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Managing the Outsourcer Relationship
by
Craig Bailey
This is the third article in our series on maximizing outsourcer
relationships. The
prior edition discussed the importance of assigning clear ownership
of your outsourcer relationship. We will now discuss establishing and
managing to policy.
Ultimately, it is important to clarify the terms of engagement up front
(in the contract or statement of work). Frequently, however, this is not
adequately addressed or, over a period of time, it becomes apparent that
the terms of engagement need to be modified to support the evolving
relationship. This article will assume that there is an existing
relationship that requires clarification in policy and procedure. However,
the principles can just as easily be applied to setting up the terms of
engagement for a new relationship.
Too frequently, we have seen outsourcer/customer relationships dissolve to
the state of "management by email" and/or "managing by the heat of the
moment." This results in participants in the relationship:
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Constantly fighting fires and focusing primarily on
problems
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Losing site of the beneficial aspects of the
relationship and services delivered
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Having unclear expectations and being unable to
measure performance
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Asking the question: "What was I was supposed to do
under this circumstance? I know it was in one of those emails from last
week."
A
great starting point to address this is to engage a SWAT team of key
members in the relationship (from the outsourcer and customer) to discuss
the following set of questions:
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Why are we (the participants in the relationship)
here? What are we doing, exactly? What problem are we addressing or
opportunity are we exploiting?
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How do we do what we do (who does what, where, when
and why, to whom for how long)?
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How well are we doing it? How do we objectively
measure performance (success as well as opportunities for improvement)?
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What does the future hold for us?
Once you have clarified the purpose of the relationship (the first set of
questions), the next step is to define, at a detailed level, your Standard
Operating Procedures (SOP). If you already have an SOP, then you
potentially have a good starting point. A typical SOP will have (at least)
the following sections or elements:
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Mission/Vision
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Process flows
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Narratives
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Flow charts to
pictorially represent the top-level flow of activities between and
within the organizations
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Clearly articulated
special handling procedures
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Roles and responsibilities (which may include key job
descriptions)
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"Who to contact" lists inclusive of alternative
contacts and methods of contact (office, email, cell) for personnel on
both sides of the relationship
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General reference information germane to the nature of
the relationship
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Service level agreements
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Measurement reporting and quality monitoring practices
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Defined process and ownership for ongoing
maintenance/updates for and distribution of the SOP
So, you have an SOP? Be careful…if it is more than 3 months old, I'd
suggest it is out of date and should be reviewed.
You might ask "who should take the lead in defining or maintaining the
SOP?" A very good question. In my opinion, the outsourcer (whose core
competency is managing the particular set of outsourced activities)
"should" drive this based on best practices that have been implemented
elsewhere. However, depending on the nature and status of the
relationship, you (the customer) may need to take the initiative on this,
especially if the contract you have with the outsourcer doesn't explicitly
include defining and maintaining the SOP.
Once the above is defined and implemented, it then becomes imperative
that:
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When exception situations occur (as they undoubtedly
will), they are quickly discussed and the resolution (approach to
addressing similar items in the future) is incorporated into the SOP
document, which is then republished.
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You cease process design via email. There is only ONE
process and it is the process that is documented in the SOP.
In
upcoming editions of this newsletter, we will cover:
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Creating realistic, aligned and measurable goals
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Inclusion within the inner circle
In closing, if
you'd like an objective perspective on how effectively you are managing
your outsourcer relationships, give us a call. We would be happy to
perform a situational assessment, providing you a read-out of what is
working well (to keep doing), opportunities for improvement and a
pragmatic road-map for closing the gap between where you are and where you
want to be. Alternatively, if you are considering outsourcing as an
approach to addressing key business needs, we can help you evaluate
options (including the basic question: does outsourcing even make sense
for us), consummating the relationship through implementing the standard
operating practices to ensure an ongoing and effective relationship. In
fact, we have the references to prove it!
View previous articles in this series.
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Contents
+ Managing the Outsourcer Relationship
+ Recommended Reading
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Article in CRM Today
Is there a Governor on your Telemarketing Program? by Craig Bailey has
been published in CRM Today magazine. Go ahead and check it out!
Recommended Reading
CRM
Magazine article
Performance Management Spending Will Increase by Colin Beasty presents
some results of the AMR Research report "Trends in Performance Management
Spending, 2006." According to Mr. Beasty, the report indicates we will see
an increase in spending in the area of Business Intelligence (BI) and
other Performance Measurement applications. The report also finds
increased emphasis on standardization and the use of reports and
dashboards to manage and measure performance.
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