BEAT AND THE REST

With business process outsourcing becoming more strategic and on the agenda of most global corporations, the decision process of whether to offshore to a third party, or set up a captive unit, which destination to choose, and who to partner with, is becoming more complex. Service providers, therefore, are constantly exploring ways to reduce the sales cycle and

also to position themselves as strategic partners with their customers. In this context, it is very important for the BPO service providers to go beyond the conventional sales approach. It calls for a different mindset in the way prospects and clients are approached - a consultative approach to marketing services.

One company that has successfully adopted this approach is Intelenet Global Services. At Intelenet, the efforts of the field sales team is complemented by the Migration team which also plays a key role in progressing the sales cycle. The migration team helps the prospective client in identifying processes that can be offshored. The team analyzes the offshorability of the process from different perspectives and carefully chooses the processes for offshoring.

This is communicated to the client and refined further. Right expectations are set with the client, which is key for building long term relationships.

This is communicated to the client and refined further. Right expectations are set with the client, which is key for building long term relationships. Intelenet’s Migration team uses a decision support tool to conduct this evaluation exercise. Conceptualized and implemented by Prabhu Srinivasan, H- Migration and his team, the tool incorporates best practices such as Six Sigma, and simulates the entire BPO life cycle. It goes beyond pre-sales decision support and is used for execution support as well. The tool is broad and deep in its scope and is aimed at all levels across the client organization.

The Migration team interacts with client process owners, with the aid of the tool, to obtain first hand information about the process. At this level, the process is analyzed from the cost, intangible benefits

and associated risks perspectives. The key parameters which affect the offshorability of a process are discussed in detail. This well laid down methodology hardly leaves any room for surprises during migration and subsequent execution.

This tool enables the C level executives to approach offshoring in a phased manner. The first choice is to offshore those processes which offer the maximum advantages at relatively low levels of risk and then moving to complex processes once that initial comfort is obtained. The tool has thus helped Intelenet in formulating ramp up plans for their clients.

According to Prabhu Srinivasan, “The tool has been a valuable asset at the hands of an able migration team. The company believes that these efforts have enabled Intelenet to target new clients

successfully and at the same time mine deeper into existing accounts. This forward thinking has resulted in a ‘Win-Win’ situation for both the client and Intelenet Global Services.”