Industry news

The National Outsourcing Association is delighted to announce the shortlisted entries for the 2011 NOA Awards.

The NOA Summit & Awards is the ultimate knowledge sharing and networking event for outsourcers involved in all sectors. Taking place at the Riverbank Park Plaza in London, the two day event features conference sessions, roundtables, and exhibitions, culminating in the NOA Awards which recognise companies and individuals who demonstrate excellence in outsourcing.

BPO Contract of the Year

Accenture, Alsbridge and Thomas Cook West

arvato and Microsoft

EXL and Centrica

Firstsource and BT

National Rail Communication Centre and National Rail Enquiries

IT Outsourcing Project of the Year

Cognizant and JP Morgan

Luxoft and Harman

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation PLC

Wipro Technologies and Diversey

Financial Services Outsourcing Project of the Year

Co- Operative Banking Group, Operational Partnerships Management, Implementation of alternative format provision

Co- Operative Banking Group, Operational Partnerships Management, Transition of print services to Communisis

CSC and Zurich Financial Services

Elix-IRR and Standard Bank

Luxoft

Public Sector Outsourcing Project of the Year

arvato and Chesterfield Borough Council

bss and Office for National Statistics and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency

Conduit and NHS Direct

Telecommunications, Utilities and High-Tech Outsourcing Project of the Year

Efficio Consulting Ltd and Thames Water

Firstsource and Giffgaff

IBM Global Process Services and Skype

Offshoring Operation of the Year

Aegis Global and COPC

Logica

Luxoft

RR Donnelley and Anglian Water

Sutherland and Cisco

Outsourcing Professional of the Year

Aegis - Aparup Sengupta

KPMG - Shamus Rae

Teleperformance - Gwen Cumming

Ventura - Jo Storey

Outsourcing Service Provider of the Year

arvato

Ceridian

HCL

Luxoft

SQS

Outsourcing Contact Centre Provider of the Year

arvato

bss

Firstsource

The Listening Company

Vertex

Outsourcing Advisory of the Year

DLA Piper

Elix-IRR

Herbert Smith LLP

Hogan Lovells International LLP

Latham & Watkins

Stephenson Harwood

Offshoring Destination of the Year

ITIDA - Egypt

Luxoft - Poland

Sri Lankan High Commission - Sri Lanka

Outsourcing End-User of the Year

Centrica

Skype and IBM

Thames Water and Efficio Consulting Ltd

Award for Innovation in Outsourcing

Firstsource

Gem

IBM United Kingdom and Jaguar Land Rover

Serco and BCH (Barclay's Cycle Hire)

Serco and Forth Valley Royal Hospital

The Listening Company and LivePerson

UKFast

Award for Best Practice in Outsourcing

Centrica

Co- Operative Banking Group, Operational Partnerships Management, Supplier Operating Model

Efficio Consulting Ltd and Thames Water

Luxoft

Wipro Technologies and Diversey

Award for Academic Achievement

Capital One - Jon Burbanks

Co- Operative Financial Services - Richard Woodroffe

Co- Operative Financial Services - Sam Hannah

HML - Anu Biswas

Logica - Jon Brooks

Award for Corporate Social Responsibility

Deloitte and Future Leaders

Infosys BPO Ltd and Project Genesis

KenCall

To register for the event please download, complete and return the booking form which can be found in the Registration Pack.

Established travel providers are under assault from all sides. The economy continues to falter, disruption from weather, strikes and such like have become the norm and market share is constantly being attacked by ‘fresh thinking’ new market entrants. Google signalling its intention to blend full flight data in to its search results could well represent the beginning of another momentous shift in the balance of power. Even the GDS providers are no longer immune, with many travel organisations seeking to by-pass or re-engineer their position in the operating model.

Much of this is good news for the consumer as they benefit from downward pricing pressure and increased dynamically packaged product options. However many of the inventory holding airlines, tour operators and ancillary providers are watching nervously from the sidelines as the market shifts around them. The more innovative amongst them have prepared well for the onslaught by re-engineering the metrics that underpin their operating models.

Gone, or at least pushed to one side, are the performance indicators linked to bland operational functionality in the contact call centres (think call handling time, speed to answer, first call resolution, etc). These are being systematically replaced by new commercially savvy business metrics intended to optimise the customer facing supply chain.

It’s survival of the fittest and the major emerging KPIs underpinning this brave new world are:

Contact to Order – C2O

C2O is the number of contacts handled as a multiple of the total number of bookings across all distribution channels. Other more granular forms exist and will almost certainly evolve as the measure becomes standard. Travel organisations prefer certain contact types, which allow them to cross-sell or up-sell but ultimately contact costs money and most types are avoidable.

There are brand and product-specific exceptions but in general reservation centres typically convert calls to bookings at somewhere between 20% and 30%, taking the mid point that’s a contact-to-order ratio of 4:1. However, this fails to include all of the general enquiry or complaint calls, which inflates this ratio and cost considerably.

