Industry news

C3 / CustomerContactChannels, a global provider of customer management solutions, announced plans to expand operations with a new contact facility in Sofia, Bulgaria. The new facility, slated to open immediately, will have capacity of over 500 multi-lingual customer service representatives. The center will initially service a global travel client. C3 plans to significantly expand its European operations over the next year, a move driven by increased interest in European centers from existing and potential clients. Bulgaria will serve as a strategic location for business growth and C3's European expansion.

"We've seen substantial growth in the European market and we want to make a long-term commitment to the region," said David Epstein, C3 CEO. "We're looking to strengthen our presence in Europe by offering the same unique services and solutions we've come to be known for, but with a distinctly European focus."

Serco's innovative approach to facilities management at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Scotland, saw it and its partners, the Forth Valley NHS Board and Forth Health, share the coveted 'FM Excellence in a Major Project' Award. The award was presented on the evening of 10 October at the prestigious 2011 British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) awards ceremony.

The award was won in a highly competitive environment against strong opposition from organisations including the Co-Operative and KPMG.

“From managing large scale R&D projects – testing product safety, monitoring reports, clinical data management and clinical development activities – and from supply chain networks to even leading on customer service, outsourcing has become an integral part of the way large, multinational pharmaceutical companies are run,” says Sanjiv Gossain, Cognizant Senior Vice President and head of UK & Ireland.

Although figures released this week by TPI state that investment in Pharmaceutical Outsourcing is down % from $6.3 bn to $2.6 bn, this reinforces Everest Research’s comments earlier this year: “The spike we saw in 2010 was largely the result of pent up demand from the recessionary economy. However, the business drivers for outsourcing adoption remain and continue to evolve. Cost pressures, a changing pharma ecosystem, emerging markets and other market forces are continuing to drive the market. Moving forward, we expect to see an increase in sourcing of drug development and research, supply chain, data management and analytics functions.”

BPO, in other words. Outsourcing of non-core business processes sits well with the pharmaceutical industry, as it always desperate for any development that will speed up time to market. As Pharma has a long R&D cycle, outsourcing of things such as sales force automation and back-office functions – anything that will get the drug on the shelves quicker - is readily accepted.

As a result, says Duncan Aitchison of TPI: “Companies in the Drugs & Biotechnology sector tend to invest more heavily in BPO services, particularly industry-specific solutions. Take up of BPO outsourcing is led by Finance & Accounting (28% of companies), HRO (20%) and Procurement (20%). Other activities include specialist business processes such as Pharmacovigilance, Clinical Trials and Lab Automation.”

According to Everest, “firms have increasingly outsourced drug development process work as well as F&A, human resources and procurement.” This increase in R&D outsourcing has seen a rise in pharmaceutical-specific service providers such as Advinus, inVentive Health, PDI, Publicis Touchpoint Solutions and ZS Associates.

Not to be outdone, massive outsourcing players are finding innovative ways to enter the fray.

“AstraZeneca has taken an innovative approach to responding to the NHS’ changing needs and we’re delighted to be a part of that,” says Mark Brown, Managing Director, Contact Centres & Loyalty, arvato UK. Arvato will to design and manage a new support and information service for healthcare professionals. From the beginning of March, a team of ABPI (Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry) accredited Customer Service Agents - based on-site at AstraZeneca’s UK Marketing Company headquarters in Luton - will enable AstraZeneca to offer healthcare professionals the opportunity to engage in telephone dialogue about AZ’s medicines and value-added services. “We are looking forward to helping AstraZeneca retain, support and grow its existing relationships, as well as develop new relationships, with healthcare professionals,” said Mark Brown.

Arvato has long been involved in the pharma space. For the last 18 years, they have partnered with Beckman Coulter, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of systems and consumables in the field of clinical diagnostics and life sciences. Arvato provides Beckman Coulter with a customised distribution solution service. The in-vitro diagnostic industry has special needs regarding specific cold chain requirements and the handling of hazardous materials. To do this, Arvato faces the challenge of guaranteeing global export shipments comply with the latest regulations and strict packaging requirements for transporting sensitive medical products and hazardous materials.

This is a prime is example of how the healthcare industry is very different, and major outsourcing suppliers need both flexible structures and cross-industry expertise to succeed in a heavily regulated environment (and rules are often rewritten, don’t forget!).

