In light of recent research suggesting that £7bn of outsourcing contracts are up for renewal in 2007, I strongly believe that it is time for companies to review their strategy for adopting offshore services.
Outsourcing will continue to generate increasingly high standards of service as long as organisations understand which assets to utilise in order to achieve long term cost effective results.
Customer-facing operations such as call centres should not be outsourced. The customer interface must be maintained as a core in-house skill. It is in the back office processes, such as handling insurance claims, and software that organisations can truly leverage offshore skills.
With no requirement for customer interaction, there is no risk of alienating a customer or making a mistake through miscommunication. Highly trained, best of breed staff can deliver increased value and speed to market while enabling organisations to keep control of their customers in house.
Offshore companies provide increased operational efficiencies by developing and enhancing the software that drives their business which can enable an increased level of service to customers.
Furthermore this can be guided and controlled by strict service level agreements that will ensure the project remains on track.
Joe Venkataraman, Director, Mastek UK
