Why do corporations outsource?   

The common factors why enterprises outsource are:

   Reduction & greater control of operating costs

   Move from a fixed cost to a variable cost model

   Improved company focus

   Quicker time to market

   Access to world-class capabilities

   Freeing of internal resources for other purposes

   Or it could be a combination of the above factors

Successful business process outsourcing requires three specific actions:

   Selection of the right activities to outsource

   Identification of the right supplier to provide the services

   Ensuring the right governance approach for the relationship

How should outsourcing fit into corporate strategy?   

A business's operating model is, without doubt, a top-down strategic issue - and outsourcing is a critical element of defining that model in terms of transforming a business’s technology infrastructure, business operating model/processes and financial statements.

Every organization should have a clearly articulated outsourcing strategy - demonstrably aligned with its top-down corporate goals as there needs to be a clear process in place to develop, define and refresh outsourcing strategy - and to articulate it.

What are the key criteria for determining which functions and which processes should be outsourced?   

Outsourcing is driven by many different potential motivations, and there are many different outsourcing solutions. There are very few activities that cannot be outsourced - but there is no simple guideline for deciding whether and what to outsource.

In general, business processes are selected for outsourcing based on potential savings, labor attributes, interdependencies, and regulatory constraints. Usually the following criteria are used when evaluating business processes:

Size of cost base

Labor necessary to complete the task, i.e., is it labor intensive?

Presence of interlinks that would be violated by relocation

Availability of full-time offshore employees skilled in the particular business process

Difference in onshore and offshore wage levels.

After evaluation, most the processes are assigned to one of three categories probable, possible, and unlikely.

Small starts are made with well-documented processes that require little day-to-day interaction such as data entry or legacy application maintenance

Move to more value-added processes such as customer support, accounts payable, or software development

Eventually the implementation of new operational models such as a dedicated center, joint venture (JV), or build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.

How do you determine the core/non-core split of current business processes to decide what to outsource?  

The conventional wisdom that enterprises should own or control their privileged assets remains valid - but the definition of core has changed.

'Core' means anything, which enables companies to deliver speed, agility and flexibility - the true competitive differentiators. And this 'core' is increasingly being delivered in partnership with outsourcers - enabling effective access to best practice, defined in terms of business infrastructure and transformation capability.

Companies therefore outsource activities in which they do not have (or do not want to have, or are not able to have) a privileged asset.

What are the key benefits that companies expect to achieve through outsourcing and in reality, are they ever realized?   

Companies consider outsourcing for many reasons.

Initially, companies consider outsourcing to achieve a step-change reduction in costs of non-core, support services - and to focus management effort on the core business. Access to better technologies and more balanced headcount/skills profile were also plays a role in the decision.

The next step is to realize performance improvement in service levels and flexibility.
Companies may also consider outsourcing to enable fundamental transformation of their technology infrastructure, business operating model/processes, and their financial statements. There is an emerging trend towards delivering major transformation programs through outsourcing - harnessing the power of the combined consulting and outsourcing suppliers, with their experience in both transformation and day-to-day management.

What are the common misconceptions regarding outsourcing?   

It is about cost and simple, non-core activities only

It's about one-off, narrow step change rather than broad enduring transformation

It is tactical rather than strategic; having an outsourcing strategy is optional.

It is an arm's length relationship based on tight service level agreements.

How can an outsourcing partnership be of benefit to an organization through the 'Ups and Downs' of a typical business cycle?   

Outsourcing helps businesses to achieve higher levels of adaptability (speed, agility, flexibility and cost) - ability to effectively meet (and lead) changing needs/environments. The immediate motivations might change with the economic cycle - but the long-term goal of adaptability remains constant.

In the down-cycle, cost can become increasingly important - and businesses outsource to reduce overall cost, change the shape of the investment/payback curve and to change the way they pay for services (eg on a pay-as-you-use basis).

In the up-cycle, cost remains important - but speed to market and access to new technology/connectivity typically come to the fore.

What is the difference between Outsourcing and Offshoring?   