C2O reduction has become a major source of transformation potential. Businesses can reduce their operating costs by targeting the source of the contact, i.e. a web reservation that generates a non-value adding telephone interaction. Why has the web reservation generated an enquiry, how can this be avoided? By having effective processes for handling non-value adding interactions, including “how do I” or “where is my” type questions via self-serve channels or better still eliminating the issue through more robust business practices will help improve profitability.

Dynamic Decision Science – DDS

DDS, some would call, ‘generated incremental contributions,’ are beginning to appear within innovative business models, whereby the huge amount of data insights often lying untapped across the systems infrastructure can be leveraged to drive cross selling. The benefit is that with the correct layers of segmentation, including those applied to the understanding of the customer, supplier rules, preferred channel, time of use, etc, the transaction is no longer reliant upon a live operator to cross sell but can be done through other channels, such as SMS or the web.

The proliferation of connected devices means that highly targeted offers can be made right up to the point of departure. As an example, the best time to cross-sell increased baggage allowance is not likely to be at the point of reservation, but when the parents are struggling to pack for their families three days prior to departure. A baggage allowance offer communicated via SMS or available through a travel app at that point will yield far higher results.

The way customers interact with businesses such as travel providers is changing forever. There is a need to meet the needs of a more informed, tech savvy but time poor customer while at the same time reducing business costs to compete in an increasingly competitive environment. Targeting the reasons for direct customer contact while at the same time leveraging data from across the business for other channels is key. Adapting metrics to reflect this is vital if its success is to be measured.

The concept that a friendly agent or rapid answer time can compete in today’s travel industry is out of date.

Debunking the Myths of Innovation

Myth 5: Innovation is a “nice to have”

Reality 5: Innovation is your only defence against commoditisation and terminal decline

Organisations are traditionally built around stove pipes of specialisation. It is still important to have specialised groups that are experts in particular areas of an operation. However, organisations also need a holistic view of what customers want to accomplish and how new ideas, trends and/or developments can help customers in that effort.

The annals of business history are littered with examples of great companies that collapsed because they protected a once successful business model that would become irrelevant. In studying trends, it is important to have the courage and wisdom to ask yourself if the trend will disrupt your business. Then you have the choice of changing your business model, and even cannibalising current operations to ensure long-term sustainability. The alternative, in many cases, is that new entrants will “eat your lunch.”

A group like a Services Innovation Group performs a function much like a court jester in medieval times. We must question the conventional thinking, propose new lines of thoughts, provoke uncomfortable challenges, and tell stories and tall tales of the future. This is necessary to cause thinking and creativity to expand. The group also provides a place where new ideas can incubate until they are robust enough to be tested against harsh market realities.

Ideating and designing for innovative business – whether the focus is products, services, technologies, business models or business processes – must mean more than only attacking problems at the product and/or service level.

Peter Drucker once said the ONLY purpose of a business is to create a customer, and everything else follows from that. Unfortunately, many businesses have lost sight of that. As a result, their efforts at forecasting and trending and innovation are spread thin across too many dimensions. The focus should primarily be on the customer, secondarily on competition and everything else should be handed over to entities and experts who specialise in it and do it better (because you are now their customer!).

As companies begin to focus on what creates customer value (which means they have to understand the customer and what influences the customer better than they do today. Customers respond to their environment in total. It is not a particular trend that is important. What matters is the change in behaviour and value that a trend engenders in the customer. Any business that solely focuses on product or service rather than customer value ultimately will fall behind.

Successful businesses define themselves by the meaningful objective of bringing value to customers, not generating profit alone. The right balance of inspiration and execution can make the world better, make business more sustainable, and generate the profit to make further progress possible. For a great and pertinent example of looking deeply at trends to understand implications, you can see Kevin Kelly’s talk at the EG Conference in December of 2007.

Kelly notes that when the web first appeared, everyone thought it would be “just like TV only better.” No one at the time could conceive of business models like Google or Facebook, and therefore could not imagine the resulting impact on customer desires. The current consumerisation of IT is a product of the Web more than anything else. If companies continue to “forecast” by looking in the rear view mirror and extending that view forward, they are going to crash.

One has to look at the trends and value generators, the evolution of ideas, the evolution of IT and the evolution of organisations to be able to anticipate, or at least not be blind-sided by new technology, new business models and new usage patterns. After all, who would ever have expected that people would use Alexander Graham Bell’s great invention for voice to recreate the telegraph (text messaging), which his invention displaced in the first place.

Alistair Darling’s autobiography is stirring up a real storm in the Labour party camp – most notably for his account of disagreements with the party’s then leader, Gordon Brown. Once again, this negative coverage has raised questions of Brown’s leadership qualities. What this really highlights to me though is the need to look beyond skills and source talented people who really gel with the team to avoid such clashes from the start.

