By Jagdish Dalal

George Santayana once wrote: “Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.” I also like what Albert Einstein wrote, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

So it is for many providers who do not have a structured process for learning from their past performance. Customers expect their providers to continuously improve their performance. In a competitive world of outsourcing, providers benefit by reducing service defects, thereby improving customer satisfaction and their bottom line. After all, failure to meet performance levels ends up costing them in their margin – directly or indirectly.

Working with providers, I have encouraged them to use a formal “lessons learned” process. I advocate that this be an ongoing, established program rather than a periodic event.

Lessons Learned Process

It is a formal process and a foundation for quality review. It provides a method for clinically dissecting performance, documents factors impacting the outcome and creates a framework for learning. It is not a “witch hunt” or “who shot John” game. The intent of a successful lessons learned process is to identify factors influencing results and delve deeper into the root cause for each of them. Therefore, the process is designed to evaluate both failure – missed performance –and success– expectations met. In quality process, this is often associated with creating a “fishbone” (or Ishikawa) diagram. Let’s look at how to design and successfully conduct a lessons learned process.

Creating Lessons Learned Framework

A structured framework for the lessons learned helps not only in identifying factors but also as a learning tool for future performance. A typical “fishbone” diagram describes the outcome and then creates a set of categories for factors that affected the outcome. In a structured lessons learned framework, it is important to have these categories standardized, so that over a period of time, we can establish patterns and trends. The following diagram shows one of these standards that I have recommended to providers with whom I work.

Conducting Lessons Learned Exercise

It is essential that a lessons learned exercise is formal, consistent and involves all people that are directly, and at times, indirectly, engaged in the activity. As mentioned earlier, these exercises should be for both successful and unsuccessful outcomes, so that learning can be analyzed from both perspectives. I recommend the following seven step process:

1. Assemble the team that will conduct the exercise. A discussion leader and a scribe need to be appointed so that the meeting rules and etiquettes are followed. Ideally, the conference room is organized so that there are seven category flip chart pages and a separate flip chart for documenting brainstorming items. I have found that a conference room without chairs (where everyone is standing) is more conducive to brainstorming than people sitting around a large table.

2. Agree on the “head” of the fishbone, describing the outcome as specifically as possible. For example: “project metrics were not met” or “project completed ahead of schedule and under budget.” Clarify categories for everyone involved, so that they do not become a matter of interpretation later during the exercise.

3. Conduct brainstorming session. Typical brainstorming process is:

a. Each person (on a round robin basis) lists the contributing factor. These factors should be as factual as possible and not just “here-says” or opinions regarding the cause. Causes will be determined later.

b. As each person contributes a factor, no discussion takes place (except for clarification purposes only).

c. Round robin process continues everyone has exhausted factors to contribute (people can “pass” during the round robin if they have no new factors to contribute).

d. Document all of the factors on a flip chart (as they were stated).

4. Once brainstorming is complete, each of the factors are discussed, categorized and placed on the appropriate flip chart. Discussion can lead to adding more factors or eliminating ones discussed.

5. Once all factors are categorized, each category is studied to see common causes and a more thorough “root” cause analysis done. Root cause analysis is conducted by asking the question “why” until there can be no further drilled down. Typically it will take at least five “whys” to get to the root cause. These root causes, by each category are documented separately and if necessary, prioritized by their perceived influence on the outcome.

6. Final steps in the lessons learned exercise is to document these root causes, and projects created, to either reinforce their impact (if they resulted in a positive result) or come up with a solution to avoid/mitigate them on future projects.

7. Final outcome, lessons learned categories and root causes are then stored in a single document so that others can study them later and learn from past mistakes or accomplishments. When I worked at Xerox, we called this our “book of knowledge” and each project manager was required to study the book prior to launching a new project. This is a process that allows one to learn from history.

Honest, open lessons learned exercises and in depth assessment of root causes, helps create an environment where past performance becomes a guide for future improvements. As George Washington wrote in a letter to Fielding Lewis (July 6, 1780): “To rectify past blunders is impossible, but we might profit by the experience of them.”

