Through multiple waves of changing consumer behavior, what did 2012 teach us about how contact centres are changing? More importantly, where will 2013 take the contact centre and customer service industries?

While some 2012 predictions have proven more fiction than fact, the commoditisation of contact centres, the rise of multi-channel, multi-device demand, home agent rise, social media and others have conspired to increase the importance of the contact centre. Still, “Customer Experience,” “Voice of the Customer” or “Customer Relationship Management” has lagged for many industries in effectively establishing the contact centre at the forefront of its delivery strategy.

Scottish Development International – Lead Sponsor

Scottish Development International (SDI) is the international economic development agency of the Scottish Government.

We are able to provide advice and practical support for companies looking to invest in Scotland. Since 2001 we have significantly increased the level of inward investment into Scotland.

SDI provides a wide range of support services including advice, access to specialist expertise, market information, financial assistance, business location information, investor aftercare and specific services covering each phase of international trade activity.

Scotland is an internationally recognised BPO location with an impressive track record and distinguished pedigree. Some of the largest global and European BPOs are based in Scotland, including Teleperformance, HEROtsc, Response, Stellar, Logica, First Data, Capgemini, Vertex and Sykes Enterprises.

There are over 90,000 people employed in 400 BPOs – one in every 30 employees works in a BPO.

Much of our growth and success can be directly attributed to a flexible, stable and motivated workforce with highly developed skills in a mature sector. Overall 400,000 people are employed within finance and business services of which 359,000 are located within Scotland’s central belt ensuring a steady supply of highly skilled staff for the BPO sector.

Additionally, many global and pan European BPOs are attracted to Scotland due to the wealth of multilingual skills. Current BPO’s and contact centres offer a mix of 26 different languages.

According to recent independent research, the majority of BPO operators in Scotland anticipate a rise in staff numbers over the next two years – testament to the strengths of Scotland in this sector.

www.sdi.co.uk

WNS

WNS (Holdings) Limited (NYSE: WNS), is a leading global business process outsourcing company providing agile and innovative solutions to leading brands across the globe. WNS was founded as British Airways' captive in 1996; and today, we have risen to a leadership position with more than 200 global clients, serviced by over 25,000 professionals across 30 global delivery centres world-wide, including Costa Rica, India, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UK and US. We deliver over 600 processes across industry and functional domains.

WNS is the first organization in the outsourcing world to take a vertical approach to delivery, which implies industry-specific solutions for industries, including Banking & Financial services, Consulting & Professional Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Manufacturing, Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods, Shipping & Logistics, Telecommunications, Travel and Leisure, and Utilities. Our cross-industry solutions include Contact Centre, Finance & Accounting, and Research & Analytics.

We enable clients to outperform with our passion for service and innovation. Deep industry knowledge and expertise, a partnership approach, comprehensive service offerings and a proven track record enable us to deliver business value to many of the world's leading companies. We are passionate about building an organization that is valued by our clients, employees, business partners, investors and the community at large.

www.wns.com

Finder Financials

THE STANDARD IN AP/AR ANALYSIS

Finder Financials brings new aspects to the traditional analysis of accounts payable and accounts receivable.

We not only look at purely the financial aspects of your AP and AR departments but also at other factors that influence your results.

Finder Financials works together with her clients to meet their KPIs, improve their processes and reduce their financial processing costs. 

Finder Financials offers a fully secure way of providing analysis services for her clients. All of our work is custom and can be performed on site. Our clients do not need to export their sensitive data and documents out of their own secure ICT environment, therefore guaranteeing 100% data security.

In addition to our unique services, Finder Financials also offers her client’s fault prevention options. Through the implementation and integration of state-of-the-art software solutions, we allow our client’s to focus on prevention and real-time reporting. Finder Financials carries out all the training needs on location and to a high standard.

Our services include:

• AP/AR Analysis
• Statements
• VAT
• Fraud
• Unclaimed Property
• Custom Reports
• Internal Benchmarking
• Master Data Cleansing
• Process Improvement
• Training
• Prevention
• AP/AR back-office support

We currently work for a large selection of worldwide clients in all the areas of industry and government.

