In addition to reducing costs and enabling improved focus on core business, working with a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider should add value through targeted ongoing process improvements. All major players in the BPO space claim to have well developed approaches to process excellence. Typically, however, their initiatives focus on the executive and strategic levels, and treat process excellence almost as a bolt-on service existing in its own operational silo. The best approach to process excellence is to integrate it fully with operational and organizational goals, and ensure that it spans the entire organization. Process excellence must be ingrained in the corporate culture at every level, through ongoing training and skills development programs which are continually measured and recalibrated. There must also be a clearly defined governance structure for process excellence. The entire framework should be actively reviewed from the board level down to ensure that it is correctly calibrated to changng requirements, and that the appropriate process excellence initiatives are prioritized.
A three pronged approach to process excellence
Firstsource has developed a unique framework for process excellence that delivers measurable benefits to business process management initiatives for clients, and fosters a culture of continuous improvement. The Firstsource framework has three main components – performance management, performance improvement and culture building.
Performance management
Unlike many service providers, Firstsource uses technology to build process excellence into the very lowest operational levels, executing it as an integral part of every activity. This extends beyond the standard metrics and promotes a proactive approach to continuous improvement. Executives can view team performance in real time, while team managers can drill down through the performance dashboard to the level of individual operatives. Advanced monitoring tools highlight exceptions and flag them for immediate resolution, and rigorous monthly audits ensure conformity with best practices.
Performance improvement
Rather than treating the achievement of SLAs as a target, Firstsource continues to strive for further optimization. Its approach identifies the efficiency gaps that remain in any given process and finds innovative ways to eliminate them. The grassroots up approach to process excellence ensures that the strategic vision is consistently translated into practical initiatives that are workable on the shop floor.
An independent quality assurance team monitors transactions and inbound/outbound calls, feeding the results back into the design of new training initiatives. Using technology to carry out trending and analysis, Firstsource continually identifies gaps in skills and training anywhere in the organization. This enables an analysis of the potential impact on client services, and the prioritization of targeted improvement initiatives.
Top |