Offshore development and maintenance is a subset of outsourcing. The outsourcing provider may perform services on shore, offshore, or in some combination of the two. The decision is based on a variety of factors, including customers' preferences.

Offshore outsourcing is gaining a bigger share of the BPO market the reasons for this being many enterprises would like to avail the benefits that arise from price arbitrage (30% to 50%) offered by this model.

What differentiates Suprawin from other business process outsourcing competitors? What are the key characteristics that make Suprawin the best solution as an outsourcing partner?   

The qualities Suprawin brings to the table can be divided into three broad categories:

Capability to provide what's needed:

   Track record of achievement

   Technical capability

   Scale to deliver

Working together in strategic partnership

   A long term relationship building approach

Way forward qualities to ensure businesses improvement:

   Breadth of services to deliver the capability to provide whatever the partnership might grow into

   Transformational capability to radically transform the technology infrastructure, business operating model/processes, and financial statements to deliver speed, flexibility and agility.

What services does Suprawin provide?   

Services that might be of interest to you are:

Catalog Content Services:

Content Conversion, Cleansing, Structuring, Custom Classification & Taxonomy Development services that generate high end, attribute rich, descriptive catalog content for use across a wide range of applications from e-procurement and e-commerce.

Document Management Services:

Scanning, OCR, Indexing & Conversion services to help streamline businesses by converting paper documents into electronic images and achieve immense fiscal benefits in terms of time storage and retrieval.

Data Entry Services:

Empowering clients with clean data for enhanced operational efficiency through accurate, secure, timesaving & cost-effective Data Entry, Data Conversion and Forms Processing solutions

Back Office Optimization Services:

Analytics & Reporting, Finance & Accounting, AR and AP Management and Billing & Claims Processing services which combine the best of breed talent, processes and technologies to help companies derive maximum efficiency to achieve their operating and financial goals.

Customer Interaction Services:

All administrative and repetitive tasks of a business processes in sales, marketing, and service - but that determines the interaction at the various customer touch points.

Managed Services:

Employee Helpdesk services, Offshore / Onsite Desktop services and Offshore Network Performance & Network Security Management services that allows enterprises to avoid the complexities and high costs associated with running an internal IT operation.

How will the online BI engine benefit my management team?   

BI will help generate analytical, multidimensional, dynamic reports on the organizational data to increase revenues and reduce costs.

Some examples w.r.t your fn. are as follows

Marketing Department Solutions

   Benefits:

    Identify the products that are the most profitable

    Increase customer satisfaction

    Greater understanding of customers

    Monitor market trends

    Measure customer service

    Understand the geographical variables

Sales Department Solutions

    Benefits:

    Increase revenue

    Identify the products that are the most profitable

    Understand the geographical variables that affect sales

    Maintain competitive advantage

    Rapidly react to changing trends

    Identify the most productive sales teams

Does Suprawin allow partial outsourcing?   

Clients can outsource any or all portions of their business processes to Suprawin.

Will Suprawin outsource only at one of its own facilities, or will it consider remote data center management at a customer site?   

Suprawin will consider both scenarios, managing your requirements at one of our centers or remotely managing your data needs. Suprawin works with clients to customize the right solution to meet their IT and business requirements.

Does Suprawin offer co-location at its facilities?   

Yes. Suprawin can design a total IT services solution to meet a clients specific needs.

Does Suprawin provide for disaster mitigation?   

Suprawin provides full disaster recovery planning consultation, support and service including:

Risk assessment

Business impact analysis

Business continuity planning

Disaster recovery services

How does Suprawin handle capacity increases?  

Suprawin maintains a pro-active capacity planning and performance management process. Semi-annual surveys are conducted through the account manager assigned to each client to determine future needs. Utilization is tracked continuously and reported monthly which allow for proactive planning.

What level of support staff does Suprawin provide to clients?   

In general, Suprawin assigns a dedicated account manager as a point-person for each client who will guide and support the client throughout the length of the contract. Dedicated teams maintained by the account manager offer continuous support to the client. The size and assignment of teams is dependent upon the specifications of our clients' requirements.