Jagdish(Jag) Dalal is Founder and President of JDalal Associates LLC (JDA) and Managing Director, Thought Leadership for IAOP and a world-renowned consultant in the field of outsourcing. Dalal is a Certified Outsourcing Professional (COP®). He can be reached at JDalal@JDalalAssociates.com

glendonTodd Capital LLC, a private equity firm that focuses on investments in business services companies and investments in real estate, announces the acquisition of Toutatis Inc. by glendonTodd Capital LLC and Performa Partners.

Based in São Paulo, Brazil, Toutatis Inc. is a full service business process outsourcing (BPO) provider in Latin America and offers a wide variety of BPO solutions in human resource outsourcing, finance and accounting outsourcing and procurement outsourcing. The firm has offices in ten countries throughout Central and South America, including: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, and Uruguay, giving it the ability to serve international clients with operations throughout the region. The company’s unique ability to deliver BPO services across Latin America from its shared service center in Uberlândia offers flexible and cost-efficient solutions by providing user-friendly, accurate, seamless execution.

Todd Furniss, Managing Partner of glendonTodd Capital explains, “We focus on those industries and companies located in favorable macro-economic environments where we can help create disproportionate value, and we think that Brazil has a very bright economic picture for at least the next five years. Toutatis has a robust services platform and customer base in key markets throughout Latin America that we can leverage for growth. Together with Marcelo Franca, and our great operating partners at Performa, we have the ability to execute on our vision and realize significant stakeholder value creation.”

Marcelo Franca, CEO of Toutatis stated, “Our relationship with glendonTodd, allows us to take advantage of world class operational insights and financial execution capabilities to propel Toutatis onto the global stage.”

The company’s unique value proposition and delivery capability, reinforced by glendonTodd’s and Performa’s strategic capital and operational insights, position Toutatis well for growth and shareholder value creation.

By Steve Mezak

Are you interested in exploring the agile methodology for developing software at your company, but you’re worried that it feels like writing a blank check to the developer? It’s a commonly held belief among companies looking for outsourced software development that agile could potentially cost more than traditional methodologies. However, the nature of how agile development works, combined with a well-defined structure for funding it, ensures that you can produce a great piece of software without breaking the bank.

Two approaches to funding Agile – Fixed Budgeting Approach

The first step to ensuring that your company’s agile development meets your budget requirements is deciding upon whether to go with a fixed budget or continuous funding. A fixed budget is exactly what it sounds like–your company sets the maximum amount that they’re willing to spend for the software, and the development team works on the project until they hit the budget ceiling. Fixed budgeting is a good funding approach for companies that are not entirely familiar with the agile development process, and they want to make sure that there is a distinct budget cap.

Because the agile development process insures that you have a finished piece of software at the end of every sprint, you’re saving time and money with either continuous funding or fixed budgeting.

A fixed budget doesn’t mean you end up with an unfinished project. Instead, agile development works hand-in-hand with fixed budgeting because stages of the project (or sprints) are each completed within a set amount of time; at the end of every sprint you have a complete piece of software as well as an update on how much of the budget is left.

The development team covers the most important and critical features in the first sprint, shows you the result, and you give the  green light for the second sprint to add more features, work out bugs, or even take the software in a different direction if that’s what market conditions require. Though it may not be as comprehensive and feature-rich as you might want in the future, it’s still a solid version 1.0 that you can beta-test since the most critical features are already developed.

Funding Agile – Continuous Funding Approach

Continuous funding is typically used by more experienced companies that know how agile works and are confident in the development team. The company outlines what they need, the team figures out how long it will take, and they create a detailed prioritization of the product backlog of features, separating those features into a smaller backlog for each sprint. If they reach the end of the sprint without fully completing all the features, they take it out and move on with what works instead of dragging out the deadline for who knows how long trying to figure out just one bug. The difference between continuous funding and a fixed budget is that continuous funding allows the development team to work on critical and non-critical features at the same time because the budget allows for more time to continue working on various features rather than focusing only on the mission-critical ones.

