Tag Archives: outsourced services

Why outsourcing your sales order processing can give you a competitive advantage.!

There are tangible benefits in outsourcing the sales order process.

I’ve paraded the tangible benefits of outsourcing here.

Sales order processing is right up there in the scheme of things when it comes to important business critical processes.

After all, if your sales team are working hard to get new business and sales orders it stands the importance of having an effective order processing system is essential.

Completing and fulfilling customer orders in a timely and efficient manner not only builds a relationship with a new customer and provides security and assurance that you are handling your customers orders with expediency but it also strengthens existing business relationships.

Whether your business is B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer) transactions the processing and delivery of sales orders gives the organisation a competitive advantage.

There is nothing worse than gaining a new client and securing a new sales order only for the internal sale order process to breakdown causing embarrassment and frustration for the sales person who has worked hard to  deliver the order.

The speed in which a company fulfils the order gives any company whatever size a distinct competitive advantage.

Irrespective of whether your company is selling a service or product it is imperative that your customers requests are processed quickly.

This can prove challenging particularly when the volume of orders is difficult to process if you have limited resources as a company and can lead to unnecessary managerial duress being placed on staff, the end result may well be dissatisfied customers due to delays.

 

With the ever increasing presence of internet businesses, customers have a huge number of potential suppliers to pick and choose from with the potential to offer similar deals and discounts. Therefore the importance of the sales order process cycle cannot be underestimated.

Companies that offer superior customer service, faster order processing and timely delivery will increase their customer base.

One of the main advantages of having an online business is that it continues to function night and day.

With the internet being truly global and in a very competitive business environment, customers have the option to place orders in any time zone and at any time of the day or night.

Providing overnight staff to process orders can be costly but is necessary if you have an internet based business and wish to remain competitive.

Opting for outsourcing this fundamental business process may just be the right cost effective solution.

Outsourcing any manual intensive business process provides companies with added advantages by freeing human resources which would otherwise be engaged in non core activities.

By outsourcing the sales order process gives organisations the opportunity to reorganise and reallocate resources to more efficient and productive channels for growth and expansion.

What are the benefits of outsourcing the sales order process?

  • Extended hours of operation at lower cost by outsourcing an overnight team of staff to process clients enquiries and orders.
  • Expansion of the team and minimal day to day managerial responsibilities ideal for the business start-up that would like to expand their team but have a restricted budget.
  • Organisations won’t have to deal with any HR processes as the outsourcing company handles these.
  • Businesses can divest themselves of having to invest in additional technology, personnel and infrastructure.

The key to success for any organisation is having a long term vision and outsourcing can provide a key component in the success of this vision.

Outsourcing the sales order process can give long term benefits allowing companies to grow and strengthen current business relationships and develop new customers by providing an efficient and timely service with tangible benefits that can be measured against the delivery expectations of the customer in the sales order process.

Your competitive advantage is based on how quickly you can process your customers order!

Next Steps

For more information about how to outsource a specific business process please call us for an informal discussion or fill in the form below and one of our expert advisors will be in touch.

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Outsourcing – The Pros and Cons!

In my last blog I talked about why outsourcing can be good for organisations and the benefits that can be derived from outsourcing.

Outsourcing is not a four letter word (11 to be precise but who is counting)

What is often overlooked or never written about are the disadvantages or pitfalls that companies fall into when considering outsourcing!

It is important to point out that these pitfalls can be avoided if you plan and manage the process. When it does go wrong and believe you me it can, outsourcing is then tarred with a brush such as ‘it doesn’t work’, ‘we tried it, it failed’, ‘it was a disaster, never again’.

If there isn’t a clearly defined set of objectives then don’t be surprised when it fails.

Think of it as inviting a domestic goddess into your house to help with your cleaning, if you don’t give her clear instructions on what it is specifically you want doing she will most likely assume what you think you need and both of you then wonder why you are disappointed with the results.

The concerns about outsourcing anything from your payroll printing to a whole department are based on trust and whether the incumbent supplier will deliver the intended outcomes.

