.

Pombriant continues, “Speedy time-to-benefit is the second top attractor of organizations to the ASP model. For some companies, it is the ultimate proof-point of the outsourcing proposition. Because the ASP has already invested in, implemented, and supports the required infrastructure, less time is needed to deliver application services and the ensuing benefits to users.”

Carlson now enjoys growing sales without worrying about compliance issues. “Verifications Inc.’s reputation is founded on the quality and timeliness of our services. It’s critical that we have a tight handle on all of our business practices.” Thanks to outsourcing, the biggest problem seems to be a great one to have, according to Carlson. “Just the other day, our number one salesperson, who is now generating around a million dollars a month in sales, came in and said she wanted more to do.”

Lessons from the Outsourcing Journal:

• Outsourcing the sales force automation function can lead to a significant increase in revenues. Verifications Inc. saw its revenues jump 60 percent in six months
• Outsourcing sales force automation provides value-added business intelligence, including helping the sales people measure their performance.
• Outsourcing leads to more rapid deployment with no added internal IT demands.

Digi was learning that marketing and serving customers in Canada, even though it shares a common border and language, is just like any other foreign country. More is required than simply dispatching a few employees to open up a new territory.

“Many American companies are somewhat naive when it comes to doing business in other countries,” says Katherine Jones, Ph.D, an analyst for Boston, Massachusetts-based Aberdeen Group. “The company has to manage its behavior and practices appropriately in those markets. There’s room for a lot of errors if they don’t think things through before entering other countries.”

What Digi needed was an outsourcing partner. Not just any partner: one who could better open up the Canadian tech delivery channels, then help develop customer relationship management (CRM) and other support that offer value to these new distributors and end-users.

Opening Doors “North of the Border”

Digi’s new CEO Joe Dunsmore had outsourcing experience. He came from US Robotics, which used Keating Technologies, a Markham, Ontario service provider, to manage the Canadian marketplace. In addition, Digi had used an outsourcing firm with its marketing efforts in South America.

Privately held Keating says it brings more than $1 billion in technology products and services to Canadian consumers through outsourcing partnerships with numerous providers. A roster of clients includes such companies as Gateway, 3Com and Palm Canada Inc.

“Keating has an excellent understanding of the market,” says Digi’s Dunsmore. “This allows them to take our strategy in the vertical markets that we target and get us closer to the distribution channels we feel are important to our business.”

Dunsmore says Keating targets customers in those verticals and helps it go after them. “They help us manage those channels better and assist us in establishing communications portals for end-user CRM,” he says.

Keating’s integrated services strategy deepens relationships with distributors and resellers. It can also include localized promotional efforts designed especially for Canadian customers. Aftermarket services include a boutique of comprehensive pre-and post-sales support to distributors, resellers and retailers and sometimes even end-user customer relations through a variety of technical support and service programs.

“We become a focal point for our clients’ Canadian sales efforts,” says Art Keating, vice president of business development. “We’re seen as an outsourced ‘Canadian branch office’ for our clients. We mirror their objectives and philosophy in the Canadian marketplace.” The service provider also minimizes operational costs and offers better speed-to-market.

Keating’s process involves shared risk when it comes to costs. A typical practice of this partnership involves setting specific objectives. If Keating doesn’t produce the required sales, the client doesn’t have to bear the financial start-up burdens alone. In certain cases clients will use Keating’s existing resources and in others, will leverage internal resources to blend with Keating’s. In Digi’s case, Keating adjusted its sales and marketing strategy to specific distribution channels, creating better distributor awareness, improving distributor CRM, and developing reseller and end-user support unique to Canada.

A local outsourcing service provider understands the workforce. If a company chooses to open a foreign office without a guide who is familiar with hiring practices, they can get in trouble. Aberdeen’s Jones explains. “If I’m in New York and am looking to hire employees to staff an office overseas, and I don’t know the questions I can and cannot legally ask, it could lead to trouble with that government,” she says. Foreign taxation is another issue.

Dunsmore says the relationship is working well because the two companies share a common set of values. Digi, like other Keating clients, is realizing larger market share and lower cost of sales in Canada than it did before it outsourced. “Even though the Canadian market is only about 10 percent of our U.S. market, our penetration is better than most of our other international markets,” adds Dunsmore.

Lessons from the Outsourcing Journal:

• Companies that market their products and services to Canadian consumers are discovering that a partner who understands the needs of those customers is valuable.
• Establishing an indigenous presence and expertise in any international market is vital. Creating a local presence encourages the comfort of local clients.
• Foreign partners who assist firms in penetrating new international commercial venues often have a greater ability to drill deeper into vertical markets and customer bases because of their understanding of what drives these buyers .