The Best Part About Agile? You Save Money Either Way

Because the agile development process insures that you have a finished piece of software at the end of every sprint, you’re saving time and money with either continuous funding or fixed budgeting. Instead of waiting for months or years to see the end result, you get a real, workable update within a specific period of time, giving your company the opportunity to evaluate and decide whether the project is moving in the right direction. Having these mini releases also allows you to gather more funding because you can release the software, get feedback from your users (or the market), then see if it’s worth getting additional funding for an improved version, or determine whether it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Either way, the agile development process helps you make sure that your company doesn’t sink too much money into software development. The agile methodology does quite the opposite, in fact.

Steve Mezak is founder and CEO of Accelerance, Inc., which helps customers engage the right development team to create high-quality software. Read more and watch videos about using the agile methodology for nearshore software development on the Accelerance blog.

By Filipe Pacheco

Stefanini IT Solutions, one of the biggest players in the IT and Outsourcing industry in Brazil, has just made another move towards expansion in Latin America — this time, towards the southern part of the continent. The company founded and managed by Marco Stefanini has now bought Top Systems, one of the biggest producers of core banking software in Uruguay.

The Montevideo-based firm is focused on IT services for financial institutions and already had the Brazilian company as an allied partner. Its main product, called Topaz, is used by financial institutions of different sizes, mainly banks, microcredit institutions and compliance departments. Topaz uses Service Oriented Architecture and Java technology.

“Even though the company is based in Montevideo, their products are utilized throughout Latin America, including Central American countries. For us, it is a strategic move to get closer to clients we do not have today,” Marco Stefanini told Nearshore Americas. The CEO did not disclose how much was spent in the acquisition of Top Systems, which has about 120 employees working from Uruguay today. According to him, the conversations that culminated in the deal lasted for about six months.

Initially, Top Systems will continue to operate with its original name but will use the colors and the logo of the Stefanini.  “But we might change that in the future, we have not thought about it yet,” said Mr. Stefanini, who is in the United States today. He did not disclose financial details of the transaction.

Top Systems was created in 1987 with the aim to generate “innovative technological solutions” for its clients, it is an ISO 9001 certified company. Besides its headquarters in Uruguay, the company also has an office in Lima. Its main competitor in the domestic market is Bantotal.

“With expertise in this market and with the 20 biggest Brazilian banks as clients today, Stefanini complements its offering in core banking, providing access to institutions of any size,” says Marcos Monteiro, Business Consulting director at Stefanini. Today, financial markets represent 33% of the revenues of the company, and more than 90% of the private banks in Brazil are served by the firm.

On April 26th, Top Systems announced a partnership with Stefanini to serve a Brazilian client called Banco Coperativo Sicredi – a financial organization focused on cooperation entities that is very strong in funding in the Southern States of Brazil, especially Rio Grande do Sul, which borders Uruguay.

The Uruguayan perspective

“This is an important move for the Uruguayan software industry as a whole,” comments Mario Pucci, partner in MVD Consulting, a boutique business consulting firm that specializes in change and operations management, as well as globalization strategies for multinational companies.

He explains that even though the banking industry is considerably small in comparison to that of Brazil, the local software companies have specialized themselves to provide core financial systems technology in many Latin countries, and are quite a reference when it comes to financial software production in the region.

Another positive point of the acquisition says Pucci, is the strengthening of the Latin American market as a whole, and the closer contact between regional companies to develop the regional software market, “that way they can compete with Indian and American peers,” he adds.

“Just recently foreign investors started to consider players in the Uruguayan market, which has always been formed mostly by local companies. But there is a moment when they need scale to grow, and these investments are welcome for that,” Pucci said in an interview with Sourcing Brazil.  “At the same time, Brazilian companies seek to expand abroad, they need to.”

Another positive point of the acquisition says Pucci, is the strengthening of the Latin American market as a whole, and the closer contact between regional companies to develop the regional software market, “that way they can compete with Indian and American peers,” he adds.

Ready for new acquisitions

“We are currently in conversations with other potential companies that can be purchased around the region. Those talks are always happening,” said Stefanini.  This is the second company from the IT financial sector that Stefanini has bought in less than six months. At the end of last year, the company bought Orbitall, the IT branch of Itaú, one of the biggest private banks in Brazil.