If you want to find out more about our services, we invite you to contact us.

www.finderfinancials.com

Serco

Serco Global Services is a world leading Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)  organisation set up to add value to its customers’ business by helping them deliver ever greater service to their customers. By combining its existing BPO and world class frontline service capabilities with expertise from its recent acquisitions of Intelenet, The Listening Company, Excelior and Vertex’s UK public sector BPO operations, Serco believes it has a unique proposition that sets it apart in the BPO market.

Serco’s global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) business has over 60,000 employees across over 100 locations, with a presence in 12 countries providing the complete spectrum of business services to customers in the public and private sector around the world.

As a dynamic global service organisation its people have the expertise and intimate knowledge of their customers’ markets as well as best practice processes and technologies to exceed expectations.

Serco has the vision, agility and determination to deliver cutting-edge business process solutions and set ever higher standards in the markets it serves.

Serco is a FTSE 100 international service company, which combines commercial know-how with a deep public service ethos. Around the world, it improves essential services by managing people, processes, technology and assets more effectively. Serco advises policy makers, designs innovative solutions, integrates systems and – most of all – delivers to the public

www.sercoglobal.com

South Africa

South Africa has world-class infrastructure, exciting innovation, research and development capabilities and an established manufacturing base, with a  sophisticated financial, legal and telecommunications sectors, and a number of global business process outsourcing (BPO) operations are located in the country.

The success of South Africa in attracting leading international BPO investors was recently recognised by the UK NOA National Outsourcing Association, by being awarding the prestigious Overseas Outsourcing location of the Year 2012 to South Africa and further being nominated for the European Outsourcing Association Awards.

The factors contributing to that success are:

Skilled English-speaking talent in scale, sustainable cost competitiveness and incentives to benefit investors

• Savings of 50% plus on a steady-state operating basis from UK Tier-2 locations
• Salaries and real estate costs have remained more or less flat since 2010
• Up to 20% reduction in operating costs resulted from BPS incentives (~GBP 3.5 per FTE)
• BPS incentives of ~ GBP 13 million committed for offshore jobs created in 2011

Fast paced industry momentum

• 14,000 existing offshore jobs, 18% growth year-on-year between 2010-12
• Clear successes in serving the UK market with recent marquee wins and spate of inbound M&A activity
• Western Cape ( ~50% share of offshore jobs) followed by Gauteng and KZN key BPO locations

Business friendly enabling environment

• Robust telecom infrastructure with rapidly decreasing telecommunication costs (90% reduction since 2003)
• Monyetla talent development program generating pool of industry employable talent; 4,500 learners employed

South Africa is an internationally recognised BPO location and hosts some of the largest global BPO service providers, which includes Teleperformance, Aegis, Genpact, Serco, Fusion, Merchants, IBM, GlobalTeleSales, CSC, Accenture and WNS. Additionally to this, the current BPO clients sourcing services from South Africa range from the likes of British Gas, Shell, ASDA, Amazon.com, Old Mutual, Cap Quest, Swiss and Virgin Mobile.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is now a well established location for shared services and outsourcing with proven expertise across a range of functions including finance and accounting, human resources, marketing, legal services and IT support.  Global companies are attracted to Northern Ireland primarily because of its pool of well-educated people who have a professional attitude and strong work ethic. Universities and further education colleges are responsive to business, creating over 4,000 graduates annually with skills, competency and acumen in business relevant areas.  High levels of collaboration between industry, academia and government mean that the development of talent continues to be a priority. In addition to financial assistance, a range of tailored and flexible government-funded support measures are in place to ensure that companies can access the skills they need in the region, both at set up and for future expansion.