“To be effective, pharma companies need to put concise data into sales reps’ hands along with a targeted message to deliver during their brief interaction with a doctor. Conveying useful data enables a rep to get back in the door with additional information later, building on a previous call,” explains Greg Umstead, CEO of Everest Field Technologies, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based provider performing sales force automation (SFA) and customer relationship management (CRM) support services in the life sciences industry. “In the case of a new product launch, two weeks’ lead time against a competitor’s product can make the difference between a blockbuster and an also-ran,” adds Umstead. “It’s that tight in establishing market presence.”

Reps depend on technology to inform them of doctors they are to call on the next day and which drugs to talk about. Their agenda also includes data collection regarding a doctor’s specialty and prescribing habits, changes in payer plans (and formulary drug restrictions) or hospitals where the physician is on staff, as well as new doctors.

In such an environment, SFA and CRM technology are crucial competitive advantage tools. But pharmaceutical SFA software and data manipulation is unique, requiring unusual help desk expertise. Pharma sales reps can’t afford to wait for help desk support. “During a product launch, there is often a frenzy to move prescriptions. Reps can’t afford a laptop or PDA to be down for three hours to get a support issue resolved,” Umstead points out. A pharma help desk needs to provide first call resolution, turn hardware repairs around the same day and be available when/wherever a rep needs support.

One Call–That’s All

Pharmaceutical companies have long outsourced their internal help desk process to providers with the requisite infrastructure and expertise; but field support for their sales reps has been handled by pharma software vendors understanding the SFA applications as well as the pharmaceutical selling environment. Unfortunately, this dual model–which is expensive–places a sales rep in the position of having to place several support calls, not knowing whether the problem is in the system, network or software. Until now, there was no other option.

On the cutting edge of delivering effective IT solutions, two outsourcing providers–Getronics and Everest Field Technologies–are now teaming to deliver a “unified help desk” solution.

Getronics has best-practice IT help desk processes and world-class call center infrastructure, as well as on-campus help desk experience with pharmaceutical clients. Everest Field Technologies has the pharma application expertise and knows the industry’s high-touch selling environment.

Their new teaming solution provides a single point of contact for pharmaceutical sales reps, enabling them to get all their problems attended to without having to figure out if it’s a system, hardware or application problem. The solution also provides reporting, billing and other integrated management features enabling executive decisions regarding campus and field support.

Together, Everest Field Technologies and Getronics conducted a recent study of field sales help desk call data among four leading U.S. pharmaceutical companies. Their preliminary analysis, including support environments for over 20,000 field sales representatives at these top companies, reveals that up to 30 percent of call volume represents topical areas common among both field and campus users.

Figure 2 below illustrates the significant potential 25 percent year-one savings that could be achieved with the Getronics-Everest Field Technologies unified support model.

From Vacuum to Value

Patrick Daniels, vice president, Pharmaceutical, states Getronics’ existing pharmaceutical help desk clients “have been asking us to provide this combined type of service.”

Their plea for a more effective solution is driven primarily by costs but also, in part, by the result of modifications to federal regulations impacting sample-drug activities. The regs (21 CFR Part 11, Parts 203 & 205) now require lot-level tracking from distribution to the prescriber who receives the samples. In addition, samples cannot be distributed to a prescriber without verifying state license validity. The regs also allow electronic recording of prescribers’ signatures.

With the regulatory changes came software modifications, and Siebel has now trumped other software vendors in this market. However, Siebel’s business model is not focused on support services, and the smaller players were unable to support the new software. The subsequent support vacuum caused pharmaceutical companies to seek a new solution. As 39 percent of the employees in a pharma company are in sales/marketing (according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America PhRMA 2001 Annual Survey) and require field support, this vacuum represents a huge bottom-line drain.

Research and development costs, advertising and big-seller drug products going generic all bombard a pharmaceutical company’s ability to impact its top line. As Getronics’ Daniels points out, “With earnings under pressure, they have to determine where they can cut costs.” He says 80 percent of help desk cost is the people answering phones. Getronics has integrated customer-automated tools into its solution. Using Web front-end tools, pharma users can perform some self-help, resulting in Getronics’ ability to reduce the number of people needed to provide the service, thus reducing the buyer’s cost. The unified support solution now provided by Getronics and Everest Field Technologies drives support costs down even further.

Umstead believes the long-term result of their teamed approach could facilitate cost-effective globalization of pharmaceutical support. “This has not been very successful in past years,” he says. “But when you can put all your field forces throughout a country and all your sites throughout the globe on the same infrastructure with the same service provider, that’s really powerful and can really drive down your cost of support in the long run.”