It’s pyschological! Outsourcing 

Considerations are “does the cost outweigh any benefit after all, you could/should be doing it!”

A compelling argument but imagine the time you gain by finding the right partner to manage the outsourcing process for you? TIME is money and if a part of the business process or function is broken then in reality it’s probably costing the business a whole lot more!

Its true that businesses are wary of outsourcing and recent figures from research conducted by the National Outsourcing Association revealed that “80% of the general public do not believe that outsourcing helps the British economy, with only 19% believing that outsourcing can help get the UK out of recession.

An alarming 22% of people dislike the process of outsourcing despite us paying £21 billion in income tax every year.

Perceptions of outsourcing centre on cost-cutting, job losses and offshoring and onshore outsourcing.

There is huge concern for the organisation that is handing over a primary business process(es) and/or functions to a third party perpetuating the myth you feel out of control of the process and bereft of what is going on.

The purpose of outsourcing is to allow the proper use of internal resources. For example if you are printing and fulfilling orders in house, your employees are doing busy work not business. Imagine how the business focus would change when it has more time to think up new ideas, invest in creativity freeing up employees for more meaningful mission driven work all of which help fuel those ideas to fruition.

But what do organisations concern themselves with when they think of outsourcing?

These challenges tend to centre on:-

  • service levels not meeting expectations
  • data integrity and confidentiality worries
  • the contract being too inflexible to allow for change in growth patterns of the company
  • management changes at the outsource company creating friction and uncertainty
  • the outsourcing company going out of business or changing/discontinuing the provision of the services originally hired for
  • failure to provide the necessary resource in your company to manage the success of the outsourced business process
  • can the process be shared by 2-3 partners rather than giving it to one supplier

When considering outsourcing it is always worth having a contingency plan should a problem arise for example could you bring it back in-house for a short period, do you have an alternate service vendor? This is a double-edged sword because outsourcing by its very nature assumes that the company you choose to partner with will never give you cause for worry.

However, outsourcing should include extensive research, selection and recruitment of the right provider for your proposed business function. But things do happen, events intervene, companies change management, companies get bought out, companies go bust!

Unforeseen problems can arise when “force majeure” intervenes or you have not planned and managed the process as outlined here!

How do you avoid the pitfalls!

Let me start by saying “outsourcing is about creating a successful partnership” much like a marriage as I have previously alluded. In 90% of failed outsourcing processes this was the fundamental component missing! (Based on DPM statistics) It is no good you choosing to make a commercial decision to outsource a component and handing it lock stock and barrel with no active involvement or development of the relationship.

Regular communication is pivotal to any business relationship, an example of that is marriage if you don’t communicate it can quickly break down leading to misunderstandings and mistrust!

How do you find the right partner/supplier?

Ask yourself the following:

  • Does the service provider have a track record of service?
  • How does it manage service levels and expectations?
  • Is the business expanding?
  • How good are the service level agreements it provides?
  • How will the relationship be managed?
  • Will there will an account manager?
  • Who are the providers existing customers?
  • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the provider?
  • How do they manage problems?
  • Visit each supplier and ask questions about the processes
  • How secure are their IT systems? Is data integrity (if relevant) conform to UK standards i.e. Data Protection, ISO 27001
  • Can they demonstrate good quality assurance management systems?
  • Are they financially stable? How long have they been trading? (Don’t be mesmerised by the scale of the turnover its more important they have a proven track record in delivery)
  • Ask the service provider if they plan to subcontract the work out and carry out the same checks
  • Do they really know and understand their industry sector?

Finally?Outsourcing

Question your assumptions about outsourcing, this can be a good thing for the business and the employees it also means you are thinking through the process logically. Trusting someone else to manage the process doesn’t mean you have to let staff go it is simply a matter of redistributing human resources.

You can do all the necessary checking, set up a tender process and visit the select few. But there is nothing like good old fashioned gut instinct if it feels right it probably is.

Don’t be afraid to ask if you can trial the service for 1-3 months to get the “experience” (subject to type of business function) although there may be some initial setting up/running charges for the trial it’s worth asking for. If the service is of high value over a long period you may even be able to trial the process free before you make your final decision!