The availability of skilled people is complemented by competitive costs, favourable macro-environment, sophisticated infrastructure and an existing cluster of inward investors. Companies who have discovered the benefits of setting up in Northern Ireland include Allen & Overy, Capita, Caterpillar, and Terex.

www.investni.com

Manchester

Manchester has a proven track record as a centre of excellence for business services and a low risk location for Business Process Outsourcing

The city region’s scalability and international connectivity along with next generation digital infrastructure and up to 30% cost reductions compared to London, guarantees operational efficiencies.   That’s why over 30 shared service operations including SPX and Etihad Airways’ European Headquarters are here, in addition to service providers like Aegis, Steria, LBM, Capita and Serco all having offices here. 

MIDAS works closely with businesses to secure significant levels of new investment and employment for city region and provides free, confidential support including: 

• Comprehensive commercial property solutions
• Relocation advice, research support and business case development
• Recruitment and training support
• Introductions to professional networking organisations
• Post-investment PR and marketing support

We have a reputation for understanding diverse business needs and help to remove any barriers for companies looking to locate or expand within Greater Manchester 

For more information on how MIDAS can support your organisation, please contact us on +44 (0)161 875 2239.

www.investinmanchester.com

Shared Services

Shared Services Forum UK – your VIP invitation.

Join the UK’s number one Shared Services not-for-profit community today and you’ll be in excellent company. Our members include Rolls-Royce plc, The Co-operative Group, Bupa Health and Wellbeing, Enterprise Plc and Canal & River Trust to name but a few.

Your annual membership fee is inclusive of all events ranging from our Annual Conference and Leaders’ Meetings and Lunches through to Practitioner Network meetings focused on Lean, Purchase to Pay, Helpdesk, Payroll, Credit Control, HR and the Public Sector, to our Summer Social at the races.   Plus, you can take advantage of as many website log-in’s for the members’ only area of our website as you wish as well as limitless inspiration for you and your team.  We’ll support you with knowledge-sharing, benchmarking, thought-leadership as well as access to over thirty events during the year, a vast online library of presentations and hundreds of new contacts.

Visit www.sharedservicesforumuk.com or call 0800 334 5031 today to find out more.  Plus, if you are a senior SSC leader register at events@sharedservicesforumuk.com and you’ll get a complimentary invitation to attend one of this year’s Leaders Meetings.  Past speakers include Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Michael Portillo and Roger Black MBE as well as a host of SSC experts.

www.sharedservicesforumuk.com

ReadSoft

ReadSoft is leading global provider of software solutions for Document Process Automation. With over 7,000 customers worldwide, ReadSoft has expert experience with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and Enterprise Capture business lines. ReadSoft delivers large-scale document automation solutions to some of the world’s largest corporates, Shared Service Centers and Business Process Outsourcers. 

With a focus on BPOs’ specific requirements, our solutions enable you to: 

• Quickly and easily integrate new services and technologies
• Quickly set up or modify processes and customers through an easy-to-use graphical interface
• Seamlessly integrate existing technologies into the solution
• Employ best-in-breed technology, including various capture technologies within a single process
• Constantly monitor your production performance in real time, making sure you meet or even exceed Service Level Agreements
• Scale your costs per document

ReadSoft solutions cater to health care, banking and insurance industries, among others, and automate a range of processes; from Human Resources to Finance and Accounting. 

Since it was established in 1991, ReadSoft has grown to become a worldwide group with operations in 17 countries on six continents and a network of local and global partners. The headquarters are located in Helsingborg, Sweden, and the ReadSoft stock is traded on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm’s Small Cap list.

info.readsoft.com

The world of sourcing is complex and fast-changing. This 36-page, standalone report unveils the whole world of BPO and sourcing, from offshoring and shared services to more innovative and unusual models, such as crowdsourcing and microsourcing in a unique refernce guide provider by Professor Julia Kotlarsky and other leading commentators. Plus this hard-hitting report explores the challenges facing offshoring as political and economic pressures combine to make domestic employment in the UK, the US and elsewhere a hot and controversial topic. We also gain a privileged look inside emerging BPO models in China with Professor Ilan Oshri, while NelsonHall CEO John Willmott looks ahead at emerging BPO trends for 2013 and beyond.

