Blogs - Insurance Services Outsourcing
| Leaner and Meaner through Outsourcing |
| By Rajesh Desingu on 3/4/2010 11:38:03 AM |
In my last blogpost on outsourcing (Reinventing Insurance Distribution), I said that in order to lead the pack, organizations must transform themselves into leaner and more efficient enterprises. Can outsourcing help companies in this pursuit? To put it in another way, “Can outsourcing providers such as WNS help them to manage their customers and partners, ensuring that their focus remains on core activities such as better product design and sales strategy?”
During several conversations with a senior executive from a leading insurance major, I've concluded that when we look at outsourcing from the perspective of a financial services company, there appears to be two imperatives for success: consensus on desired outcomes coupled with a long term strategy. He told me, “You know if I were to advise companies considering outsourcing one or more of their processes, I would say you really need to understand the processes you’re considering for outsourcing. Because in order to jump in, there’s an investment required to implement, and you must be able to recover that investment. So it's critical to align the business line owners, compliance and legal teams and all other stakeholders to outsourcing goals.”
Such clients are positive and confident about their outsourcing strategy because they have realistic expectations, which are backed by solid research, and internal support and an importantly, a long term outsourcing strategy. Once these fundamentals are in place, a synergistic relationship between client and provider can actually fuel growth and expansion.
In this regard, let me share how a leading insurance major has benefitted by implementing an outsourcing strategy. One obvious area of improvement is been the way in which they take new products to market. For example it is easier to train more people in less time with the help of experienced offshore associates. Another benefit results from tapping into comparative analysis and insights that outsourcing providers can deliver based on experience with similar clients.
The benefits of outsourcing are now fully understood. As an example, I was recently reading an article in the San Francisco Chronicle which carried a quote from Lily Mok, Vice President of Gartner's CIO Research, “Outsourcing is going to continue to be a trend, and the skill sets to manage vendor relationships and contract performance will be highly valued.”
She goes on to say that savvy managers across industries will educate themselves on the full spectrum of sourcing options to help their companies make the right choices for their businesses. Outsourcing can play an integral role in helping organizations create value by more efficient and effective operation.
But as in any business change, there are do's and don'ts. I will share them with you in my next blogpost. |
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Re: Leaner and Meaner through Outsourcing
"Such clients are positive and confident about their outsourcing strategy because they have realistic expectations, which are backed by solid research, and internal support and an importantly, a long term outsourcing strategy"
That is so true. No one jumps into something without knowing what's in store for them --- most specially in businesses. One must not engage in themselves in a risky business. | | |  | | | | By KPO Philippines on 4/5/2010 5:08:22 AM |
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