One more thing, whether the value of the process you are outsourcing is £5K or £50,000,000 the above steps still apply!

What do you think? Can you share an outsourcing story that went horribly wrong or was it the best thing you ever did?

 

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Outsourcing Business Processes. Why outsource?

A necessary business evil or not?

The term outsourcing immediately conjures up a feeling of fear, creates a sense of foreboding and there tends to be a general misconception that it will lead to redundancies. Factor in a lack of awareness or understanding of the benefits that can actually be derived from outsouricng a particular business function or process of your organisation and you can understand why people pale in front of you when the “O” word is mentioned.

There are 12 good reasons why a company might like to consider outsourcing here!

As companies expand in size and in operations, management must become more focussed on core business activities and consider whether non essential, non core business activities can be outsourced to vendors who can provide the specialisation lacking in-house.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing some of your business processes can save you time and money!

Outsourcing some of your business processes can save you time and money! 

Outsourcing business processes is when you contract out a business function either a task, role or process to a third party over a substantial period of time.  The outsource provider ostensibly takes control of the function and becomes responsible for managing its effectiveness and ultimately its success.

Outsourcing has become synonymous with large enterprises who offshore manufacturing or call centre operations to remote providers based in China or India.

This is not a viable option for the SME or for organisations wanting to outsource maybe one or two business processes. An effective and cost saving option is to consider “nearshoring” the process by which a company outsources to a local service provider (when I say local I am referring to a UK based provider)

Outsourcing core business processes may save you money, note I suggest the word may. The success of the process and its overall effectiveness must be clearly defined and managed and there are some guidelines to consider here!

An outsourcing partner can give you flexibility and the help you need to manage growth this is offset with the benefits you derive by offering your business access to outside expertise and technologies without having to make massive investments in infrastructure change and maintenance. Outsourcing can be scaled to suit the changing needs of your business.

Why outsource?

If you have found yourself asking the:-

  • are my resources being used effectively?
  • are my current resources capable of supporting new technology?
  • is there a better and more efficient way of handling our processes?
  • do the employees have the operational expertise to manage the tasks internally?
  • what is this all really costing the business?

Then the benefits of outsourcing can be great.

Capital for start ups is limited and outsourcing some of your business processes can ensure you know exactly what your on-going monthly costs will be allowing you to allocate much needed funds to the development of the business.

Consider these points:-

How?

  1. Will outsourcing allow my business to focus on its strengths?
  2. Will it improve efficiency of the business?
  3. Will your business gain a competitive advantage?
  4. Will it save me money?

How will outsourcing help me?

Firstly it will focus you and the business on what the company specialises in providing it’s customers, here I mean the core business function, whether it’s making hats and shoes or screws and plugs. You wont be distracted into unproductive and non-profit making business activities.

Internal resources will be re-directed and re-focussed into core business activity.

Migration to new technologies without you having to make investment internally reduces the risk of bad purchasing, minimum downtime and productivity ensuring that a move to newer technologies is minimal.

In any outsourcing partnership risk is further reduced because the outsource partner will have disaster recovery and back up mechanisms in place providing a rapid response to any problem that besets your company.

Points to consider

Think through what you need and how the company will benefit!

  • What process(es) are you thinking of outsourcing and why?
  • Weigh the costs of doing it in-house VS outsourcing
  • Consider a consultant to help you set up a service provider
  • Consider what the on-going costs would be if you don’t outsource it
  • Are you prepared to invest in the time and management of the outsourcing relationship?
  • Do you have realistic expectations?
  • Are you outsourcing a key function which you really should keep in-house?
  • Finally weigh up the risks of outsourcing VS managing the process in-house!

Whatever your decision, outsourcing or keeping the process in-house, you will need to consider the cost implications and the longer term impact on your business.

One final thing.

To reap true, tangible cost savings the process must be carefully managed and monitored. In other words the relationship must be built on trust, knowledge, security and ultimately become a partnership! Much like a marriage!

What do you think?

Have you outsourced a component of your business?

How successful was it?

Would you do it again?