Lessons from the Outsourcing Journal:

• In a tight competitive market, where industry-specific software is a crucial facilitator of a process, outsourcing help desk support is crucial for maintaining uptime and competitive effectiveness.
• A consolidated help desk capability, combining on-campus and field support services, is a more scalable, cost-effective solution.
• When looking to outsource a help desk/support function, seek a provider with industry expertise, software expertise, scalable help desk capabilities and ongoing investment into components that continue to reduce the buyer’s cost of the service.

In the spring of 2000 as the tech market was softening, the manufacturer of computer memory and networking hardware saw sales falling. Executives felt the critical need to rejuvenate their relationships with resellers and create more user demand for the company’s networking products. “We wanted to build a reseller plan direct to the customers that would generate sales but not cut out the distributors in the supply chain,” says Jason Jacobi, director of marketing for Kingston, which is located in Fountain Valley, California.

Channelsource Direct, had the answer. The Buffalo, N.Y.-based outbound sales call center has served the technology industry since 1995. The company uses consulting expertise and focused target-marketing practices to create custom sales campaigns for technology clients.

“Kingston wanted to modify the sales chain, not reinvent it,” says Jeffrey Drilling, President of Channelsource Direct. “It’s an Asian-owned company where the executives see everyone (including resellers) as part of their family. It’s a different culture and the value they place on existing relationships is remarkably high. So we had to create end-user awareness, but not rock the boat.”

Channelsource Direct’s strategy involved building a reseller plan that would create market interest, not cut out the distributors in the supply chain. “We generated several thousand highly qualified resellers who were moving network products and providing installation type services throughout North America,” says Drilling.

In becoming more familiar with end user needs and modifying the supply chain, which in turn funneled more business to resellers, the outsourcing supplier increased client demand for Kingston’s products in a soft market. “What distributor,” asks Drilling “is going to tell a customer that he or she can’t deliver a product that customer wants?”

The result of this outbound sales campaign had the following beneficial results for Kingston:

• Developed (and in many cases redeveloped) distribution relationships with 10,000 resellers — a growth of 500 %
• Increased its market share — even in a soft market
• Created better relationships with all levels of the sales chain.

Repeat Business Keeps The Doors Open

How did Channelsource Direct turn chicken feathers into chicken salad? “We are very clear that our primary client objectives are to generate revenue and help them develop healthy long-term relationships. The best way to sell in the tech business is from a relationship perspective,” says Drilling.

Though it’s easy to articulate such a goal, the devil’s always in the details. Drilling’s firm positions itself as not only a sales option, but as a consulting partner by using its experience to leverage success as if it were the client’s in-house sales team. “We represent ourselves in the market as the client company. And we look out for their overall interests since we, like our clients, are after repeat business.”

“Some of the creative things we did included pre-qualifying hardware requirements and sampling the market to assure the products we released were best suited to our customers. A company that’s just going to dial-out, move product, then go home isn’t going to take the time to fine-tune their process to our needs unless they have a working interest in our success,” says Jacobi.

He continues, “We’re a channel advocate. In this instance we determined from the resellers (retailers) what the changing customer base wanted, outlined our value and generated demand. But we routed that demand to their distributor of choice. In essence, together we did new market research for our distributors.”

“A typical relationship finds us (as a supplier) strategizing and putting together a sales approach that is defined by the client’s culture,” says Drilling. The supplier makes adjustments to this approach as the sales process matures. Channelsource Direct also identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the client’s competitors. Both carefully define the relationship, then establish performance evaluation metrics and service level agreements (SLA).

The supplier then solicits opinions on the products from third-party industry experts and existing customers, which gives the client’s product credibility. Once that’s done, an online demo is offered so potential customers can experience the product. By that time, Channelsource Direct will have identified the ideal sales prospects and their hot buttons. The supplier is now ready to ask for the sale on behalf of the client.

Quick Turnarounds

So what are the tangible benefits of Channelsource Direct’s efforts?

“First , we generate revenue quickly. Speed to market is critical,” says Drilling. “Since we have cumulative experience in tech sales, we maximize client productivity and minimize our learning curve.”

Channelsource Direct has served hundreds of clients in the past six years and developed over 50 targeted sales campaigns for tech clients in the past three. “We offer a skilled sales force that drives revenue, but we plan and execute like a consultant,” adds Drilling. “It’s the best of both worlds.”

He understands the push/pull dynamics of outsourcing sales. But he also offers caution in selecting a firm to represent such efforts in the marketplace.