Chris Middleton, Managing Editor

Scottish Development International (SDI) is the international economic development agency of the Scottish Government. We are able to provide advice and practical support for companies looking to invest in Scotland. Since 2001 we have significantly increased the level of inward investment into Scotland.

SDI provides a wide range of support services including advice, access to specialist expertise, market information, financial assistance, business location information, investor aftercare and specific services covering each phase of international trade activity.

Scotland is an internationally recognised BPO location with an impressive track record and distinguished pedigree. Some of the largest global and European BPOs are based in Scotland, including Teleperformance, HEROtsc, Response, Stellar, Logica, First Data, Capgemini, Vertex and Sykes Enterprises.

There are over 90,000 people employed in 400 BPOs – one in every 30 employees works in a BPO.

Much of our growth and success can be directly attributed to a flexible, stable and motivated workforce with highly developed skills in a mature sector. Overall 400,000 people are employed within finance and business services of which 359,000 are located within Scotland’s central belt ensuring a steady supply of highly skilled staff for the BPO sector.

Additionally, many global and pan European BPOs are attracted to Scotland due to the wealth of multilingual skills. Current BPO’s and contact centres offer a mix of 26 different languages.

According to recent independent research, the majority of BPO operators in Scotland anticipate a rise in staff numbers over the next two years – testament to the strengths of Scotland in this sector.

www.sdi.co.uk

WNS (Holdings) Limited (NYSE: WNS), is a leading global business process outsourcing company providing agile and innovative solutions to leading brands across the globe. WNS was founded as British Airways' captive in 1996; and today, we have risen to a leadership position with more than 200 global clients, serviced by over 25,000 professionals across 30 global delivery centres world-wide, including Costa Rica, India, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UK and US. We deliver over 600 processes across industry and functional domains.

WNS is the first organization in the outsourcing world to take a vertical approach to delivery, which implies industry-specific solutions for industries, including Banking & Financial services, Consulting & Professional Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Manufacturing, Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods, Shipping & Logistics, Telecommunications, Travel and Leisure, and Utilities. Our cross-industry solutions include Contact Centre, Finance & Accounting, and Research & Analytics.

We enable clients to outperform with our passion for service and innovation. Deep industry knowledge and expertise, a partnership approach, comprehensive service offerings and a proven track record enable us to deliver business value to many of the world's leading companies. We are passionate about building an organization that is valued by our clients, employees, business partners, investors and the community at large.

www.wns.com

Capgemini BPO has a new approach for managing Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) at the enterprise level. This new platform-enabled service takes an integrated and centralized approach to GRC that breaks through traditional functional silos to deliver effective enterprise risk management and compliance as a continuous process.

Many companies continue to spend large sums of money on periodic audits that are conducted independently for IT, finance and accounting, operations, and regulatory compliance. As such, the audits tend to look at what happened in the past, and it is often too late to take action. What’s more, the siloed methodology makes it difficult for executives to have a uniform view across all functional areas and business units, which can hinder decision making.

Our service allows companies to replace their fragmented and periodic audit projects with a continuous service that provides real time visibility to risk and compliance. The service is enabled by a centralized GRC control center which continuously monitors transactions and controls while applying data analytics to detect control failures and identify potential risks on a real time basis.

The outcome is lower risk with improved controls and compliance at a fraction of the cost.

www.capgemini.com

ReadSoft is leading global provider of software solutions for Document Process Automation. With over 7,000 customers worldwide, ReadSoft has expert experience with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, and Enterprise Capture business lines. ReadSoft delivers large-scale document automation solutions to some of the world’s largest corporates, Shared Service Centers and Business Process Outsourcers.

With a focus on BPOs’ specific requirements, our solutions enable you to: * Quickly and easily integrate new services and technologies * Quickly set up or modify processes and customers through an easy-to-use graphical interface * Seamlessly integrate existing technologies into the solution * Employ best-in-breed technology, including various capture technologies within a single process * Constantly monitor your production performance in real time, making sure you meet or even exceed Service Level Agreements * Scale your costs per document

ReadSoft solutions cater to health care, banking and insurance industries, among others, and automate a range of processes; from Human Resources to Finance and Accounting.