Within one year between 2010 and 2011, Stefanini acquired two firms in the United States (TechTeam and CXI), and one in Colombia (Informática & Tecnología).  “Moments of crisis are the best ones to grow, when the really good opportunities come up,” remarked Stefanini in an interview with Sourcing Brazil in May, 2011.

With the acquisition of CXI, Stefanini expanded its capacity to offer American clients services in staff augmentation, turnkey IT solutions, end-to-end ERP services, and functional sourcing. It also reinforces the alliance with SAP that CXI has had since 2006, which makes Stefanini a SAP certified partner in the United States.

By Kirk Laughlin

Seemingly out of nowhere, Medellin is sweeping onto Latin America outsourcing’s center stage in a dramatic flourish, winning deal after deal and – by beckoning to the world – totally reshaping what the city stands for by openly confronting the wreckage of its darkest days. Medellin’s dramatic transformation is easily one of the most captivating stories in all of Latin America IT.

A City in Bloom

Due to a series of favorable conditions – including highly engaged and deep-pocketed corporate institutions (starting with Bancolombia), a rich array of universities many of which have engineering and computer science programs, the establishment of policies and agencies focused on nurturing the right conditions for BPO/ITO services and a stunning physical environment where “Eternal Spring” and large amounts of greenery make for a lot of happy souls – Medellin may be the ultimate ‘hidden gem’ in the Americas’ sourcing marketplace. Very simply, Medellin functions. Mass transit – including a metro that extends from the south to the north basin of the metro area – is clean and efficient. Traffic is a non-issue, unlike its big brother, Bogota.

But of course there are no guarantees for Medellin. Its positioning as a mountain, interior city has done little to enable international exposure, unlike thriving BPO port cities of Cali and Barranquilla. This is one of several reasons many knowledgeable observers express concerns about the bilingual talent available among the city’s 3.5 million inhabitants (in the larger metro area).

Investment in Full Flow

While much has been made of the watershed decision by HP in 2010 to set up in Medellin, a wave of new investment is potentially setting the stage for a formidable tech ecosystem that in the next few years could mirror – on a smaller scale – the strides of major hubs such as Guadalajara and Sao Paulo. Kimberly Clark recently named Medellin one of three global innovations centers, a huge coup that demonstrates a deep confidence in science/tech human capital. The organization expects to launch a 200-person operation in the next few months in the “Rionegro” area not far from the airport.

Existing operators in the area include multionationals like Tata Consultancy Services, Unisys, Allus, Teleperformance and Infosys, which has a small team focused exclusively on supporting Bancolombia’s core banking / ERP operations. In fact, it was Infosys’s Gita Jayanth, a senior finance executive working in Medellin, who instituted a program to take the 100 top computer science students attending EAFIT university in Medellin every summer to Bangalore for specialized training. The program is now in its third year running. “This is an outstanding program with no strings attached,” said Helmuth Trefftz, Chair of EAFIT’s Computer Science Department.

The timing of HP’s official move into Medellin is producing an increasing amount of head-scratching. The company has started paying month rent on its sparkling new facility in the new “Ruta N” area – as part of a 15-year lease. But sources tell us that the timing of HP’s installation of staff into the offices is still in question while others are skeptical that HP will actually open the facility despite all the planning that has already gone on. The company has maintained a small staff in a building within the EAFIT campus, but many believe that restructuring in the wake of CEO Meg Witman’s late 2011 arrival at HP has shifted its offshore services priorities.

The $50 million Ruta N facility will opens its doors within the next few weeks.

Ruta N is the name of a three building complex in an area of the city that used be blighted by crime. The city financed the project – worth $50 million – which is seen as a symbol of the new focus on global engagement and tech innovation, combining public and private interests.

City leaders are quick to point out that Medellin may look like it’s hell-bent on making a name for itself globally, yet there is still a cautiousness that prevails. The city is extremely aware of how it’s perceived from the outside and still seems somewhat wounded by the global condemnation wrought by years of drug-related violence that tore deep into the heart and culture of the “Paisa” people. The homicide rates of the early 90s, where as many as 500 people were getting killed a month, is nowhere near what it is now. But according to statistics from ACIMedellin, the city’s trade promotion group which facilitated a visit last week by Nearshore Americas, homicides have inched up some from their lowest point – during 2006-2008.