Duncan Aitchsion says: “The costs associated with healthcare reform and expected revenue loss when patents expire have been strong motivating factors for companies to build up and speed up new product development pipelines.”

As we all know, when companies need it faster, slicker, cheaper – outsourcing is the answer. Investment in pharmaceutical outsourcing was so abundant in 2010, it comes as no surprise that there has been a drop off in 2011. sourcingfocus.com predicts that, as the most common outsourcing drivers are so prevalent in the pharma industry, the drop is a blip, and and investment in pharmaceutical outsourcing contract will bounce back with a vengeance over the next 12 months.

Last month we brought together key thinkers in the HR profession for our annual HR Directors symposium, Redefining Business Value Through a Talent Centric Approach, and the debate certainly raised a few issues. One key trend throughout the day was the acknowledgement that HR is under growing pressure to enable growth whilst making operations leaner, faster and more cost effective to run, pressure which shows no signs of fading.

As this pressure has grown there has been a nagging suspicion building that the Ulrich model, an application which was put in place to help HR grow and develop, is no longer having the desired outcome. At a time when HR needs to connect on all levels within a company, the Ulrich model has in some cases removed the all-important middle and created a disconnect between process and strategy, an important connection which can be rebuilt as the profession reacts to the changing business climate.

A partnership approach

One of the speakers at our event, Gyan Nagpal, former head of talent in APAC for Deutsche Bank and now CEO of the consultancy, PeopleLENS, emphasised the fact that corporate boards are looking for greater involvement and depth of insight from HR, which means it is now more important than ever that the profession presents its business case in a more structured and robust manner.

In a challenging and ever changing economic environment where it is difficult to forecast skills and organisational needs, CEOs are looking to strategic outsourced business partners for assistance, but, in many instances, they still do not see the HR function in this role. To counter this, HR professionals either within or outside the organisation need to align talent strategies with real industry needs.

In the first instance there is a level of education needed on both sides. For senior line management a better understanding of how talent management can contribute to the bottom line is desirable, whilst HR professionals in return needs to learn the inner workings and language of corporations to be able to quantify the business impact of talent management in a way the board easily understands. Using the people agenda as an example, HR professionals need to be able to put this HR topic into more quantifiable, commercial terms, for board members to see the incentives behind it before they can agree to such an investment.

The new opportunity

Over the next year or two, external and internal talent management specialists alike will need to take more risks when it comes to talent management in order to retain the right talent needed to keep up with the changing environment. Instead of working separately, HR professionals and line managers should be combining their talent management efforts to maximise success and support each other as strategic business partners should.

It’s no longer an option for a company to simply outsource the talent management function externally and take a step back. The ideal approach is instead a partnership whereby both parties draw on their experience to work together to develop robust strategic principles which provide the talent for a business which is yet to be defined. This is a great opportunity for HR professionals to be the guide business leaders are looking for and achieve the board room credibility desired by talent management professionals both as an outsourced function and internal resource.

The full analysis of the HR Directors Symposium is available in the Ochre House White Paper Redefining business value through a talent centric approach. For a copy of the report please contact Prashanie Dharmadasa: prashanie.dharmadasa@ochrehouse.com

When Sebastian Vettel stood on the podium at Suzuka in early October and held up, politely, two fingers to signify his second consecutive Formula One World Drivers’ Championship, he could equally have been indicating the two key partners who made his victory possible.

Without question, Formula One demonstrates the pinnacle of collaborative best practice between client and supplier. In Vettel’s case it is Red Bull Racing and Renault, but you could equally point to McLaren Mercedes, Williams with Honda in the past and Cosworth today; the list goes on. In fact, it’s not only engine suppliers, but also sponsors, tyre manufacturers and IT hardware and software providers that make up the collaborative F1 circus.

When asked to justify the millions of dollars sunk into cars racing round a track each year, all of those involved claim that developments at the ‘bleeding edge’ of car or engine design result in a trickle-down to the driver of an average saloon.

Sadly, F1 aside, the examples of collaborative success in the IT industry are generally less obvious. There are, of course, some stand-out exceptions. Without a famous meeting between the lately lamented Steve Jobs and his biggest rival, Bill Gates, Apple would have ceased to exist. Had there been no collaboration between Intel and most of the world’s personal computer providers, we might still be taking 15 minutes to download and process 250kb of data. Smartphones wouldn’t be so smart without collaboration between handset manufacturers and Google, Facebook or app developers.