Since it was established in 1991, ReadSoft has grown to become a worldwide group with operations in 17 countries on six continents and a network of local and global partners. The headquarters are located in Helsingborg, Sweden, and the ReadSoft stock is traded on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm’s Small Cap list.

info.readsoft.com

HP is one of the world’s leading BPO providers.

We provide business process services tuned precisely to meet the needs of private and public sector organisations with complex, mission critical or transaction intensive requirements.

Driving outcomes for our clients:

• Improved business and public outcomes
• Reduced cost of the shared service organisation through leveraging best practices
• Improved efficiency through focusing on standardisation and core competencies
• Increased agility to bring new services and products to customers more quickly
• Enhanced innovation and analytics through technology
• More positive customer and public perception of the organisation through improved controls and transparency

• Increased flexibility, access to skills and free up scarce capital resources.

  By leveraging

• more than 30 years business process outsourcing experience

• the expertise of more than 50,000 professionals in industry services and BPO
• a global delivery footprint with 65 shared services centres and multiple fulfilment centres
• contact centre services from 147 locations in 51 languages
• significant expertise in Six Sigma plus with 4,800+ Green Belts and 150+ Black Belts

• our continuing investment in technology and our global BPO platform.

  HP’s solutions

• Finance and accounting

• Procurement Services
• HR & Payroll
• CRM Services
• Document Management
• Industry Solutions for government, financial services and commerce

www.hp.com/go/bpo

Malaysia has a vibrant ICT and Services industry that is world-class, confirmed by the AT Kearney 2004 to 2011 Offshore Location Attractiveness Index, which ranks Malaysia as the world's third most attractive Shared Services & Outsourcing (SSO) location.

The services sector is a major contributor to the growth of the Malaysian economy and functions include IT services, shared services and business process outsourcing (BPO), regional headquarters, research and development (R&D), training and environmental management. The new emerging trend of Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) is also booming as Malaysia positions itself as a high value delivery center. Within the region, Malaysia is seen to be strong in Finance and Accounting sector and is currently providing high complex task rather than just a call center.

Malaysia`s attractiveness as a regional/global SSO hub is evident by the many world-class companies like AMD, BMW, DHL, HSBC, IBM, Intel, Motorola, Nokia, Shell, Unisys and many others that have set up their base of regional and global operations here. To date, there are over 220 Shared Services & Outsourcing companies in Malaysia ranging from major local players to multinationals. Malaysia is also home to 250 call centers.

The pulling factor has been contributed to the core competencies of Malaysia such as a well-educated and multi-lingual workforce, a world-class infrastructure at lower cost, as well as a conducive business environment. Malaysia is an ideal location for most offshoring activities ranging from the back office operations to upstream activities such as research, design and development to downstream activities such as marketing.

www.outsourcingmalaysia.org.my

Parseq is an organisation offering Next Generation Contact Centre and Finance and Accounting Back Office Processing services to organisations who wish to work with a trusted partner who can offer scalable, agile solutions to specific business issues. Parseq has the scale and capability to meet the needs of organisations both large and small through the delivery of discrete services via our four UK based shared service centres. We are trusted by our customers to process over 75,000 items of incoming mail (both paper and electronic) every day, £2 Billion pounds worth of electronic payments every month, and make and receive over 9 million calls per annum on behalf of our Contact Centre clients

Parseq provides outsourcing services to over 60 clients in the UK and Europe, in the Financial Services, Utilities, Retail, Not for Profit and Public Sector Industries. Many of our clients have had a relationship with Parseq for over 30 years, built upon the following key principles :- * Trust – In our ability to deliver business critical financial transaction processes, on time, accurately & securely. * Value – In our commitment to continually improve processes & technology, driving improvements * Openness – In our engagements to develop long-term, trusted partner-based relationships

www.parseq.com

Teleperformance is the global leader in customer experience and transactional management, as recognised by leading BPO analysts. It has over 135,000 people in 49 countries and handles over 1.5 billion transactions annually for high profile projects that are often characterised as multi-disciplinary and complex.

