As the dust begins to settle from the economic upheaval, service providers are taking the strategies that enabled them to weather the uncertainty and extending them into recovery.  Co-sponsored feature: Telus 



Brent Allison: ROI depends on how well a partner
can contribute to business goals


In the telecommunications industry, change continues unabated. Globalisation, consolidation, convergence and rapid deregulation are redefining the industry. The recent credit crisis has only reinforced the urgency for business models that are both cost-effective and flexible. Acquiring customers and building revenue while battling churn takes energy and focused resources. Having a partner with common values, complementary expertise and a commitment to innovation can drive success in a changing industry that has also been recently constrained by global economics.

To take advantage of emerging recovery opportunities, service providers are looking to continue to reduce their operational expenses, improve process performance and drive customer satisfaction through service excellence. The path to those goals has often been the outsourcing of select customer and back office functions, with the aim of strengthening one’s core business while managing costs. But that approach can be limited when it focuses narrowly on financial objectives. The true value of outsourcing comes from combining cost savings with innovation to drive business transformation.

Outsourcing as a strategic objective

“Carriers are often traditionalists when it comes to outsourcing,” says Brent Allison, vice president, Telus Partner Solutions. “Outsourcing low value business functions sustains a procurement-oriented mindset. With a partnership approach, service providers have an opportunity to transform core revenue generating processes.”

When choosing partners, return on investment comes from how well a partner can contribute to business goals and longer-term objectives. For example, companies looking to grow through acquisition can pursue contact centre consolidation with a partner to deliver an integrated customer experience, providing a single point of contact for newly merged operations.

Because any customer interaction is an opportunity to upsell or cross-sell, outsourcing high value functions including lead generation and sales to skilled partner agents focused on those activities as their core competency can enable quicker market penetration and response to changing market conditions.

In addition to targeting external processes, outsourcing can also produce internal efficiencies that drive transformation. An experienced outsourcing partner can assist in restructuring or streamlining operations. For example, by examining all aspects of a client’s contact centre business and leveraging best-in-class standards, methodologies and tools, supported by real-time reporting, ongoing skills training and knowledge transfer, a partner can help to create the optimal structure that supports a culture of continuous improvement.

Choosing a partner

When contemplating a service provider partnership, there are many considerations. First, and most importantly, you want continued strategic control over critical aspects of your business, even if outside resources are staffing and managing them. That level of control has a direct correlation to the team assigned to your business by your outsourcing provider.

It is important to choose a partner capable of leadership in all areas – from engagement to implementation to post launch. You should have access to a multi-faceted team that includes managers and support professionals. You also want a direct link between your team leader and executives in the outsourcing organisation to ensure that your business priorities remain at the forefront.

The success of any partnership comes from openness, communication and collaboration. Sharing is essential. You need to have opportunities to communicate your vision and work together to achieve it rather than simply transferring functions. To support innovation, it is critical to identify transformation opportunities at the outset. You can then pursue process changes that also drive cost improvements.

Access is also important. For outsourced agents to drive revenue, they need to have full interaction and training with your products so they can represent them, your business and brand accurately to customers.

Having measureable accountability is also vital. A management methodology should touch every stage of the solution process from project scoping to implementation and launch. It is also important to choose a partner that pursues ongoing innovation in its business. Companies that invest continually in seat capacity, broadband infrastructure, training processes and facilities can support the rapid launch of new programmes or seamless scalability to adapt to changing business requirements.

Applying expertise

Telus, a Canadian telecommunications leader, honed its partnership approach by way of its own transformation. Telus’s outsourcing portfolio reflects the experiences of integrating various acquisitions and streamlining complex operations. The solutions, e.tools and telecom processes underlying Telus’s success are available to other service providers through a consultancy or managed service.

To support rapid growth, Telus partnered with an outsourcer for enhanced flexibility. Today, both onshore and offshore centres provide quick and seamless sales and support services for Telus customers and team members. The collaborative partnership culminated in Telus purchasing its partner organisation and rebranding it as a Telus operation. Telus’ clients can benefit from the combined strength of these two leaders, accessing unprecedented innovation and proven best practices.

“We focus on helping carriers achieve measurable results that they can take confidently to their own customers and employees,” adds Allison. “By engaging at the strategic level, solution design incorporates key business drivers. Whether clients are outsourcing billing functions, customer care, operator services or software applications, Telus delivers an integrated solution.”

Many of Telus’s carrier partners express a strong desire to balance economic benefits with internal efficiencies for quality and performance. With Telus outsourcing, clients can target cost reduction while improving operational performance through process transformation.

Operational excellence drives business results

Many of Telus’s clients come to the partnership with a priority of balancing economic benefits with meeting or exceeding current quality and performance metrics of internal resources. And that is the focus of Telus’s outsourcing business. Clients can lower their costs and reduce the need for capital investment. But more importantly, when viewed as a strategic objective, outsourcing can improve operational performance through process transformation.

One such client, a leading wireless carrier, was looking to address skilled staffing needs for new wireless programs. It also wanted to integrate redundancy by diversifying outside of North America. And it wanted to reduce operational costs while maintaining the integrity of its brand in customer interactions.

Starting with 35 offshore Telus agents, the company’s mobility programme grew to 322 within a year. Telus places consistently in the top three of the client’s seven contact centre sites. The Telus centre is a top sales performer, often exceeding the 16 percent conversion rate goal for postpaid subscribers acquiring new calling features. It is also best performing in client service time (CST) by 3%. In addition to sales and service performance excellence, Telus has also enabled an operational costs savings of approximately 35%.

Another client, a leading North American telecommunications company wanted to drive performance improvements in its technical support organisation. The company turned to Telus, entrusting its support experiences from tier one to premium care.

Telus took a best practices approach to delivering technical support. As part of the solution design, it focused on migrating more skills from tier one to tier two and automating diagnostics set up. Agents focused on root cause analysis of dissatisfaction to minimise non-value add calls. Telus also instituted several people development initiatives including career pathing and defined opportunities for tracked improvement.

With its focused approach to technical support, the Telus team improved first call resolution to more than 80%, increased first tier resolution to more than 95% and reduced truck rolls to 5 to 8%. With a reduction in the number of technical support calls coupled with increased customer satisfaction, the company has de-risked its operations significantly and accelerated the momentum of its business.

“We invest in our people, facilities and processes, and the industry has taken notice,” says Allison. “We are considered a leader and innovator because of our fundamental belief that outsourcing is an opportunity for transformation. When our clients share numbers that highlight significant performance improvements and cost savings, we know that we have translated a belief into a viable business practice. Our approach moves outsourcing beyond financials and operations. It positions outsourcing as a practical business strategy that delivers long-term impact in terms of results and performance.” GTB