Suprawin's account management personnel are trained and experienced in coordinating clients' business needs. Our dedicated account team works closely with each client to identify and integrate the most effective and cost-efficient services based on the current environment and future performance needs.

What physical and network security measures does Suprawin take?  

Suprawin has a fully secure and networked capacity with 24x7 security comprising of:

State-of-the-art security technologies

Uninterruptible power supply.

24x7 physical security with access control

What are the general cost efficiencies that are generated by outsourcing IT and/or business processes?   

Suprawin works with each client to provide both immediate and long-term cost efficiencies upon business implementation. We work with our clients to streamline present business processes in keeping with the have unique views as to the level of personnel efficiencies they wish to meet. By purchasing systems and services through Suprawin, clients eliminate capital investment and pay only a fraction of the original costs that would have been required.

How do you measure value in an outsourcing deal for competitive evaluation?  

Measuring value in a outsource transaction is dependent on the objectives for outsourcing.

Performance against tight service level agreements - where cost reduction or performance improvement are driven principally by economies of scale and tighter day-to-day management, value is measured against well-defined meaningful parameters.

Business re-engineering - where effective partnership and common longer-term goals are becoming increasingly important, enabling the business to have the flexibility to meet changing business needs value is measured against speed, agility and flexibility.

It is important to have 'base' metrics in place - typically included are the total cost of ownership, service standards and users' perception, but more important is the style in which the relationship is managed - enabling partners to work together towards a long term goal rather than a tactical alliance.

How do you structure an outsourcing partnership to optimize rewards and minimize risks?  

The typical guidelines:

Commercials may be structured to meet the business needs by choosing from one of three key models: Specified Service for Specified Price, Pay-As-You-Go/Price Per Unit or Business Reengineering.

Ensure incentives, penalties and rewards are aligned.

Build sufficient flexibility into the contract to ensure the agreement provides incentives for 'getting it right' rather than a strict adherence to service level agreements (SLAs).

Have a clear and rapidly actionable process to overcome organizational barriers to change.

Make sure the relationship 'feels' right - and that the will to succeed is there.

What kind of terms do Suprawin's contracts usually carry?  

Suprawin's contracts typically range from short term (pilot projects / one off requirement) to long term (three to five years) in order to provide the best value to our clients.

Each contract contains Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that Suprawin sets with each client to measure our performance. Our SLAs measure such metrics as problem resolution, data accuracy, financial accuracy and systems availability. Suprawin' success in meeting SLAs is reported back to the customer on a regular schedule, agreed upon by Suprawin and the customer.

What types of operational models exist?   

Captive processing centers - to undertake business processing only for a specific client

Third-party providers - where the service is provided as specified as per the contracts

Joint ventures (build, operate, and transfer) - where two entities own the operation

If your technology represents millions of dollars of investment, development, and maintenance, how can you afford to offer your services for "about the same" cost or lower costs?   

One of the reasons for our growth is our ability to offer a cost-saving solution in a tight economy. If you allow us to prepare a proposal it is likely you will see we offer more services and better technology for less money as compared to your current expenses.

Our value proposition

How can I find out more?   

To obtain more information about Suprawin's services, please mail your queries to nasales@suprawin.com or asiasales@suprawin.com or click on Contact Us to submit them.

Where can I find out more information about employment opportunities at Suprawin?    

For more details on the opportunities with Suprawin please click on the following link : Careers

Who is Suprawin Technologies?   

Suprawin is an ISO 9001:2000 compliant technology services company located in Beaverton, Oregon supported by an operations center in Bangalore, India. Since its formation in 1989, Suprawin has grown rapidly and today serves over 350 customers in different verticals. Working in close partnership with its customers, the company leverages its outsourced offshore model to drive overall gains in productivity   more.  

How to get into a strategic alliance with Suprawin?   

To obtain more information about Global Alliance Program with Suprawin Technologies, please mail your organization's details to alliance@suprawin.com.