Our clients choose us because they want a level of service that is exceptional, to protect their reputation and improve their customers’ experience. We understand their markets and the have the deep experience to provide the solutions they need; offer the financial stability of our global Group and have the ability to invest in our services and partnerships.

Our business objective is to productively deploy top quality, well trained people in the optimal geographic delivery location supported by world class business solutions, so as to exceed client expectations and continue reaffirming our position as market leading provider. In doing so, we take fullest advantage of our position of global leader and of the people excellence, processes and technologies available throughout our UK and worldwide network to drive sustained growth within our business above the forecast market rate.

www.outsourcingmalaysia.org.my

Readsoft, the leading global provider of automation through technology for businesses that wish to manage and improve back office processes, has published a White Paper to help Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies consider how to develop their business through technology to offer enhanced service to customers.

The White Paper enables BPO providers to consider the key issues when looking to develop technology solutions that ensure they remain competitive and add value to their customers in a climate of global economic uncertainty.

Customer behaviours are changing and becoming increasingly difficult to predict. The rise of social media and the ubiquity of internet enabled mobile devices are eroding the dominace of voice as an interaction channel. As customer behaviour changes, the organisations that serve them must change too.

RightShoring - Special Report

Onshore, nearshore, or offshore? That is the question answered by some of the world's leading experts on global sourcing in this 36-page, standalone report. John Willmott, CEO of NelsonHall, looks at the key questions that business strategists need to ask in order to make the right location decision. Professor Ilan Oshri of Loughborough University's new Global Centre for Sourcing and Services looks at some of the 125 countries now competing as locations for offshore captive centres, what each has to offer, and the issues that affect each of them in the world market.

Professor Julia Kotlarsky gets inside the enigma of Russia in the 21st century and contrasts it with other BRIC nations and its competitors elsewhere in the world, and then Professor Phil Taylor reveals some surprising (and perhaps troubling) findings about the impact that call centres have had on domestic employment.

Chris Middleton

Scottish Development International – Lead Sponsor

Scottish Development International (SDI) is the international economic development agency of the Scottish Government.

We are able to provide advice and practical support for companies looking to invest in Scotland. Since 2001 we have significantly increased the level of inward investment into Scotland.

SDI provides a wide range of support services including advice, access to specialist expertise, market information, financial assistance, business location information, investor aftercare and specific services covering each phase of international trade activity.

Scotland is an internationally recognised BPO location with an impressive track record and distinguished pedigree. Some of the largest global and European BPOs are based in Scotland, including Teleperformance, HEROtsc, Response, Stellar, Logica, First Data, Capgemini, Vertex and Sykes Enterprises.

There are over 90,000 people employed in 400 BPOs – one in every 30 employees works in a BPO.

Much of our growth and success can be directly attributed to a flexible, stable and motivated workforce with highly developed skills in a mature sector. Overall 400,000 people are employed within finance and business services of which 359,000 are located within Scotland’s central belt ensuring a steady supply of highly skilled staff for the BPO sector.

Additionally, many global and pan European BPOs are attracted to Scotland due to the wealth of multilingual skills. Current BPO’s and contact centres offer a mix of 26 different languages.

According to recent independent research, the majority of BPO operators in Scotland anticipate a rise in staff numbers over the next two years – testament to the strengths of Scotland in this sector.

www.sdi.co.uk 

HP

HP is one of the world’s leading BPO providers.

We provide business process services tuned precisely to meet the needs of private and public sector organisations with complex, mission critical or transaction intensive requirements.

Driving outcomes for our clients

• Improved business and public outcomes
• Reduced cost of the shared service organisation through leveraging best practices
• Improved efficiency through focusing on standardisation and core competencies
• Increased agility to bring new services and products to customers more quickly
• Enhanced innovation and analytics through technology
• More positive customer and public perception of the organisation through improved controls and transparency
• Increased flexibility, access to skills and free up scarce capital resources.