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For more information about how to outsource click here

Outsource payroll services: How to manage the process of outsourcing your payroll?

Payroll outsourcing

Payroll processing and printing can be time consuming. Outsourcing some or all of the processes will save time and money

Outsource Payroll Services

How to manage the process of outsourcing your payroll follows 10 Reasons to outsource your payroll

I’ve talked about the benefits that can be acheived by outsourcing payroll, invoice printing and processing here are a few reminders:-

  1. You know what your monthly fixed cost for the operation is
  2. Allows you to focus on the area of business you hope to succeed in
  3. Allow experts to manage the process
  4. Reduce the cost of internal errors
  5. Speed up the process
  6. Benefit from your providers’ technology without having to make the investment
  7. Flexibility – you’re no longer reliant upon people to manage the process in-house
  8. Secure in the knowledge that any disaster that affects your organisation it’s business as usual for your outsource provider

You’ve now taken the unprecedented decision to outsource your payroll function.

What happens next?

The next step is to find a payroll provider that can faciltate your requirements?

Easy?

Not so, when you are unclear or uncertain as to what you are looking for and what you need to look out for!

Where do you start?

You only have to google payroll bureau and a whole host of names pop up from the small to the large service providers and that’s where it gets sticky because do you have the time to search, research, evaluate, tender, set up visits to establish creditability then make a decision.

All told, the process might take you anything from 2-6 months and that is a conservative estimate.

Here are a few things to consider when outsourcing your payroll:-

 Small (1-50), medium (50-150) or large (150+) employees on your payroll will help determine the type of bureau you select to work with.

  • Expertise – does the payroll provider have relevant industry expertise to manage your payroll efficiently?
  • Flexibility – can they offer solutions tailor made to fit with your requirements and not a box that comes pre-packed and one you need to fit in?
  • Technology – can they offer online pay slips, paper slips or a combination of both? Can they manage multi-channel distribution?
  • Does their system offer the flexibility to integrate with yours?
  • What reporting functionality are you likely to get with each payroll run? Ask for sample reports and payslips both on and offline so you get to see the quality of the output. If you have a need for both paper and online slips how are the paper slips being printed – pressure seal (without envelopes) or A4 folded and inserted into an envelope establish the quality.
  • Find out if the cost of postage is included. There are a host of mailing discounts available via the Royal Mail and DSA (downstream access) which your payroll bureau should be able to offer.
  • One final thing – let your payroll team be instrumental in the project after all they will be the people managing some or all of the process going forward. Payroll outsourcing

What type of payroll services will you need?

  • A fully managed payroll system
  • Bureau payroll
  • Hosted
  • BACS
  • Multi-national payroll
  • CIS

 How do you then manage the process?

Project management is paramount. Any business process that integrates with the payroll function needs to be considered such as HR and Finance. A pay calendar or schedule is imperative for the bureau to determine cut off times and when data will be made available to the bureau for processing.

This must include BACS transmission dates, pay dates and the physical distribution of the pay slips.

During the migration phase the payroll system will need to be tested to ensure data integrity, compliance and accuracy with the current system.

This process is usually tested over a 2-3 month period where parallel runs will be done by the payroll bureau and measured for accuracy against the current system.

Feeling overwhelmed!

Digital Print Management are independent of any manufacturer, I.T. solution provider and print supplier.

As a solutions and print management specialist emphasis is on understanding the customers requirements and not trying to sell them something which doesn’t cut the mustard in the long term.

Put simply we offer a free consultative, no obligation approach to helping customers who are overwhelmed by the prospect of outsourcing any business process.

Processing and printing or the complete function of a department.

We are here to help so please do call us or leave a message and one of our consultants will be in touch.

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Outsourcing Payroll Services. What to look out for.

10 reasons to outsource your payroll.

Outsourcing payroll services

There are a number of reasons why outsourcing your payroll can be a cost effective option for you by optimising a payroll services company.

Firstly, it affords the opportunity to drive down operational costs and remove inefficiences within the payroll department. A decision to outsource any business function is a result of various internal and organisational pressures such as the lack of skilled personnel suitable to handle the task and to keep control of costs.

