Outsourcing

PROVIDING UNIQUE INSIGHT INTO THE OUTSOURCING LIFECYCLE

Outsourcing can offer huge benefits to an organisation looking to deliver cost savings, service and quality improvement, to incorporate best practice and innovation and defray significant capital investment. It is not however a panacea. Whilst such arrangements can be extremely powerful they do come with considerable challenges and risks and alternative solutions should always be considered. The Outsource Partnership has a wealth of experience and expertise in the delivery of Outsourced solutions across a broad spectrum of complex front and back office environments. These include ICT, HR, Finance and Administration, Customer and contact management, Facilities management and Procurement services. We have a highly experienced team who understand intimately the nuts and bolts of any outsource arrangement. We have collectively lived and breathed many millions and billions of pounds worth of outsourcing deals. Our approach to any Outsourcing project is encapsulated and supported in our Outsource Lifecycle Solution (OLS) which covers the 5 key phases in any outsource relationship:

The OLS provides a structured approach to each aspect of the end to end outsource journey. The OLS incorporates many standard tools, processes, templates methodologies and solutions to support each phase. These tools encapsulate best practice, tried and tested solutions and simple and intuitive interfaces. They enable us to deliver quicker, cheaper and more effective and sustainable solutions to the challenges you face. The Outsource Partnership''s rich pool of subject matter experts, range from Finance and Commercial, Operational, HR and Technology professionals. All have proven experience and expertise in the outsourcing environment and in relation to strategic commissioning. We can deploy our team to assist you at any stage of the outsource lifecycle and in any combination of ways.

This can range from the full end to end management of a particular phase, to the tactical augmenting of your existing team in areas where there are skill gaps or constraints.

Assess – is outsourcing right for you?

Whilst outsourcing can offer huge benefits it is not a panacea. Whilst such arrangements can be extremely powerful they do come with considerable challenges and risks. Alternative solutions should always be considered as part of any strategic analysis. It is crucial in the Assessment phase that you are able to predict at a high level the types of solutions likely to be available in the market in order for you to undertake a sensible comparison.

Having worked in the outsourcing environment for many years we intimately understand the opportunities this market can offer. We also understand the inherent challenges and risks. In the Assess phase we are able to bring this insight to play in the evaluation of strategic options. We can provide a unique indication of the likely solutions (operational and commercial) on offer from the market and test these with you in comparison to non-outsource solutions. We will provide you with a clear and well supported series of options and recommendations that in our view best align to your strategic goals.

Prepare – getting match fit

Conducting an outsource process of any scale or complexity can be an incredibly disruptive and distracting activity. It is most definitely not ''just another procurement''. A badly managed and ill prepared process will not only increase costs, it can also lead to huge management distraction, service disruption and ultimately a poorly conceived final arrangement. This is unlikely to deliver best value in either the short or long term. To avoid these issues it is crucial to be well prepared before any substantive engagement with the market is undertaken.

The Preparation phase works on a number of levels. There is a large data gathering element as the population and maintenance of an accurate and effective data room (which will ultimately be reflected in the tender documents) is absolutely crucial to achieving a clean contract and risk transfer. There is also a need to start to build ideas or frameworks for elements such as performance management, pricing and risk. Finally there is a need to ensure that a clear market engagement plan is developed to ensure that the Procure phase attracts a sufficiently high quality field. This can be impacted by some key deal characteristics such as value, term, opportunity to grow etc. It can also be impacted by the shape of the Procure phase process itself, which if overly cumbersome can put off potential bidders with limited ''bid dollars'' to spend.

We can guide you through all of these elements swiftly and cleanly. We utilise our best practice OLS to provide a logical step by step process that gets an organisation in good shape to enter the Procure phase. The OLS reduces the preparation time and also the associated internal disruption by providing a very clearly timetabled, iterative approach to the development of the key Procure phase components outlined above.

Procure –positive engagement with the market

The Procurement phase is all about market engagement. If the Prepare phase has been undertaken well the amount of administrative activity in the Procure phase should be significantly reduced. This enables the bid team to focus entirely on engaging with, understanding and testing the solutions and arrangements being proposed by bidders. Dependent upon the procurement process being followed (which maybe constrained in a regulatory environment), this is the phase where there is the opportunity to learn from the market and within sensible boundaries take on board elements of market insight and innovation before reaching a final and definitive deal structure. This is the time where best practice can and must be ruthlessly extracted from the process and where the benefit of competition must be maximised to achieve best value. It is also the phase where crucial relationships start to be developed which will in many ways be the key to the long term success of the arrangement. Relationship/cultural fit must not be underestimated or neglected in the process or in the evaluation approach as it is a fundamental component in these types of arrangements.

We have undertaken and participated in a large number of complex outsource processes and we have concluded the negotiation of many millions of pounds worth of agreements. We understand how to manage this critical phase to ensure competition is maintained to the last minute, relationships are fostered and sound equitable (and consequently sustainable) best value arrangements are put in place.

Transfer - protecting service through major change

Managing the transfer of a service (whether from another third party or from an in-house operation) can be a challenging process. The key risks are around service continuity and disruption. There are however a number of other real dangers that have less immediate consequences but which can ultimately cause as much damage. One of these is the risk to the relationship. If the Procure phase is the courtship and honeymoon (although there can also sometimes be an element of the first tiff!), the Transfer is the first pressurised ''real life'' test of ''married life''. This can be a really tough first few months and the fledgling relationship can come under extreme strain. Allied to the relationship risk is the risk to the deal integrity. This can come about as a result of the rapid pace of change that hits the parties in this phase which if not assiduously managed can in a relatively short space of time fundamentally alter the shape of the deal so carefully developed in the Prepare and Procure phases.

The solution to all of these risks is to have a very clear and well understood Transfer/Transition Plan. This plan needs to be developed with a clear understanding of the risks and issues associated with this phase. It also needs a corresponding programme structure and governance to deal with and control these challenges. We have extensive experience of managing complex service transfers. We have the project and programme management skills and toolsets, we have hugely experienced HR experts who have managed many thousands of TUPE staff transfers. We have the commercial, financial and operational skills to support client side teams and suppliers through this process.

Manage – maintaining a healthy long term relationship

Following the frenetic activity associated with procuring and transferring key services the relative calm of day to day operation can lull often exhausted client and supply side teams into a false sense of security. However the pro-active and vigorous management of the contract, operation and relationship is crucial. This is the long haul phase of the arrangement and problems and issues will almost always surface at some stage in the delivery lifecycle. Some of these issues may well stem from compromise and constraints required to be made in the Procure phase. Some can arise in the maelstrom of the Transfer phase. Often issues simply arise as a result of changes that come over time. This can be changes in people, processes, financial challenges, regulation and operational performance. The list is almost endless. Many of these issues however can be anticipated and mitigated. Many problems can be diagnosed early before they become too engrained or damaging. Crucial to achieving this is vigilance and pro-active management together with a good degree of pragmatism and compromise.

We understand intimately the day to day challenges that can hit a long term outsource arrangement. We are able to spot, anticipate and forecast issues that are likely to emerge at some stage of the process and help build mitigations and alternative solutions. We are also able to provide support in the delivery of on-going contractual reviews either on a monthly quarterly or annual basis. We are also able to provide unique Outsource Performance Management Software that will also significantly improve pro-active management and maintenance of the contract whilst hugely reducing the costs of contract management and administration.