By leveraging

• more than 30 years business process outsourcing experience
• the expertise of more than 50,000 professionals in industry services and BPO
• a global delivery footprint with 65 shared services centres and multiple fulfilment centres
• contact centre services from 147 locations in 51 languages
• significant expertise in Six Sigma plus with 4,800+ Green Belts and 150+ Black Belts
• our continuing investment in technology and our global BPO platform.

HP’s solutions

• Finance and accounting
• Procurement Services
• HR & Payroll
• CRM Services
• Document Management
• Industry Solutions for government, financial services and commerce

www.hp.com/go/bpo

Sitel

Sitel is a world leader in outsourced customer care services. With over 26 years of industry experience, Sitel has twice been ranked as the top overall call centre outsourcing provider in Datamonitor’s annual Black Book of Outsourcing survey. Sitel’s 57,000 employees provide clients with predictable and measurable Return on their Customer Investment by building customer loyalty, increasing sales and improving efficiency.

Our award winning services include:

• Customer Service
• Technical Support & Help Desk
• Sales & Retention
• Collections & Receivables
• Back Office
• Social Media

Sitel's global services will help you increase the Return on your Customer Investment by:

• Helping you understand your customers better
• Improving operational effectiveness
• Creating a strong brand experience
• Increasing your speed-to-market
• Maximising your wallet share
• Enhancing the customer experience

Sitel’s solutions span 120+ domestic, nearshore, and offshore centres in 25 countries across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific. Sitel is privately held and majority owned by Canadian diversified company, Onex Corporation. For more information, please visit www.sitel.com

Email: sales-emea@sitel.com

Freephone: 0800 444 221

Bellcom Worldwide

Bellcom Worldwide is a leading provider of international outsourcing solutions based in Glasgow, Scotland. With specialised knowledge and experience within the international call centre sector, our fully integrated outsourcing call centre services and highly-skilled multilingual workforce will strive to create the perfect tailored solution to match your needs and requirements.

Our dedicated team will ensure that your business benefits from increased sales revenue and market share through our B2B lead generation and multilingual outbound telemarketing services. Additionally, a fully supported inbound customer service channel will maximise your overall customer satisfaction.

Our experienced team has created and managed multilingual email marketing campaigns for a number of high profile clients, exceeding targets. We can also progress performance and revenues by providing call centre consultancy to boost your team's efforts.

At Bellcom Worldwide, we provide a range of call centre services from a single UK based location. With over 250 advisor positions, our call centre services support live and automated customer interactions and transactions across the full customer lifecycle. Below are just a few of our more popular multilingual services:

• Outbound Sales
• Account Management
• Lead Generation
• Inbound Sales & Service
• Appointment Setting
• Email Marketing
• Call Centre Consultancy
• Social Media Management
• International Call Centre

http://www.bellcomworldwide.com

 

bss

bss is the UK’s only not-for-profit provider of multi-channel outsourced contact centres, mobile, web, mailing and response handling capabilities. It has an exemplary track record of delivering IAG (Information Advice and Guidance) to a number of clients. Halifax, British Heart Foundation, Macmillan Cancer Support, BIG Lottery Fund, mind and the Home Office are just some of the organisations who have turned to bss for customer contact expertise.  bss has won a number of awards and has been named Outsourcing Contact Centre Provider of the Year at the National Outsourcing Awards. Recently, bss successfully operated and managed the helpline for the 2011 Census which received nearly one million phone calls in ten weeks.

 

bss was set up in 1975 when the BBC launched its ground-breaking adult literacy campaign 'On the Move'. In 1977 bss became a separate organisation and its unique mission is to enable people to take action to improve the quality of their lives through the provision of effective information and advice. The bss philosophy is ‘results before profits’, so each client benefits from an approach that ensures the most effective results are delivered cost efficiently. No other organisation in the service sector aims to empower citizens through the delivery of information over profits.

http://www.bss.org/

Sitel is announcing the results of their second annual Social Media Customer Service Report. The study, which surveyed more than 1000 consumers in Great Britain between the ages of 16-64 and sheds some new light on the changing role of the modern contact centre.