However, at the less glamorous end of the IT client/supplier relationships, collaboration seems to be a dim memory. Portfolio theories, of which there are many, would suggest there are optimum methods of managing these relationships and the indirect organisational relationships around them.

Like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, customer/supplier relationships range from the purely transactional for simple survival, with little or no contact between the two, to fully integrated, strategic alliances with a desire to change society.

There has been regular debate across the IT industry about the increasing commoditisation of IT. Essentially, this means a move ever further towards the transactional end of the relationship spectrum.

Needs must when the economy drives

Ironically, with the latest global economic pressures, the time may be ripe for a resurgence in collaborative best practice.

When it comes to outsourcing, for some years now cost has been one of the client’s key drivers and is currently almost exclusively at the top of the justification list. So, as clients consistently try to cut their costs or losses, innovation is one of the first elements to be cut by suppliers. Why? Because innovation is labour intensive and, therefore, expensive. This is where collaboration comes in.

By creating an ‘innovation gap’ the opportunity arises for single-idea collaboration. This means a different approach between client and supplier in terms of project development and use of technology.

Increasingly, technology is being designed with collaboration in mind; cloud computing is the perfect example. In a recently commissioned report for Xantus, a third of CIOs highlighted collaboration as a major benefit of cloud, with some even stating that a non-collaborative approach could become a significant competitive disadvantage. The collaboration may only be for a single application or data handling service, but it is collaboration nonetheless.

From a financial perspective, the ‘innovation gap' also requires a collaborative mindset. One example of this is where clients and suppliers have viewed service credits as a means of funding innovation and collaboration rather than seeing them simply as a revenue stream.

Lap of honour

So, as you watch another case of premium champagne being sprayed at the end of the remaining 2011 F1 races, it’s worth considering that the collaborative investment of money and time to develop innovative ideas may be the best way to pop the cork on successful, beneficial, long-term relationships between clients and suppliers.

The agency workers directive (AWD) comes into force on 1st October 2011 and will give an agency worker the right to the same 'basic working and employment conditions' (pay, the duration of working time, night work, rest periods, rest breaks and annual leave) as a comparable direct recruit after 12 weeks on an agency workers assignment.

The key right is that basic working and employment conditions must be no less favourable than the basic working and employment conditions (certain elements of pay, holiday, hours) the worker would have been entitled to had they been directly hired by the organisation for which they are working.

This right accrues after the worker has worked in the same role for a hirer for 12 continuous weeks.

Other equal treatment rights include access to facilities and amenities and access to vacancies which apply from day 1 with the hirer i.e. there is no qualification period.

The Regulations provide entitlements to “agency workers” and do not provide any rights in respect of employees whose terms and conditions, principally in respect of pay, may be less favourable than those of some “agency workers”.

The responsibility and cost of providing the same basic working and employment conditions (certain elements of pay, holiday and hours) to the worker rests with the Agency. The Company however is obliged to provide the Agency with the relevant details to enable the Agency to make such provision and to arrange to ensure other aspects of equal treatment can be effectively managed within the Company. If the Company fails to do this then it may also be liable to the worker for the inequality in basic working and employment conditions. The Company will be solely liable for any breach of the “day one” rights.

The Regulations are both complex and ambiguous in part and case law development will need to be monitored over time.

So what does this mean for businesses engaging a high volume of temps, especially those temps on or just above the minimum wage? The implication are serious: a potential increase to the cost base of a business.

Many United Kingdom based businesses will struggle to meet the demands of the new directive not only from a potential financial aspect but also from a process, control and monitoring viewpoint.

To support our customers mitigate the risk and effectively manage all aspects of temporary labour spend, we at Xchanging Procurement Service , have developed a sophisticated web ordering managed service model. We call it Enhanced Resourcing Service.

So, how does this work? The Enhanced Resourcing Service allows vacancies to be captured and routed to a consolidated supply base for fulfilment, which is fully compliant under the new Agency Workers Directive regulations. It allows customers flexibility in their approach which are aligned to their company Agency Workers Directive policies e.g. to provide comparable pay after 12 weeks or from day 1. This service provides an organisation:

Control & Visibility

• Process is compliant to Agency workers directive

• Compliant Supply Chain

• Single source supplier

• Transparency of spend across all locations, regions, job categories and suppliers.