In the current economic climate companies face increasing pressure to keep up to date with new technologies, legislation and organisational change at the same time having to streamline some of their internal business functions and processes.

Outsourcing payroll

Why use an outsourcing payroll service?

  • Cost – even before you consider outsourcing your payroll function you need to know what it is costing you to process in-house. How many hours are spent engaged in payroll activities? This must include the cost of labour, technology, office space, stationery, printing and postage. The more manual the process the more people that are required to maintain and administer the function.
  • Productivity – payroll management is a time consuming activity by outsourcing this function employees can focus on productive activities focussed on the business. The more you automate the process the less people involved in the pay roll cycle.
  • Accuracy – Payroll mistakes can result in angry and worried employees. A good payroll bureau is far less likely to make errors because it is their job to provide accurate payslips.
  • Reliable service – Outsourcing to a bureau won’t be impacted by staff illness and holidays therefore the output speed and quality will be constant. Neither will you have to spend time helping new employees learn your payroll system.
  • Speed – payroll bureau are designed to speed up the process of payroll printing and distribution as specialists they have technical resources enabling them to process payroll quickly and cope with on going changes within an organisation such as seasonal or temporary workers without having to upgrade systems.
  • Expertise – a payroll bureau will have the expertise to provide the services you need irrespective of industry sector.
  • Accountability – it becomes the payroll service providers responsibility to ensure your payslips are accurate, comply with HMRC and tax regulations and are distributed on time.
  • Technology – a payroll provider will keep up to date with new technologies and software ensuring that you don’t need to make additional investment in-house as they invest so you benefit from increased efficiencies.
  • Flexibility – by being able to meet your needs overtime as requirements change and your business expands.
  • Security – working with a carefully selected payroll provider frees you from worry associated with possible abuse of the payroll function by employees and if it’s on time and accurate!

COMING NEXT:

How to manage the process of outsourcing your payroll function?

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Outsourcing. Top tips to consider before you outsource!

I have often been asked the following questions when it comes to outsourcing:

  • Should I outsource or should I keep it in-house?

  • Is there a process or a mechanism to help me determine how I go about this process?

  • When or at what point should I view outsourcing as an achievable and realistic option for my business?

The following principles can be attributed to almost any business function that you are considering outsourcing from payroll, the Accounting function, corporate print to HR.

How to outsource

What is outsourcing?

A good place to start is to understand what the process of outsourcing is.

Outsourcing is the contracting out of a specific task such as payroll, invoice processing, billing, credit management to a third party provider often implemented as a cost saving measure for tasks that a company requires but is now finding onerous and time consuming to manage in-house.

SME’s to large companies turn to outsourcing to cut costs and streamline their operations.

What are the key points to bear in mind when you are considering the need to outsource some or all of a business process(s).

Key Points to Consider Before You Outsource?

  • Where are you in the outsourcing process? What does the outsourcing process conjure up in the minds of senior management? And what are the tangible benefits that can be derived from outsourcing?
  • What is your level of commitment to the process? i.e. Is it a fundamental part of your business plan to relinquish some if not all of a business function? How serious are you about outsourcing as a mechanism to streamline some of your business processes?
  • Have you decided how much time you are going to put aside to establish this as a project and move it forward?
    outsourcing

    Outsourcing some of your business processes can save you time and money!

  • Who or what person will “champion” the process and will take responsibility for steering the project to its conclusion? By this I mean having the authority to make the decision outright for your organisation to procure an outsource partner.
  • Have you determined what areas of the business might benefit from being removed to an external outsource partner?
  • What impact is the process (you are reviewing) currently having on your business? In other words is the business function now taking too much time away from your core business objective?
  • Is it costing or adding too much to your bottom line?
  • Is the process too manual intensive?  Is it not cost effective to make the investment to automate or mechanise the function in-house?
  • How many people are involved in the process? In other words has the function outgrown that of the organisation to a point whereby externalising this particular business process is a realistic alternative?
  • Are you able to quantify the time taken to get payroll/invoice processing complete and on time?
  • Can you quantify the cost of doing it in-house?
  • Is cost the main factor in considering outsourcing? What I mean is, are you basing your decision to outsource purely in terms of what it is costing you to do it in house? Are there other factors that might influence your desire to outsource?