Drilling says buyers outsourcing their call center sales “must define their objectives.” For example, the products and services must have a defined market.

Selecting the right call center is important, too. Drilling says there are several thousand call centers in the US, each with different strengths, weaknesses and focuses. The best results happen when the skill sets of the call center match client needs.

But the key aspect is establishing agreeable performance metrics so the client can evaluate the supplier’s performance. Drilling believes they are “the most critical element” in sustaining an ongoing sales outsourcing relationship.

Finally, buyers “must have realistic expectations.”

Arriving at the Outsourcing Decision

To many firms, the idea of outsourcing any core task is a dubious prospect. The financial benefits are clear. But they weigh those advantages against a perceived loss of control over a traditional inhouse duty. Furthermore, the idea of outsourcing sales, the lifeblood of any firm, can make company officers uneasy.

Drilling understands the ambiguities of such deliberations. But he also knows the benefits far outweigh the risks.

“Anytime someone outsources sales, they must accept they are going to have to share control of their revenue generation process. Part of the problem we outsourcers collectively experience is everyone has either had a terrible experience themselves, or knows someone who has. But if a company selects the right organization, the upside is huge.”

Lessons From the Outsourcing Primer:

• The most successful outsourcing sales relationships are typically found when client and outsourcer communicate closely.
• An outsourcing sales provider offers speed to market in half the time (or less) than in-house sales campaigns and usually generates revenue faster.
• The right outsourcing sales provider can generate revenue in either product rollout or aftermarket/legacy environments in ways that can increase customer loyalty and lead to repeat business.

The company needed a sales force now. So, who ya gonna call? The ladies called First Technology Sales.

This BSP’s goal is to help emerging companies rapidly deploy top gun sales professionals. (The firm’s domain name is “topgunsales.com.”) It combines its business process expertise in the selling forum with proprietary software called the Cheetah Sales System — it shares with its clients on the Web using the ASP model.

First Technology’s clients outsource their entire sales function to the supplier. The BSP develops a sales plan, hires the sales team, and then trains them. It also hosts and maintains the sales software. While leopards can’t change their spots, this Cheetah is customized for every client. Content, training and competitive industry information constantly change during the contract period.

Michael Barrett, CEO, says The Every Woman’s Company’s experience is typical. The No. 1 reason why companies outsource their sales function is their need for speed to market. First Technology can have its software ready in two weeks and its top guns recruited and trained in six. The firm can be so speedy because the software is not a customer relationship management program.

Finding Sales People In A Booming Economy

Personnel is another factor driving companies to outsource the sales function. Unemployment is low and good salespeople are highly prized. Companies are having a hard time finding one top gun. Forget finding 30.

The Oregon BSP, on the other hand, has a talent pool of 2,600 prescreened candidates. Once a candidate joins First Technology’s staff, that sales person becomes dedicated to one client for the duration of the outsourcing contract. With every contract, First Technology assembles a sales team that includes a senior recruiter, a technical person and a consultant.

Companies also decide to outsource sales when they are launching a new project or opening a new territory. “They need top gun sales expertise to get some traction in the market,” says Barrett. Then they bring in their own people after they have experienced some success.

First Technology specializes in small, emerging companies enjoying their second or third round of funding. The owners are typically technologically focused and have no flair for sales. “Technology people and sales people don’t go to the same parties,” says Barrett with a laugh. The techies appreciate the BSP’s turnkey sales program. “We’re trying to change or upgrade the DNA of the company,” he explains.

The melding of the ASP and BPO models has been rewarding for First Technologies. Barrett says the BPO model enjoys high margins. However, because it sells services, “you wake up unemployed every morning.”

The ASP model, on the other hand, has both recurring revenue and economies of scale. BPOs that have useful technology and competent hosting and information management can add monthly revenues, “something BPOs generally struggle with,” notes Bennett. He calls the ASP portion of his business “the creation of a knowledge domain.”

Customers like the BSP proposition because they just want a business solution. They trust their BPOs, so it doesn’t take much of a leap of faith to let their BPOs become their ASPs, too.

Having Skin in the Game

First Technology divides its fees into two buckets. It has a monthly fee that is well below the market for a comparable BSP. The second piece is a success bonus that equals a percentage of the gross revenues which allows the outsourcing provider to be paid based on its sales success. “The success bonus allows us some wealth creation,” says the CEO.

Its customers feel comfortable with the arrangement because they know First Technology “has skin in the game” and is willing to share the risk.