Cost Mitigation

• Cash Flow generation by introducing gain share models

• Process Efficiency / Streamlined Administration through automation

• Cost Reduction through supplier leverage and cost out approach

• Improved Working Capital via standardised payment terms and supplier leverage

Risk Mitigation

• Legislative obligations achieved or deferred

• Vendor neutral to support ‘fair’ sourcing

Many leading organsiations today realise that being prepared is critical. We are already engaged with a range of businesses to:- to:-

• Conduct impact assessments, including reviewing the supply and use of temporary contract workers, identifying which workers will be in scope and which will be outside scope of the Agency Workers Regulations and assessing any cost impact.

• Work together to consider options to minimise risk and cost when supplying and engaging workers in and outside scope of the Agency Workers Regulations

• Put new contracts in place with appropriate agreement on risk apportionment

With the fast changing regulatory environment, increasingly organisations are looking to implement a tailor made solutionfor long term sustainable benefits and process efficiencies and to manage and mitigate the risk of changing employment legislation. How prepared are you?

Alexander Mann Solutions, the provider of world-class talent and resourcing capability, has announced that it has hired Isabelle Hung as its Global Head of Internal Resourcing. The role will see Isabelle manage a team of 15 resourcing experts across the UK, Europe and Asia-Pac, who together are responsible for resourcing within AMS’s global workforce of 1,500 executives.

As one of the world’s leading providers of resourcing solutions, AMS helps major companies to hire key talent into their business and ‘flex’ their workforce up and down to meet demand. In the current economic environment, this is becoming even more apparent with businesses needing to make significant changes to their workforce, often at short notice or for a short period of time. In response, a major part of Isabelle’s role over the next six months will focus on internal mobility and ensuring that employees can ‘flex’ with client demands and are comfortable working in an assignment-based culture.

Hung explains: “Many companies are making changes to their workforce in response to economic conditions through carefully reviewing capacity opportunities within business areas. We all know that when a department is flat out another is often underutilised due to demands from internal and external customers changing in-line with market needs.

"At AMS we have been promoting an assignment based culture, similar to that of the management consultancies; where our consultants have the opportunity to work with a number of blue chip clients over the course of two years. In return, this provides our clients with flexible solutions that mirror their business demands.”

Parliamentary ICT (PICT) on behalf of the House of Commons and House of Lords is seeking to procure a contract for the provision of strategic web hosting for the Parliament website (www.parliament.uk), Parliament Intranet and other online channels.

Parliament’s online channels are high profile increasingly business critical and in the last 12 months received 16 000 000 visits, from 10 000 000 unique visitors, with daily visitor traffic varying from a low of 6 000 visits to a peak of 158 000.

The supplier will be responsible for providing a service which meets service levels around availability, support and issue management. The supplier will be expected to demonstrate flexible commercial models which ensure Parliament can get value for money and be proactive in ensuring that Parliament’s online channels are delivered in a resilient, secure and robust way.

We are keen to work in partnership with the supplier to take advantage of new opportunities that technology can provide and provide a flexible and scalable service that can accommodate all Parliament’s web hosting needs over the next three to five years.

Sitel and LifeScan, won the Best Outsourcing Partnership of the Year at the European Call Centre and Customer Service Awards. The event, which saw the coming together of the European Call Centre Awards and the National Customer Service Awards, recognised the best and brightest shining stars of customer service in Europe.

Sitel and Lifescan were recognised for having a very tight and effective client/outsourcer relationship based around clear goals, mutual respect and a high-quality multilingual operation with an engaged workforce.

“We are delighted that our work with Lifescan has been recognised with the Best Outsourcing Partnership of the Year award,” said Lawrence Fenley, Sitel Managing Director for UK and Ireland. He added “winning this award last year was a great success, but to win this award for the second year running is a phenomenal achievement.”

Aviva Insurance Ireland, is reported to be planning to announce around 850 redundancies and the outsourcing of an additional 300 staff.

The company, employs over 2,000 staff in Ireland. In addition to the 850 redundancies, 300 workers will be outsourced. However, information on the outsourcing is not available.