The photocopier, overnight document delivery, the fax machine and the Internet were innovations that improved the way we conduct business, and gave their early adopters a competitive edge. Now, of course, they are standard business tools for the way we all work. While migration of a business process offshore is widespread today, it is most common that the offshore process is performed the same way it was previously, in-house. But now there is a new wave of global sourcing innovation that is changing the way that outsourcing buyers conduct business and offering them competitive advantage.
| What could you achieve through global sourcing with Integreon? Ask yourself: | |
| 1 | Do I currently have the right staff, in the right place, with the right skill sets, doing the right things? |
| 2 | How can I provide my customers additional or better services? |
| 3 | How can I help my management team think more creatively? |
| 4 | How can I eliminate steps and inefficiencies from my processes? |
“Customers first look to offshore business process outsourcing for immediate cost savings and headcount reductions,” says Liam Brown. “During the first year of off-shoring they quickly figure out that their competitors are probably doing the same thing, so they ask us what more can be achieved next year - and again the year after that.” Brown is President and CEO of Integreon Managed Solutions, Inc., formerly Integral Media Services, Inc. Established in 1999, with offices in India, US and Europe, Integreon provides information, analytics, content and document services to professional services and Global 1000 companies.
The company is an innovator amongst global outsourcing providers. Here is how:
- Integration. “We integrate into our customers’ operations so completely that the end users don’t realize they’re offshore outsourcing,” says Prashant Chawla, COO of Integreon. In fact, what the end user notices is the effect of a good outsourcer - improvements in service and quality.
- Domain Expertise. Integreon managers come with years of relevant experience from their respective industries. “This domain focus allows us to consult with our customers to help them improve their business processes,” says Brown. “We’re proud to hear our customers tell us that working with Integreon provides their management teams with a powerful stimulus as well as an expert partner to reexamine what they’re doing and develop ways to do it better,” said Brown.
- Global Perspective. As a third party, addressing worldwide business process problems for customers in different industry verticals, Integreon provides its customers with a fresh, global perspective on how to apply best practices to the non-core aspects of their business.
Outsourcing expert Frank Casale, CEO of The Outsourcing Institute, agrees that working with a world-class outsourcer can spur the reengineering of whole business processes. “Best-in-class outsourcing should leverage industry knowledge, best practices and measurement systems to catalyze innovations in improved processes, new product development and new technologies for the buyer,” Casale says. How does Integreon innovation help its customers? Here are some examples:
CONSISTENCY, QUALITY & SERVICE
Several years ago a pharmaceuticals company contracted Integreon to build an offshore document management center to support its global offices. Initially, this customer was only interested in support during the peaks in their workload, doing the work offshore the way it was already being done internally. But Integreon was able to make a greater contribution.
“After they mapped our processes, trained staff and transitioned the processes offshore, they came back to us and pointed out the non-compliances at each of our different offices and even pointed out the problems that this caused the end users who have to work together in research groups all over the world,” said the company’s Executive Director, Administration. “They had data, concrete recommendations, proposed benefits and an ROI. It was impossible for our management team to not explore this more carefully and challenge our status quo.”
As part of this process, not only did the customer cut costs immediately, but the increased centralization quickly improved the consistency of the quality and service it offered its research groups, no matter where in the world they were. The customer estimated that Integreon’s expertise succeeded in cutting out 4% of administrative burden.
“What we do for them and what they do for themselves are now integrated into a standardized system worldwide,” said Brown. “It allows them to make informed decisions about what to outsource and what is most efficiently done in-house.”
This customer recently expanded Integreon’s role again, to include accounting and financial reporting services.
AUTOMATION & PRODUCTIVITY
“We start by asking customers what business problems they face,” said Chawla. “This sparks our thinking about the value Integreon can add.” While there is no one blueprint for an outsourcing relationship with Integreon, the case of a Global 1000 publishing and media company illustrates how Integreon leverages its expertise and resources to create an innovative solution.
This customer struggled with scalability during business cycles that resulted in low utilization of resources and unacceptably high related carrying cost. The customer’s VP Operations knew Integreon’s global sourcing solution would immediately provide cost savings and the scalable coverage the firm needed. “What we didn’t anticipate was that Integreon would make a proposal for automation that actually reduced our need for their services,” he says.
Integreon’s programmers in India worked directly with the operations team to develop labor-saving automations. From cutting keystrokes to removing steps or handoffs in the process, Integreon’s innovations reduced the time required for some processes by 90%. “We produce more work now than when we initially migrated the customer’s processes offshore, but with 60% of the headcount we started with,” says Chawla.
‘We innovate’ is one of Integreon’s three core values. “Our employees know they’ll be rewarded for contributing innovative ideas that make their way into the operation,” said Brown. “No idea is stupid, though the evaluation process is quite Darwinian - only the best ideas survive.”