The city remains one of the world’s fifty most violent cities, but it should be pointed out that US cities – New Orleans, Detroit, St. Louis and Baltimore are also in the top 50 ranking by Mexican organization, Consejo Ciudadano para la Seguridad Pública y la Justicia Penal.

Social Inclusion

Medellin’s leaders, grounding their efforts on social inclusion aimed at fostering economic equality, are persistently focused on reaching out to the long-isolated “comunas” to become part of this new, knowledge-driven era. It’s a big and complex job. David Escobar, Medellin’s City Planner is deeply involved with the efforts and sees many signs of change. “The city has reclaimed its self-esteem,” said Escobar who credits much of the city’s transformation to former Mayor Sergio Fajardo (who is now governor of the state of Antioquia) who set in motion heavy spending on education, the arts and the installation of multiple new libraries sitting in once battle-ridden areas.

The call to come to the capital of Antioquia is being heard around the world, including in King of Prussia, Penn. where local company Yuxi Pacific set its sights on Medellin during the last year after seeing its operations in China falter due to rising inflation and hard-to-find English speaking talent.

Medellin is 25% cheaper than labor in Costa Rica, says Michael Puscar, CEO of Yuxi Pacific. (Far right)

“The English ability is way better than I thought,” says CEO Michael Puscar, who runs a 50-person software and Q/A studio for content publishers looking to exploit new “Big Data” management tools. Puscar examined Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica and Mexico before settling on Medellin, which has a city population of 2.5 million. “Salaries here are 25% less than Costa Rica or Mexico. It was a no-brainer,” says Puskar, who does stress that the value proposition of Colombia could be in serious jeopardy if the Peso continues its rise. The currency has risen nearly ten percent since early January, putting pressure on the margins of foreign operators.

The availability of English-speaking talent is potentially one of Medellin’s biggest vulnerabilities. While exciting US-owned firms like Yuxi have had little trouble finding bright, bi-lingual professionals – most Colombian-owned operators worried to us that the demand for English speakers could quickly outstrip supply.

“We have a huge gap with English speaking people. I consider it a big issue,” says Carlos Castro, the CEO Enlace Operativo, a BPO and ITO services company headquartered in Medellin, with 1,700 employees in Bogota and Medellin. Almost all of Castro’s firm relies on Spanish-only speakers, but that could change in the longer term should the firm decide to pursue BPO business in the US. “It’s going to take a lot of years to address the issue,” he says.

In terms of attracting investment, Castro gives credit to the long-term planning focus of the national government. He says the work of ANDI, which is effectively the ‘chamber’ for the country’s BPO / ITO sector, along with Proexport and local investment promotion agencies spread across the country work closely together.

In fact, the close coordination of seemingly ‘rival’ cities shows just how much Colombia is making BPO a priority and continues to reflect back to the long-term thinking of former President Alvaro Uribe who partnered with Minister of Trade and Industry Luis Guillermo Plata to engineer what is looking like one of the best prepared BPO markets in all of the Americas going into the next stages of market expansion.

Michael Cooper, a US native who has lived in Medellin for 30 years said the city’s transformation during the last 8 to ten years has been “unbelievable.” Cooper is executive director of Medellin’s Centro Colombo Americano, a cultural and educational institution, which provides English instruction to over 6,000 students in the Medellin area per year.

Looking to make connections in Medellin or get deeper insight into the market’s potential? Contact Kirk Laughlin

By: Linda Tuck Chapman

Developing and implementing consistent, actionable performance metrics for your Application Development and Maintenance and Testing program is one of the best ways to ensure you get value for money. One of the most important aspects of developing effective metrics is to resist measuring everything that can be measured. Focus only on measuring what matters.

According to CORE (Centre for Outsourcing Research and Education) research conducted in 2011,  one of the largest weaknesses found was that almost half of the organizations struggled to identify a compact set of metrics that aligned with business priorities. Over-abundance of metrics often obscured the core set and made it challenging for clients to aggregate relevant information and derive intelligent insights. Others recognized the issue not as a problem of quantity but of quality; stating that metrics were being tracked, but did not link to the organization’s ultimate goals.

