Operations: Three Essentials for Effective Outsourcing

Knowledge of your own business is one of most important assets you have, and ensuring the efficient transfer of that knowledge will ensure that outsourcing partners have the tools necessary to provide the best services for you, writes Julie Mohr, director of professional services with IHS Support Solutions, a customer service and support consultancy and provider, in a white paper “Ten Things to Consider for Sourcing Success.”

Mohr identifies three knowledge types that must be shared in order to maintain a successful relationship with an outsourced service provider.

* Corporate knowledge: In addition to understanding your corporate mission, outsourced providers must have a clear grasp of your competitive landscape and corporate culture, Mohr writes. But beyond branding and customer service elements, you must also make your outsourced providers aware of specific success metrics for your catalog.

* Business knowledge: “Your service provider must know and understand the business unit mission with the corporation,” Mohr states. For example, if you’re outsourcing your contact center and the provider is answering customer service inquiries, actively selling products and providing technical support--which function carries the most weight with your customers? Certainly you want to provide good service on all fronts, but your provider needs to know where its parts of your business fit into the larger picture in order to provide the best possible service experience, she says.

* Process knowledge: The provider must understand both fundamental business processes and the relative importance of major business processes in order to be successful, Mohr writes. The service provider must be aware of how its function affects other parts of your business; for example, how a decline in fulfillment efficiency at an outsourced warehouse might cause an increase in customer complaints to the contact center.

To get a copy of “Ten Things to Consider for Sourcing Success,” visit http://www.supplychain.ittoolbox.com/white-papers.