Prepare a detailed Business Case

Building a robust Business Case that examines all of the possible in-house, outsourced and combined solutions, that is based on a thorough review of the organisation’s business needs and growth ambitions, and is centred upon a recognition that customers are key to the organisation, will determine whether outsourcing is, in reality, the most appropriate course of action.

In addition, the Business Case which exhaustively and exactly specifies the work that needs to be done and its expected benefits will provide a sound and stable foundation for the selection of a call centre service provider. It will also serve as a starting point for the development of an outsourcing relationship based on a clear understanding of each party’s responsibilities and expectations.

This will enable you to understand key information collectively, so that there is a commonly agreed way forward and a reduced chance of a last minute change of brief from an internal source.

It is vitally important at this stage to involve the individuals and departments who have direct responsibility for some aspect of the customer experience; most obviously the sales and marketing, customer service and customer support departments. They, clearly, will have the greatest concern for the impact any outsourcing decision will have on the customer experience.

It is almost certain, too, that procurement, finance, HR, IT and in-house legal departments will also be involved. Given the often complex legal issues that can arise when outsourcing and that an organisation’s legal team will need to ensure that the contract reflects the organisation’s requirements, it is always best to involve the lawyers at an early stage in the process, even if their involvement is limited until the tender and contract negotiation stage.

The completed Business Case should give absolute clarity on the following points:

• What is to be outsourced – a detailed scope of the work

• How it will be outsourced – the outsourcing model, number and type of service providers and locations

• The in-house cost base against which the cost of the outsourced service will be benchmarked and an analysis of risk, of the process and of outsourcing

• How success will be judged – an outline of the service level agreements, quality criteria (including desired agent behaviours) and performance targets the OSP will be expected to meet and the measurement criteria that will be applied outsourcing deals

The Business Case should address these issues:

• The business objectives and background to the outsourcing decision.

• Descriptions of the services and processes to be outsourced, with documented business processes and flows.

• Current activity sources, volumes, durations and patterns.

• Forecast activity levels and reasons: marketing plans, organisation growth forecasts, etc.

• Current service level and key performance indicator achievements.

• Systems requirements, management information, quality and reporting requirements.

• Timetable for the project, with milestone dates to be achieved.

• Key personnel and responsibilities.

• Costs, budgets and projected return on investment.

Once the Business Case has been specified in detail, it is possible to identify the type of organisation most likely to meet your objectives in terms of experience, size, capabilities, location and management style.

Identify, qualify and create a list of potential outsource service providers:

With the primary qualification criteria in mind, it is now time to draw up a list of potential call centre service provider..