Business Process Outsourcing Services

Handing a repeatable process to a service. You will be able to choose which client tasks suit outsourcing and compare in-house cost with outsourced cost using real numbers.

• Examples: data entry, bookkeeping support, customer support, design support.
• Why firms outsource: cost, focus, skill, hours.
• Risks: quality, security, dependence.
• What not to outsource.
• List the tasks a client could hand over, such as data entry or customer email replies, and pick those that are repeatable, rule-based and measurable.
• Compare doing the work in-house with outsourcing it, using cost per task, time saved and risk, and show the client the numbers side by side.
• List what the client must supply and by when.
• Agree who answers questions and how fast.

Activity. List five outsourceable processes.

Standard to meet. Give reasons for each.

Common mistake. Outsourcing a process you cannot describe.

Check yourself. Which process did you choose and why?

If it is not written, it is not repeatable. You will be able to document a process in numbered steps and time each step to quote volume and price confidently.

• Inputs, steps, outputs, owner.
• Flow chart with decision points.
• Exceptions and who decides.
• Examples of good and bad output.
• Map the process in numbered steps showing inputs, outputs and decision points, and test the map by asking a new person to follow it alone.
• Record how long each step takes across twenty real examples, and use the average to quote volume and price with confidence.
• Write the process owner's name on the map.
• Create a short glossary for the client's terms.

Activity. Map one process.

Standard to meet. Chart has decisions and exceptions.

Common mistake. Skipping exceptions.

Check yourself. What are your exceptions?

Agree what good means. You will be able to write a contract with measurable service levels, so both sides know what good work looks like.

• Scope, price, term, exit.
• Service levels: turnaround, accuracy, hours.
• Penalties and credits.
• Data protection and confidentiality.
• State measurable service levels in the contract, such as 95 percent of tasks done within 24 hours and under 2 percent errors, and say how they will be reported.
• Include the scope, how change requests are handled, payment terms, the notice period and a clear way to settle disagreements before work starts.
• Keep a log of changes to the procedure.
• Review errors by cause weekly.

Activity. Draft a one-page agreement.

Standard to meet. Set measurable targets.

Common mistake. Service levels that cannot be measured.

Check yourself. Which targets are numbers?

Write for a new person. You will be able to produce training procedures and logs that bring a new team member to a reliable standard quickly.

• Short numbered steps with screenshots.
• Checklists.
• Practice with sample data.
• Sign-off on competence.
• Write step-by-step procedures with screenshots, and have each new team member complete a supervised practice batch before they handle live work.
• Keep a short training log recording who learned what and when, and re-test staff every quarter on the most error-prone steps.
• Check the pilot with a small group first.
• Plan for staff leave and backups.

Activity. Write the procedure and train a peer.

Standard to meet. Ask a peer to complete the tasks alone.

Common mistake. Training with real data.

Check yourself. What data did you train with?

Check before the client does. You will be able to sample outputs, categorise errors and set stop-and-investigate limits before the client notices a problem.

• Sample checks: 10% of items.
• Error types and causes.
• Fix causes, not just errors.
• Second-person check on risky steps.
• Check a random sample, for example 10 percent of daily output, and record errors by type so the main cause can be found and fixed.
• Add a second-person review for high-risk tasks, and pause work to investigate if the error rate passes the agreed limit twice in one week.
• Check data export and transfer rules.
• Keep a copy of all signed terms.

Activity. Check a sample of 50.

Standard to meet. Calculate the accuracy.

Common mistake. Checking only at the end.

Check yourself. What is your sample size?

Plan staff by numbers. You will be able to calculate daily capacity from hourly rates and plan staffing, including agreed pricing for peak volumes.

• Time per task x volume = hours.
• Peaks and buffers.
• Capacity per person per day.
• Cost per task.
• Calculate capacity as tasks per person per hour multiplied by productive hours, for example 12 tasks an hour over 6 hours gives 72 tasks a day.
• Plan for peaks by agreeing in advance an extra-volume rate and a notice period, so you can add temporary staff without lowering quality.
• Remove access when anyone leaves.
• Keep sample data apart from real data.

Activity. Build a capacity sheet.

Standard to meet. Match the hours to the volume.

Common mistake. Ignoring peaks.

Check yourself. When is your peak?

Trust is the business. You will be able to protect client data through named access, confidentiality agreements and prompt reporting of suspected breaches.

• Access only for those who need it.
• No data on personal devices unless agreed.
• Log access.
• Report incidents at once.
• Limit access to client data to named people, require unique passwords and screen locks, and remove access on the day someone leaves the team.
• Have every worker sign a confidentiality agreement, store files only on approved systems, and report any suspected data breach to the client immediately.
• Share good practice with your team.
• Ask the client for feedback each month.

Activity. Write a security checklist.

Standard to meet. Use the checklist on the pilot.

Common mistake. Everyone has admin rights.

Check yourself. Who has what access?

Clients buy results. You will be able to send consistent weekly reports and agree one monthly improvement that clients can see in the numbers.

• Weekly report: volumes, speed, accuracy, issues.
• Root-cause fixes.
• Suggest improvements.
• Plan 90 days.
• Send the client a weekly report showing volume, on-time rate, error rate and open issues, in the same layout every time.
• Hold a monthly review to agree one improvement, such as removing a step that causes 30 percent of errors, and measure the result the following month.
• Work out cost per task each quarter.
• Write a 90-day plan with a quality target.

Activity. Send four weekly reports.

Standard to meet. Write reports that are one page and accurate.

Common mistake. Reports full of numbers, no advice.

Check yourself. What did you suggest?

Accuracy falls to 95%.

Question: Response?

Model answer: Sample errors, find the cause, retrain or change the form, recheck.

Volume triples for a week.

Question: What do you do?

Model answer: Tell the client, add temporary hours, protect quality and report.

On the slide: L1 Basic · Basics of tasks

Notes: Describe what outsourcing is and give two examples of work that can be done at a distance. Notes: ask a local firm what it hands to others. Standard: two examples with the reason.

On the slide: L2 Awareness · Awareness

Notes: Describe a service level (quality, speed, price) and the risks of handing over data. Notes: read a public service-level example. Standard: three measures and two data risks.

On the slide: L3 Foundation · Foundation

Notes: Write a process map for one task, such as invoice entry, with inputs, steps and checks. Notes: paper exercise. Standard: every step has an owner and a check.

On the slide: L4 Practitioner · Practitioner

Notes: Run a small batch of 50 practice records, track error rate and time, and fix one cause. Notes: sample data only. Standard: error rate counted and one fix retested.

On the slide: L5 Specialist · Specialist

Notes: Run a four-week pilot of one outsourced process for a practice client, with measured quality and speed. Notes: include a data-handling agreement and a weekly report. Standard: service targets met or the gap explained with a fix.

On the slide: L6 Advanced · Advanced

Notes: Run several client processes with quality sampling, a continuity plan and a data audit. Notes: add a monthly client review. Standard: samples cover each process and the audit is dated.

On the slide: L7 Super expert · Super expert

Notes: Set the service-level, quality and data-handling method for outsourcing work and teach the team leads who use it. Notes: audit calls, tickets and access logs on a set schedule.