Industry news

FrieslandCampina, a leading dairy cooperative has selected Verizon to provide information and application security services.

The service provided by Verizon will allow FrieslandCampina’s workforce based around the globe in 100 countries to access applications and services securely.

In the past the company had employed a two-factor identification service, which proved to be adequate for Western Europe but technological practices in Asia-Pacific countries including the prevalence of text-message technology had made this past practice untenable.

Verizon’s Universal Identity Services offers FrieslandCampina increased speeds and flexiblity secure. FrieslandCampina’s employees can select their own method of authentication including SMS or voice response on the mobile device of their choice. Conversely, FrieslandCampina’s IT department can tailor security access for each user and adapt it as the user travels.

Pieter Holst, area vice president for Verizon in the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), said: “Flexible and agile information access is critical for business productivity, and IT departments are increasingly using identity management solutions to redevelop the scope of their operations and open new business market opportunities.”

Given the clear business benefits the right IT system can offer, businesses are keen to make technology investments to improve business process design and performance. Investments in expensive ERPs and latest BPM suites have been quick in driving innovation at a ‘process level'. But it has often sacrificed the effectiveness and agility required to adapt to changing business needs. Despite heavy technology spends, process limitations can hold back organisations from reaching their desired business outcomes.

This is because, by nature, ERPs and other systems of record are not as flexible or adaptable as they need to be. This can make investments disappointing in the long term, hence the need for a set of technology assets that support flexibility, adaptability and scale.

Take an Order Management (OM) process which depends on an ERP system for recording information at every step of the execution and on the BPM engine for execution efficiency. If the client’s business objectives are dynamic and stress optimising the OM process each time business influences change, a system of innovation over and above the ERP is required. This additional layer above the ERP can then work with the configurable parameters of the OM processes, but at the same time, accommodate configurable business rules.

Looking at the two ends of the spectrum, ERP systems are excellent for leveraging their reusable asset libraries. These are based on past upgrade experiences and promise a clear view of scope, time and cost advantage. They also deliver quicker ROI and reduced project duration; reduced downtime and adequate industry flavour. However, they remain limited when it comes to solving a business problem end-to-end - simply because they are designed only for recording information.

BPM engines, on the other hand, drive operational excellence and process agility for improved organisational performance. But as BPMs are systems of transactional execution, they are also limited in solving customers’ business problems, end-to-end.

There is a clear need for a solution that brings the best of both worlds and this is where Process Templates come in.

What are Process Templates?

‘Process Templates’ are pre-built business process design, execution and management artifacts that accelerate time to solution. Ultimately, they combine the expertise of BPO providers with the power of technology.

BPO service providers build their own technology layer over existing ERPs and fuel it with the domain knowledge gathered from serving multiple clients with similar processes. It is these systems of differentiation that allow the flexibility to configure processes to fit the exact business drivers of the customer.

The real business value comes from the alignment of Process Templates to business goals.

In regards to BPM engines, it is ideal for businesses to have a layer of differentiation over and above the ERP to deliver process execution efficiency. ‘Process Templates’ are one example of that differentiation.

The Best Way to Maximise Returns from Process Templates

To get the best from Process Templates, customers need to find ways to increase process configurability (fixed components while defining a process). Differentiation with Process Templates is about going beyond building templates and configuration - it is about realising ‘organisational improvements’ as a result of implementing them.

The approach to Process Templates is not merely about configuring best practices in processes but to really ensure that processes are tuned to the client’s business strategy and outcomes. Process Templates are meant to give customers continuous improvement by aligning and re-aligning organisational performance to organisational goals. If the focus is on maintaining high dynamic customisation, business process flows can be dynamically generated anywhere or at any time by applying patterns to design the process and simultaneously ensuring that business environment changes are accounted for.

Take an Accounts Payables (AP) process where Wipro BPO’s Base™ Business Platform can help in improving the cash position. A typical AP process has parameter specifications for mailroom, OCR, matching, payment approval, payment run and more. Process Templates can be built for each of these parameters as they are all configurable, thus creating a specialised version of the process which is customised and unique to the client, in a way that enables the business to decide on optimum payment timelines.

The way forward

Flexibility and efficiency are two contradicting requirements of businesses. It is fortunate that Process Templates have the ability to deliver both. The future belongs neither to systems of records nor to systems of transactional execution. It simply belongs to the systems of differentiation and innovation, given that innovation and agility are paramount in today’s competitive climate.

By sheer design, ERP applications are no longer sufficient to meet the flexibility needs of organisations. ‘Process Templates’ are on the rise, riding the new wave of the ‘business software breed’ with strong BPM capabilities. Managing specific business segment activities will only get easier with canned ‘Process Templates,’ and if the choice is to outsource, then it’s got to be a service provider with powerful systems of differentiation that align with customer’s business objectives.

Author’s Bio:

Nithya Ramkumar

Head, Business Platforms, Wipro BPO

Nithya brings a wealth of experience to the Wipro BPO team by building the technology edge to its service offerings, globally. She has spent 22 years at Wipro with experience in rolling out innovation in IT and BPO solutions, across telecom, healthcare, energy and insurance verticals.

Nithya is passionate about technology innovation, and value creation for customers through technology enhancement. ‘Base)))™ Business Platforms’, Wipro BPO’s analytics driven business process platform that delivers business outcomes for customers has been created and implemented for customers, under her leadership.

Nithya’s accomplishments include the introduction of new service lines and exploring new markets, for Wipro BPO. Her team has filed for 14 patents in Business Process Management under her leadership and was granted three patents in July 2012 - ‘Algorithm System and Method’ & ‘Method and System for Workflow Management of a Business Process’.

