Outsourcing Center, Staff Writer
Robotics, Analytics or Multi-channel enagagement? This report explores the innovative practices businesses are implementing in their outsourcing agreements. It is based on 100 in-depth interviews with senior outsourcing buyers. More than four fifths (83%) of buyers say they have experienced innovation in their outsourcing relationships Nine in ten (92%) say their outsourcing partners want to …
Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer
Businesses have always wanted a crystal ball to predict the future. Now they can almost have one if they combine Big Data, analytic prowess and deep domain and process knowledge. For the first time, analytics is becoming predictive and can help executives make less risky decisions that affect their corporate futures. The key is you …
Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer
It’s hard to find a business enabler that’s evolving as quickly as Big Data analytics. This undisputed darling of the loyalty program and retail world has now infiltrated nearly every industry, from transportation and healthcare to insurance and supply chain management. It’s the catalyst for a new marketing mindset, where targeted offers are not only …
Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer
Talk to most outsourcing buyers at the outset of their engagements and innovation is always on their wish list. Talk to them two or three years later, and the one thing they wish they had gotten is innovation. The lack of innovation in outsourcing seems to be one the few things they are unhappy about. …
Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer
The finance and accounting function, along with HR, have traditionally been the BPO processes that companies testing the waters of outsourcing get wet with first. Today “transactional outsourcing has been leveled to a simple commodity,” says Michael J. Alfonsi, Managing Director, BancTec Financial Transaction Services. So what are FAO’s challenges 20 years later? Processes are …
Outsourcing Center, Karthik Nagendra, Business Writer
Today’s Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are not simple documents that define the duration and the service to be delivered against a timetable with a handful of pre-determined performance parameters. Rather, they are documents that include cleverly negotiated customization, additional provisions, provider and buyer obligations, reporting methodologies, penalties and rewards. A well-crafted and customized SLA document …
Outsourcing Center, Karthik Nagendra, Business Writer
One of the questions that continue to hound buyers and providers of outsourcing is how to mitigate the risk of failure. This is despite a longer history of outsourcing than you would suspect—outsourcing can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution. For 150 years, until 1900, industry in Europe outsourced its requirements. Functions like accounting …
Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer
16th Annual Outsourcing Excellence Awards—Best BPO: International Paper and Aon Hewitt “Instead of communicating by change requests and contract management, we can sit down and talk. That is what makes us successful.” Scott Lacy, Manager of HR Operations, International Paper It was the 1990s and the paper and packaging industry was dramatically evolving. To keep …
Dennis Winkler, Director, Jim Matthews, Managing Consultant, Alsbridge
Executives are all asking similar questions of their shared service organizations (SSO): “How do I get to the next level of shared services and realize more value?” “How do I change my SSO model to expand services and go global?” “How do I drive continuous process improvement initiatives?” “How do I deal with social media …
Outsourcing Center, Karthik Nagendra, Business Writer
Two things are of key importance in the retail industry today: margins and customer loyalty. While better sourcing, operational efficiencies and market penetration can check margins, the answers to improving loyalty or even maintaining them are complex. Retailers are increasingly being forced towards tactical solutions, rewarding customers with “money-off” deals. Much of the concept of …
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