‘Cultural fit’ is a new HR buzz word and increasingly recruitment processes are testing a candidate’s behaviour to judge how they would fit with the business. This shift from the traditional method of recruiting on the exclusive basis of background and skills opens up a whole new challenge – how to accurately measure a candidates’ cultural fit without excluding potential talent.

As the Darling / Brown case shows, one conflict can have a lasting effect on the team and can be potentially damaging to a business’s reputation should an employee leaves on bad terms following a conflict. Whilst any organisation ought to have a plan in place to deal with such a situation should it arise, the recruitment process can be used as a filter for any potential problems.

Using a values–based hiring model built around the establishment of cultural criteria, a candidate can be measured on values and behavioural patterns as well as their skills. It is by no means an exact science, but by using this model in the recruitment process it is possible to minimise the chances of cultural clashes and ensure a candidates ‘fits’ with the business dynamics. And it doesn’t have to stop there.

Going back to the case of Darling and Brown, circumstances can change (i.e. leadership or business needs) and can cause disruption despite the best attempts to manage the process. It is important then to look at the flexibility of a candidate and closely manage the talent in your organisation to minimise any disarray.

At Ochre House we use an adapted model to evaluate an employee’s ability to adapt, integrate, contribute and perform. Using this evaluation an organisation is able to manage staff and behaviours carefully. For employees who show signs of low adaptability, it is possible to plan in advance for any impact a change may have on them. If this change for example is recruiting a new leader, the job spec and assessment process can evaluate a candidate’s ability to deal with a team cautious of change.

And there are other benefits to hiring on the basis of culture rather than skills. Ultimately you can adapt and grow a person’s skills set, but you cannot change their personality.

In the case of the Labour party I am sure we’ve yet to hear more from the Darling / Brown saga, but perhaps Mr Milliband will use this debacle as a learning curve for future political team building.

Sue Brooks is managing director of RPO and talent management specialist, Ochre House

Mitie Group, a strategic outsourcing and energy services company, has said it has been awarded a three plus two year contract with the world's leading premium drinks business, Diageo PLC.

MAIN FACTS:

-Mitie will work with Diageo to provide integrated facilities management and hospitality services throughout its entire U.K. and Irish property portfolio.

-The services will be delivered at over 70 sites across the U.K. and Ireland including all the client's manufacturing, packaging and distillery sites, and its global headquarters.

-With a base contract value of GBP16 million per annum and up to GBP3 million of project works to be undertaken each year in addition to this, the potential total value over the period will range from GBP80 million to GBP95 million.

TPI, an Information Services Group company and the leading independent sourcing data and advisory firm in the world, has announced it has been chosen to help promote discussion and adoption of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by a leading industry organization.

The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals® (IAOP®), the global, standard-setting organization and advocate for the outsourcing profession, has named TPI to its CSR Subcommittee. A TPI executive will join the group, serving alongside representatives of other leading business, academic and philanthropic organizations.

"We are pleased to help lead the discussion and adoption of corporate practices that respect individual diversity, promote the highest ethical business standards and support global sustainability," said Michael P. Connors, Chairman & CEO, ISG and TPI. "Joining the CSR Subcommittee brings us together with other thought leaders to raise the profile of these issues throughout the rapidly changing global sourcing marketplace."

ExlService Holdings has said that the outsourcing services company and certain key investors will sell up to 4.6 million shares.

The deal is worth about $114.5 million, given the company's closing price of $24.89 per share on Monday.

Its shares tumbled $2.36, or 9.5 percent, to $22.53 in morning trading Tuesday.

CSC has announced it has acquired AppLabs Technologies Private Limited, the world’s largest pure-play software testing and quality management service provider.

AppLabs brings a strong portfolio of emerging technologies and proprietary methodologies and tools, and a specialized sales force to CSC which significantly enhances CSC’s capabilities in application testing services as well as shortening time-to-market. AppLabs complements CSC’s expertise in Financial Services, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Chemical, Energy and Natural Resources and Technology and Consumer verticals. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Application Services continue to play an increasingly important role as companies adopt new technologies and cloud based services to improve the quality and performance and reduce the total cost of ownership of IT services,” said Michael W. Laphen, chairman, president and chief executive officer, CSC. “Acquiring AppLabs represents CSC’s continued commitment to our intense focus on growing the company’s applications development and management business as well as extending superior testing services to our clients and prospects.”

A complaint about an outsourcing deal between Avon and Somerset Police and Somerset County Council is being investigated by the Audit Commission.

The force paid £2.8m to the council in order to join SouthWest One - a company set up to handle public bodies' administrative services.

The Commission has received a complaint that the move illegally subsidised people living outside of Somerset.

IAR Systems has acquired Signum Systems Corp., a California-based vendor of hardware and software development tools for embedded systems.

With the acquisition, IAR Systems complements its product offering with a broad series of high quality JTAG emulators, in-circuit emulators and debuggers. As a result, IAR Systems will have one of the market´s broadest offerings of development tools for the embedded industry.