This is an area where there is a tendency to try to measure too many things, often resulting in lots of data, plenty of noise but not much actionable information

No matter how complex or far reaching your metrics are, most managers pay attention to only a few metrics. In addition to simplifying the metrics measurement process, this guide to “best practices” will help you develop metrics that marry the relationship and performance information you really need with the information vendors can readily provide.

There are three types of Metrics that you should consider creating to measure the success of your program and vendor relationships:

1) Relationship level – these Metrics focus on how the relationship between the two companies is working, and how satisfied you are with their responsiveness and your access to their thought leadership and innovation.

2) Customer level – these Metrics focus on how well the vendor is performing tactical, “table stakes” tasks, like invoice accuracy and incident management.

3) Statement of Work (SOW) level – these Metrics focus on how well the vendor is delivering quality outcomes, on time and on budget, against each Statement of Work.

Measuring Performance

Relationship and Customer level Metrics are performance management tools and controls that are not unique to ADM and Testing vendor relationships. A good way to simplify governance processes and reduce workload associated with managing multiple vendors is to develop and deploy a generic set of Relationship and Customer levels across the population.

The primary focus of this article is on the SOW level Metrics. This is an area where there is a tendency to try to measure too many things, often resulting in lots of data, plenty of noise but not much actionable information. The best way to simplify your thinking about what to measure is to establish an overarching framework that addresses expected and important outcomes. By this I mean deciding how to group everything you want to measure into a few overarching categories. Three or four categories are simple to remember, easy to manage and simplify the communication process.

Grouping Metrics

I’d recommend grouping SOW level Metrics into “Quality,” “Efficiency” and “Effectiveness” categories, then creating sub-level metrics that align with each category. When you’re deciding on the sub-level Metrics, which are labeled “Type” in this example, give careful consideration to which metrics are referenced in best practices research coupled with what the vendor already measures internally. If you’re not sure what your vendors measure, just ask. They’ll appreciate your efforts to align your performance reporting requirements with their existing processes.

This is an example of “Quality” Metrics for Application Development and Maintenance. The Type column identifies the type of quality metric being measured; the Description specifies what is being measured; Waterfall or Agile refers to the software development methodology; Reporting periods can be set according to the timing of SOW deliverables, against major milestones or for long term relationships by quarter.

The same approach is taken to develop “Efficiency” and “Effectiveness” Metrics and any other categories you wish to measure. (Click on the chart for an expanded view.)

And here is an example of “Quality” Metrics for Testing: (Click on the chart for an expanded view.)

Conclusion

This approach is extremely useful for managing outcomes for each SOW and every vendor. Over time, you will have a sufficient volume of actual results for each vendor and every SOW. The data can be analyzed for opportunities and issues. You can identify fact-based opportunities for Project Teams and vendors to achieve better quality, higher productivity levels and lower costs. Ultimately, this is the most predictable way to increase the value for money.

Linda Tuck Chapman is a seasoned Outsourcing and Vendor Governance expert. You can reach Linda at (416) 452-4635, lindatuckchapman@ONTALA.com  or visit ONTALA Performance Solutions

By Filipe Pacheco

Genpact is definitely a global leader when it comes to business process and technology management. But, in Brazil, the company`s strategy is to learn with the Brazilians how to be successful in the local market and the intentions are to start to follow a growing path from now on.  “We are a global company with local presence. In Brazil, we knew it was necessary to come up with a Brazilian team that understands the local market very well,” said Affonso Nina, Genpact`s new Brazil`s country manager. “And, with that process, we had to have in mind the word adaptation“. Genpact started operations in Brazil in August 2011. At that time, Tiger Tyagarajan said that the expansion into the country was “in line with our growth strategy to bring our global business practices and expertise to rapidly growing emerging economies, to serve global corporations expanding there as well as local growth companies.”  After 10 months acting in the local market, the Brazilian unit of Genpact already has quite impressive projects going on, which are in line with the widely known potential of the company abroad.

