In recent years industries have slowly begun to move many core processes back in-house.
In some instances, it makes sense to invest in automation to manage a repeatable process where the amortization costs are less than continuing with third-party vendors.
However, there are still many processes that simply do not make financial sense to keep in-house.
An example of this involves the retail industry.
Retailers have certain core competencies that must be exploited and using resources on certain processes is detrimental to the business at-hand.
There are many areas where outsourcing still provides tremendous benefits, particularly in back-office work.
This is where a competent Business Processing Outsourcing provider can help.
There may a simple process in your organization that, improperly managed, can produce some major headaches.
By choosing the right outsourcing partnership, companies can yield many benefits from the arrangement and allow them to better concentrate time and resources.
Retailers regularly implement a variety of marketing programs that involve many hours of tedious office work.
One example of a process like this that can be managed by an outsourcing partner is a Customer Loyalty Club membership.
This includes processed membership forms such as new membership sign-up, change of address, renewal forms and other documents major retail chains' loyalty clubs.
Basic Requirements If a retailer is looking to run a Customer Loyalty Club membership program, it should look for the following in its outsourcing partnership: • Scanned form images and corresponding data should be returned to the client via secure, encrypted transmissions within a reasonable timeframe (24 hours is the typical standard) after receiving the original documents • Effective quality control that ensures a high rate of deliverable addresses, reducing the client's cost of returned mail and follow-up phone calls • A good BPO company will use a combination of nearshore and offshore processes to maximize efficiency and cost effectiveness (not to mention lower costs) The Process The retail customers are instructed to send forms to a P.
O.
Box address.
From there, the forms are transferred to a nearshore (neighboring country possibly state/province with lower-cost labor) processing center for initial document sorting and preparation.
Next, the documents are scanned using high-speed, high-volume scanners.
Electronic images are then sent to keying sites overseas for overnight data-capture.
After the manual data entry process has been completed, quality control checks ensure that postal addresses are deliverable.
In the U.
S.
, this is done by normalizing the addresses with ZIP+4 extensions.
This may sound like a simple process, but it is easier said than done.
Without the proper controls and processes, delays may ensue and sensitive information may be compromised.
For these reasons it is critical to pick the right BPO partner that has the correct measures in place.
It is unwise to simply pick the provider based only on the lowest price.
Once this is done, the retailer can use the data generated.
It now has pertinent information that tracks customers to better servie them and they can contact them variety of media that will promote customer loyalty.
In some instances, it makes sense to invest in automation to manage a repeatable process where the amortization costs are less than continuing with third-party vendors.
However, there are still many processes that simply do not make financial sense to keep in-house.
An example of this involves the retail industry.
Retailers have certain core competencies that must be exploited and using resources on certain processes is detrimental to the business at-hand.
There are many areas where outsourcing still provides tremendous benefits, particularly in back-office work.
This is where a competent Business Processing Outsourcing provider can help.
There may a simple process in your organization that, improperly managed, can produce some major headaches.
By choosing the right outsourcing partnership, companies can yield many benefits from the arrangement and allow them to better concentrate time and resources.
Retailers regularly implement a variety of marketing programs that involve many hours of tedious office work.
One example of a process like this that can be managed by an outsourcing partner is a Customer Loyalty Club membership.
This includes processed membership forms such as new membership sign-up, change of address, renewal forms and other documents major retail chains' loyalty clubs.
Basic Requirements If a retailer is looking to run a Customer Loyalty Club membership program, it should look for the following in its outsourcing partnership: • Scanned form images and corresponding data should be returned to the client via secure, encrypted transmissions within a reasonable timeframe (24 hours is the typical standard) after receiving the original documents • Effective quality control that ensures a high rate of deliverable addresses, reducing the client's cost of returned mail and follow-up phone calls • A good BPO company will use a combination of nearshore and offshore processes to maximize efficiency and cost effectiveness (not to mention lower costs) The Process The retail customers are instructed to send forms to a P.
O.
Box address.
From there, the forms are transferred to a nearshore (neighboring country possibly state/province with lower-cost labor) processing center for initial document sorting and preparation.
Next, the documents are scanned using high-speed, high-volume scanners.
Electronic images are then sent to keying sites overseas for overnight data-capture.
After the manual data entry process has been completed, quality control checks ensure that postal addresses are deliverable.
In the U.
S.
, this is done by normalizing the addresses with ZIP+4 extensions.
This may sound like a simple process, but it is easier said than done.
Without the proper controls and processes, delays may ensue and sensitive information may be compromised.
For these reasons it is critical to pick the right BPO partner that has the correct measures in place.
It is unwise to simply pick the provider based only on the lowest price.
Once this is done, the retailer can use the data generated.
It now has pertinent information that tracks customers to better servie them and they can contact them variety of media that will promote customer loyalty.