To create a successful outsourcing relationship, Barrett suggests that each buyer identify an internal champion who becomes the point person. Typically, that person is the chief sales officer. This champion must be “100 percent in sync with the strategy we put together” and is responsible for teaching these precepts to the rest of the organization. The worst thing that can happen is for the client company “to treat us like an outside consultant,” says the CEO.

Putting Together a Sales Force For a Year

Barrett started the Lake Oswego, Oregon company in April 1998. The firm currently has 40 customers nationwide, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to well-funded start-ups. Currently its average outsourcing agreement spans 12 months.

Lessons from the Outsourcing Primer:

• Low unemployment makes it difficult to find top gun sales staff. This BSP can have a staff trained in six weeks.
• Speed to market is the number one reason people outsource their sales functions.
• First Technology charges a below market monthly fee, then earns a success bonus based on the successes of its sales teams.
• The BSP model worked for this BPO because it developed its own proprietary software that it can host.

This was the sales challenge the Atlanta office of Shell Energy faced when the state of Georgia decided to deregulate its natural gas industry in the fall of 1998. Shell Energy, which had been providing natural gas to Georgia since 1950, was one of 18 natural gas marketers ready to enter the fray for commercial customers.

The state laid down specific ground rules for this new competition. The gun would go off on October 15 and would continue until 33 percent of the state’s consumers selected their energy providers. One hundred days after the regulators closed the gates, the state would begin allocating gas users to energy marketers on a random basis.

The clock was ticking. Shell Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Houston-based Shell Oil Company, wanted to enroll as many customers as possible before the window closed. “We wanted to be seen on the street on day one because the potential for capturing a significant share of the market was great,” says John Sadowski, Shell Energy marketing manager.

However, Shell Energy had never faced sales challenges in a deregulated energy market. “The fixed cost of trying to assemble an indigenous sales force precluded us from doing it,” says Sadowski.

Outsourcing Mitigates Risk

Shell Energy also wanted to outsource the sale function to mitigate the risk involved. Sadowski says at the outset Shell Energy didn’t know which if any of the various markets would be profitable for the energy company. Outsourcing allowed Shell Energy to enter and exit the market with the least outlay of cash.

Shell Energy decided to keep the marketing strategy section of the sales process in-house. The company wanted to determine what to sell. The managers made general assumptions about the target markets’ reaction to Shell Energy’s marketing efforts, believing outside sales professionals would be needed for face-to-face contact. Its sales strategy teamed an inside sales force of lead generators with outside sales professionals.

The energy company hired Salience, an Andover, Massachusettes outsourcing supplier that specializes in deploying sales staffs. To meet the November 11 start date, Salience dispatched its recruiting team into all corners of Georgia’s business community to find the sales professionals it needed. Salience built a sales staff of 26 field reps and two sales managers.

Managing The Customer Acquisition Cost

Salience segmented the market and determined the correct sales channel for each grouping. It also rank ordered the customers; a bakery was a better candidate because it would use more natural gas than a nail salon. Sadowski says Salience designed an efficient sales process that in the end increased the percentage of closed sales.

The outsourcer also provided the reports Shell Energy needed to monitor the program. This included watching the cost; Shell Energy had a specific acquisition cost per customer in mind and Salience had to work within this budget. “We chose Salience because we knew they could get us to market quickly. But the ability to prudently manage the costs was equally important,” says Sadowski.

Salience also put together the sales compensation package. It had three parts. First, each representative received a base salary that included monthly expenses. Next, the supplier paid its sales staff a commission on a per contract basis. Then, each month it organized a sales contest. The contest focused on a specific slice of the market that needed extra attention.

Training was a joint effort between the buyer and supplier. Although Shell Energy conducted the monthly sales meetings, Salience executives attended every one.

Now that the initial land grab for customers is over, the dynamics of the market has changed. Shell Energy, however, renewed its contract with Salience last December. Today the sales force is concentrating on renewals and upsells. As for attracting new customers, the sales effort is targeting customers that meet a size criterion.

Sadowski says the sales results “have surpassed everyone’s expectations.” He was particularly relieved not to have to hassle with the administrative part of the selling process. “As it stands, the end of the engagement is not in sight,” says Sadowski.

Lessons From the Outsourcing Primer:

• When deregulation arrives, companies not used to competition would benefit from outsourcing the sales function.
• If a company has a deadline to sign up customers, an outsourcing provider can supply a sales force faster than the company could build one.
• Buyers tend to keep sales strategy in-house while outsourcing the other sales functions.
• Sales training needs to be a joint effort.
• Compensation works when it is tiered: The foundation is a base salary including expenses. Next come commissions based on sales. A third source of income comes from winning sales contests.