With two operation centers located in São Paulo, the economic and financial heart of Brazil (but also its most expensive city), the company provides mostly back office finance and accounting services to the local units of Astra Zeneca, a global biopharmaceutical firm, and General Electric, which are services very closely related to the creation of the company.

Growing Local Business

On another front, Genpact also provides consulting services in different parts of the country to two other multinational companies with operations in Brazil. One of them is a supplier to Nissan, the Japanese automaker, in Curitiba, Paraná; and the other is Anglo Gold Ashanti, one of the biggest gold producers in the world, in Minas Gerais.

“The intention is to grow more and more in both fields, processing services and consulting from now on. The Brazilian market has a strong demand for both,” said Nina, who emphasized that companies from different segments in the country are expanding and demand business process services of different kinds. “And we can do that well.” 

“Since the launch of our operations in August up to now, we have been prospecting the Brazilian market, and have been learning with it. Now, from the second semester on, we are ready to act more aggressively seeking growth, we are ready”, say Nina, a Brazilian who coordinates about 50 employees in the country; he aims to grow that number in the near future. The company does not disclose numbers regarding the operations in the country so far.

BPO Taking Advantage of Country Growth

By the end of 2012, the number of employees working for the American giant might grow considerably. Nina told Sourcing Brazil that the company is already looking for another Brazilian city to launch a third office. It will be taken into consideration, before making the decision of where to go, the access to qualified workforce more than anything else, explains the CEO. The decision to come to São Paulo first was made mostly considering the close contact to clients, which should influence on the new destination as well.

According to Nina, this is a moment in which Brazil is growing considerably, and BPO services naturally can take advantage on that. “It is not like the contact center industry, which is very well established in the country already. We have room to grow.” He reinforced that the strategy implemented since the launch of the operations in the country is mainly to grow with local clients, who can be Brazilian companies or local multinationals. “That is why we need to hire people with local expertise that know the local market well.”

Red tape, scalability, labor analysis, financial incentives and investment risk are among the burning issues for a Nexus panel joining together Ann Harts, Kevin Parikh and Fabrizio Opertti

Roberto Poujol, managing director at TXM Global, talks about next generation ICT solutions.

By: Michael Santamaria

There’s little doubt that Business Process Outsourcing is here to stay; the lure of “easy” cost savings is just too powerful for companies to resist. But the truth of the matter is that implementing a successful outsourcing project is hard work and realizing those “easy” savings is by no means a foregone conclusion. While data on outsourcing failure is hard to come by, the Aberdeen Group has reported that 21% of outsourcing projects fail to meet stakeholder expectations, and Gartner puts the outsourcing failure rate as high as 30%. Although neither study defines what constitutes a “failure,” the bottom line is a large percent of projects end with unhappy clients.

When an outsourcing project fails, it’s easy to blame the vendor. But having experienced the situation from both sides of the table, I would suggest that more often than not, the purchasing company lays the groundwork for the poor performance. The onus is on the purchasing company to do an adequate due diligence and to manage the project. Can you really blame the vendor when they were put in the position to fail from the beginning? Ultimately, no one wins the “blame game,” you are better off doing the project right the first time around.

To avoid being one of the Gartner statistics, there are four considerations that need to be part of your outsourcing initiative, 1) set an outsourcing strategy, 2) choose the vendor that best fits that strategy, 3) own the transition, and 4) create the structure to manage the relationship.

Strategize Wisely

Setting your outsourcing strategy is the all-important first step. To a certain degree, outsourcing strategies can be classified as either tactical or transformational. The tactical model is designed to take advantage of labor arbitrage and often employs what is referred to as a “lift and shift” approach. Work is lifted from your company and shifted to one in a lower cost area. Vendors of lift and shift models typically use existing processes and work in your existing systems, requiring little change on the part of your company. Essentially, the location of the worker changes, but the work itself does not.

On the other hand, a transformational model almost always involves a software implementation, which leverages optimized workflows. Under a transformational model, your company replaces existing processes and technology with the vendor’s processes and technology. As such, an IT project is embedded within the implementation. Clearly, implementing a transformational model is more involved than lift and shift, but it yields some notable advantages.