Coming Next: The Benefits of Outsourcing for Your Business.

Do you have any questions you’d like us to answer?

Any anecdotes or experiences you’ve had with outsourcing that you can share?

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Invoice Processing. How to automate the process

Invoice processing and printing.

There are many companies still choosing to print these time critical documents in-house.

Choosing an end to end invoice processing and scanning solution will speed up the accounts payable process.

Choosing an end to end invoice processing and scanning solution will speed up the accounts payable process.

Why?

Here are some well documented reasons…

Because its too expensive to outsource.
Because we don’t want to give up control.
I want our envelopes post marked with our address details.
Because the Directors want to retain control of the print and despatch of our statements/invoices

If it’s taking you and your company too much time to process and generate your invoices and statements then you really should think about automating the processing by opting for a print services provider.

A printing mailing service provider specialises in the process, printing and inserting of invoices and statements.

Let’s look at the above points in more detail.

Twenty years ago outsourcing this onerous task would have been cost effective for the for high volume generators of statements and invoices.

Today, technology has changed and improved to such a degree that any company generating a few hundred invoices will benefit from tangible cost savings in postage and processing especially when this is weighted against the costs of doing it in-house factor in over ordering of stationery, consumables, maintenance fees, inserting machines and employees who are involved in the process too.

Retaining control – The question that needs to be addressed is do you trust your billing software to output the correct data? Are you painstakingly checking certain customer invoices for errors or omissions prior to actually sending them out?

Even if you have specific customers that require you to check prior to sending most, if not all mailing services will have a medium with which you can isolate those documents view and approve prior to print or sending electronically.

Envelope details – this is given as most print companies will suggest that the outer envelopes will be pre-printed with a return address, company logo and postage indicia in the corporate colours.

Company Directors are insistent in keeping the process in house – Next time the accounts department process the monthly, weekly invoice or statement run ask the Directors to spend time in the department just to see what’s involved in the process.

Present them with a time V cost analysis report that you’ve done in advance, costs both visible and invisible should be shown then see what response you get? I’d be very surprised if they didn’t exhale sharply and respond with “really it costs that much!”

What are the benefits of automating the process?

e-billing...If your company regularly sends out invoices and statements in a paper format as well as providing electronic billing then you will benefit from having this process automated.

The outsourcing of invoice and statement printing is not as complicated as you think.

By understanding a company’s billing cycle, how the information (data) is extracted out of the accounts system and how to send the data are taken care of by the mailing partner.

If managed correctly by the printing services company the cost savings will be evident.

For example by speeding up the processing time i.e reducing the time taken to despatch bills or statements, receipt of a datafile on day 1 can result in despatch the same day, which can have a dramatic impact on the DSO (days outstanding).

There is minimal time spent by the company once the data file has been emailed because the mail service provider does all the work.

Pre-sorting your bills and statements specifically for Royal Mail or DSA (downstream access) will offer huge savings on postage.

Outsourcing this non core business activity enables you to have the option of sending paper based items and an electronic version as well – multi channel distribution.

The data file can be pre-sorted for bills and statements that are required to be printed and posted or to be electronically sent.

In effect, your only concern is ensuring the upload of the information file. This is the only part of the process that your business truly gets involved in.

The biggest advantage of outsource bill and statement printing is that your outsource provider does all the work associated with printing and prepping of your invoices and statements for mailing.

You also have the flexibility to change the layout and format of your documents because most outsource printers can print in colour at the same time as printing the statement or invoice information therefore implementing a form change becomes effortless!

Most customers have come to expect paperless billing and it is cheaper than sending a paper version.

There is also a compelling argument to outsource the processing of your electronic bills and statements.

Of course there is always the option of implementing a complete end to end invoice processing scanning solution.

For more information about how invoice processing and scanning solutions can streamline your company process then click here for more information.

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 What do you do, how do you manage the process of billing your clients? Let us know your thoughts so we can share it.