Nithya is a graduate of the Pondicherry University with an Engineering degree in Computer Science. In her spare time, Nithya enjoys reading, cooking and spending quality time with her two sons.

Virgin has been awarded a contract valued at around £1 million by City Link for the transformation of the delivery firms contact centre.

The project is expected to deliver increased savings alongside improved management capabilities, customer handling interactions and reduced response times.

The contract includes support for customer support services including IM capabilities and desktop-sharing, allowing staff to collaborate and pass customer tickets between support staff.

The program is expected to be delivered by the end of this year, with City Link IT director, James Coxon, saying: “We’ve invested heavily over the past year in improving our IT infrastructure and are excited to welcome Virgin Media Business on board as part of our drive to improve the service we provide to our customers day in, day out.”

Virgin awarded preferred supplier status by public sector service network

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NHS England is set to move forward with its patient data collection program from this spring.

The move is according to the NHS, designed to improve health care services through the utilisation of modern data services, focusing on areas that show best practice and those that are struggling.

The patient data program is expected to provide data that is similar to information already gathered in hospitals, allowing the NHS to analysis care in GPs and create an overall picture of services.

In preparation of the spring launch date, the NHS has undertaken a PR offensive including a leafleting campaign, in order to mitigate patient fears given current fears surrounding data protection and government intrusion.

NHS England said in a statement that: “Using this combined information, we can now obtain low-cost answers to questions about the quality of care that would have been difficult or impossible to answer only a few years ago.”

NHS launches £100 million fund for innovative IT

NHS Shared Business Services announces legal services framework appointments

The latest forecast from analyst giant Gartner predicts global IT spending will reach $3.8 trillion in 2014.

The latest forecast expects a total rise of 3.1 per cent compared to spending 2013. The predicted increase in spending suggests confidence in strong IT growth compared to the limited 0.4 per cent growth in 2013.

The forecast pointed to increased investment in tablets, PCs and mobile devices driving spending with enterprise level software spending continuing to represent the greatest growth over the 2014 forecast.

Industries are also expected to increase funding in customer marketing while employing analytics. Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner, said: “The focus is on enhancing the customer experience throughout the presales, sales and post sales processes.”

The forecast also expected companies to increasingly refocus investments away from data centre development, instead moving to cloud based platforms.

Insight into IT set to be a key focus for 2014

Ayala Corp have undertaken the sale of its BPO unit to Convergys in a deal valued at $820.

The Ohio based customer management and information management Product Company is expected to complete the purchase of the BPO unit called Stream at the end of the first quarter.

The purchase will lead to the creation of a company with a combine revenue of over $3 billion, with more than 125,000 employees operating in 35 different languages.

Convergys President and and chief executive Andrea Ayers, said: “This acquisition is an important step forward in our plan for strategic growth and value creation."

She added that: “We believe this combination will strengthen Convergys by diversifying our client base and enabling us to offer a wider range of customer transactions in a more cost effective manner from multiple geographies, at scale".

Convergys Recruiting for 370 Positions in Costa Rica

Convergys Announces Expansion into Colombia With State-of-the-Art Contact Center

The City of Boston have moved to Google away from Microsoft following a review of services based on cost and capabilities.

The decision will see all public service employees including, emergency services, education and transport staff move away from using Microsoft Exchange to using Google Apps.

Google was chosen based on the view that past Microsoft services had taken a high level of resources to maintain and took too much time, while Google offered a 99.9 per cent uptime guarantee on email services.

“Our new unified, cloud-based communication system is pretty big change from our old set-up. Our agencies worked together to manage their mail environments, with resources focused on mail administration and working across the group structures”, said Boston’s CIO Bill Oates.

Google reveals outsourcing mantra

The UK nuclear supply chain has received a £13 million investment designed to boost services through the development of innovative practices and products.

The funding comes from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and a range of other public bodies, and follows the decision to construct Hinkley Point C, the first new nuclear pwer station in over 20 years.

Energy minister Michael Fallon said: “This funding will help UK companies to compete for contracts in areas like construction, manufacturing, operation, maintenance and decommissioning and waste. We want to build a robust UK-based supply chain for existing and future nuclear power stations.”

Expectations turn to China for future power as Centrica pulls out of nuclear project

George Osborne has warned of further cuts over the coming year, which he described as a "year of hard truths".

He said that £25 billion in savings would need to be achieved in order to balance UK spending, saying that the UK was currently: "borrowing around £100bn a year - and paying half that money a year in interest just to service our debts".

Mr Osborne suggested that the cuts would come from reductions in welfare spending, including cutting housing benefits for under-25s, and restricting housing for those with an income of over £65,000 a year.

The announcement comes as the Chancellor seeks to cement the government’s economic strategy in preparation of the next general election.

UK government cuts see borrowing drop

UK prepares for 2013 budget

HTC has reported worse than expected profits for its fourth-quarter, with a net profit of T$0.3 billion despite significant cost-cutting practices.

The net profit compares to T$1.01 billion in the same quarter of 2012, and fails to meet the expected amount of T$721.71 million according to Reuters.

Despite marketing campaigns HTC has struggled to differentiate its brand from the likes of Samsung and Apple, while attempting to move away from continued poor market performances, which seek to put off customers from investing in devices which may not be supported should the company fail.

Currently HTC hold a 2.2 per cent global market share, compared to the 10.3 per cent it used to hold in 2011.

HTC rumoured to be looking at outsourced production

HTC and Apple settle outstanding patent disputes