So, how do you decide which approach is best for your company? While there are no pat answers, I have found that companies often shy away from “yet another IT project” and end up following the tactical path, which is a mistake. My advice is to start assuming the transformation/software dependent solutions. Many of these solutions are very sophisticated, their processes and technologies successfully encapsulating industry best practices, and they have a large installed base so you can take comfort knowing that most of the bugs have been worked out. In addition, most solutions have a relatively streamlined and formalized client onboarding process, mitigating many concerns about implementing the solutions. In some cases, of course, there are no transformational options that fit your needs, forcing you to go the tactical route. This approach is workable, as each model has its benefits.

Figure 1 below breaks down the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Choosing the Right Vendor

The next step in implementing a successful outsourcing project is choosing the right vendor. If your company’s strategy employs the transformational approach, the process of choosing a vendor will be driven by the software solution, actually making selection easier. Comparison of tactical vendors is more difficult, because, for the most part, you will be comparing intangibles.

Regardless as to the approach, it is necessary to spend adequate time on due diligence checking all references, asking the hard questions, and arranging to visit reference sites in order to observe the process in action. Observing the process in person provides a better understanding of the processes, handoffs, potential issues related to team integration, and challenges communicating across distance. A vendor demonstration cannot compare to an onsite visit. A trip to one or two reference sites will prove to be money well spent.

Once vendor selection is complete, the planning stage begins in earnest. Generally, vendors will provide the overall implementation work plan. That said, since this is ultimately your project, you have the responsibility of owning it! Your company should remain integrally involved in the transition, which means dedicating the appropriate staff, assigning a sponsor, and holding senior leadership governance and gate reviews. It is also necessary to spend time developing a comprehensive risk mitigation plan. Your company needs contingency plans to address potential obstacles, including negative employee-client reaction to temporary performance dips, the PR response if contacted by the local press, transition plans for the local staff, and most importantly, plans to deal with unforeseen departures.

Regardless of severance packages or retention bonuses, once job eliminations are made public, employees begin searching for new opportunities. Needless to say, their departures don’t always align with your company’s staffing needs. Recently, I had the opportunity to experience this issue first hand, when my client on a six-month outsourcing project announced to me that we needed to go live in one week, three months early, because they no longer had the staff in the department to process the work. It goes without saying that the next few weeks were not exactly smooth.

Manage the Vendor

The last factor to consider for your outsourcing project is post-implementation vendor management. Unfortunately, this step tends to go overlooked until problems arise. Communication is one of the most vital elements in making an outsourcing relationship work. I recommend you plan to over communicate at the beginning of the project. The communication plan should include daily supervisor calls, monthly management reviews, and a quarterly sponsor meeting. Over time, if this proves cumbersome, you can dial it back. At the beginning, though, plan to over-communicate.

The daily calls should occur at the supervisor level, last no more than 10 minutes, and address yesterday’s challenges and today’s expected volume. I try to keep the daily calls informal to help forge a relationship between the team’s supervisor groups. Monthly management meetings should focus on the service level agreement (SLA) and performance metrics. It is critical to agree on what will be measured, how it will be measured, and what performance levels are acceptable before going live. In my experience, failure to exercise rigor in this step is where many outsourcing initiatives go wrong. Finally, the sponsor meeting should be a review of monthly trends and discussion of performance issues.

For these meetings, it is important that sponsors treat the two teams as unified and hold them jointly accountable. When issues inevitably arise and a “blame game” begins, sponsors need to be able to cut through the noise and force the teams to work together towards a solution. After all, one team cannot be successful if the other fails.

Outsourcing is not easy. But if you start with a sound strategy, leverage the right vendor, and are prepared to manage the project and relationship you can achieve significant savings. Let’s face it, those savings are hard to ignore.

Michael Santamaria is a director at ScottMadden. His consulting experience spans a number of areas including business process outsourcing, process redesign, organization design, operations improvement, and project management. Prior to joining ScottMadden, Michael ran operations for a business process outsourcer, consulted for Clarkston Potomac Group and Emerson Consulting, and held several positions with General Electric. Michael received an M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management and his undergraduate degree from Washington and Jefferson College. He is a certified GE Six Sigma Master Black Belt.