New Outsourcing White Paper Reveals Myths and Misconceptions
Posted 08/28/07
Outsourcing is not new, as most business leaders have identified the value of focusing on what they do best or even better than others, and finding others to fill in the gaps. While financial service industries have been accused in the past of lagging behind other industries when it comes to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), others have defended these industries saying financial services have actually been an early adopter of BPO to drive down costs and streamline processes. For instance, BPO is used widely in servicing mortgages, analysis, transaction management, records, cash applications. However, in the equipment leasing and finance industries, most of the early BPO development was stunted by the nuances of leasing including pricing, structuring, channel management and asset management.
But, that is changing. In a recent on-line survey conducted by the Foundation, 57% of the respondents indicated that they are likely to increase their use of BPO.
The new Foundation white paper on outsourcing, “Business Process Outsourcing in the Equipment Leasing and Finance Business” – due later this summer – asserts that “successful equipment leasing and finance enterprises are able to do two things: give the greatest value to their customer at the lowest price and receive the highest possible value from their customer for the lowest cost.”
Many factors are involved in how a company gives and gains value, including the use of many business processes in a workflow. The Foundation’s outsourcing paper will recognize that industry members are striving to balance the desire to mitigate risk with their desire to realize value, and will challenge the belief that equipment financing companies may gain more certainty and predictability in process performance when performing them, themselves, to meet customer needs.
The paper will address questions around BPO as well as point out factors that make BPO successful. For instance, the author asserts that “who conducts many of the business processes” and the “where they are conducted” are not the keys to success. But, rather, success comes from the “how” -- the quality execution of the best business workflow practices with continuous improvement.
Financing leaders will find the white paper a useful tool in looking at work flow, current business processes, considerations around how it can improve the economics, productivity and technology of its workflow, as well as the changing roles and responsibilities of personnel. Fears, myths and misconceptions that stand in the way of optimizing work flow management through outsourcing will be tackled. Additionally, selecting and working with the right outsourcing provider also will be addressed. Other questions confronted by the paper include:
- Do the business processes generally meet the current state of the art best practices standards? How do you know? What else is “out there”?
- Are the business processes' costs for the leasing and financing company reasonable and acceptable for the output? What are the costs of keeping the system at the optimized level – technology, software, training and the “mistakes”?
- Are the leasing and financing company’s business processes providing the highest value to customers and getting the highest value from them? Have we examined all assumptions and standards about them recently?
The white paper will be sent to donors of $2,500 or more, free of charge, and in advance, both electronically and via mail, later this summer. Others may purchase the white paper for $200 from the Foundation online library.
Sites of Reference:
http://www.leasefoundation.org/store