Is security getting in the way of your business?

Download Lee’s whitepaper which expands on the benefits that including a security methodology into your organisation design can offer.

Financial Services Outsourcing

The Financial Services Sector is rarely out of the news in 2012: IT meltdowns, allegations of market irregularities, high-risk banking leading to massive losses, and a host of other stories have brought this most controversial sector into the spotlight once again. But it is also a sector of real innovation and leadership, and one that is at the core of the UK economy. 

This unique, 32-page standalone report looks unflinchingly at the facts and the challenges as the UK economy suffers its second downturn in five years and the eurozone struggles to avert disaster. How can outsourcing help? What are the key issues? Who is doing what – and how? 

Included in this independent, advertorial-free supplement are:

• A hard-hitting look at the 'European problem' and how banking is at the centre of it
• Analyses of how to make IT and business process outsourcing work within the sector – and the lessons that other sectors can learn from it
• An exploration of the poorly regulated, high-risk world of the 'shadow' banking sector – for some a form of outsourced lending
• A report on 'the social customer': what are the key customer relationship management outsourcing trends, and how can you capitalise on them?

Plus: We look at security, tablet computers, and the impact of new banking regulations.

Chris Middleton - Magazine Editor

 

www.sdi.co.uk

Lead Sponsor

The last twelve months has seen Scotland reinforce its position as a leading financial service outsourcing locations with the sector showing real resilience and growth as economic recovery continues.

Companies recognise the need to cut costs and improve efficiencies while maintaining and improving service levels. The sector in Scotland is constantly reviewing working practices to achieve this balance of controlling costs while delivering excellent services to customers.

The benefits of Scotland – its lower costs, highly-skilled labour pool, mature business sectors with well-developed infrastructures combined with a supportive, business-friendly government – provide a low risk option for companies looking for the optimum outsource location.

In January 2011 HEROtsc re-affirmed their commitment to Scotland by announcing an expansion of their Rothesay site, while in March 2011 US Investment Management company Blackrock announced an expansion to its Scottish operation by creating up to 250 new jobs and doubling the branch's workforce by the end of the year.

Further endorsement of Scotland's position as a key investment location came in June 2011 with US Asset Servicing firm State Street announcing the development of a centre of excellence at its Edinburgh base – a move that will add another 90 jobs to it's 750-string Scottish workforce.

Scotland's credentials were further cemented in June 2011 with BNY Mellon's expansion of its Edinburgh presence to 650 people and the announcement in March 2012 of Edinburgh as the headquarters of the UK Green Investment Bank.

www.hp.com/go/bpo/

HP solutions are part of the everyday IT fabric on the planet and deeply embedded in the cards and payments industry.

Banks, telcos, retailers and governments across the world rely on the business critical performance of HP inside their national infrastructures 24 x 7, to deliver service excellence to their customers across the world.  

We help clients manage the flow of information and funds with solutions and leadership and

• touch more than 7 in 10 credit card transactions everyday
• support more than 100 airlines who use our booking systems with payments
• provide the platforms for over 1 billion mobile phone customers across the globe
• manage over 200 data centres and 173 contact centres
• process over 3 million merchants
• support 90 of the largest retailers globally
• drive the web pages of 8 of the 10 most visited websites and 4 of the 5 largest internet search engines and 
• deploy many of the largest security clouds currently in existence.  

We offer open and scalable solutions for choice, confidence and consistency where customers need a flexible, cost effective future in their IT business to give them the best chance of success in an increasingly digital world.
Our experience in multi-channel management, business process outsourcing, electronic transaction processing, and large scale data analytics provides a unique combination of capabilities and enables clients to drive both market differentiation and new margin growth around a single view of the customer. The result? New opportunity in a world where their customers are increasingly connected,” always on”, and whose journeys demand context aware engagement.

www.wns.com
WNS is a leading global business process outsourcing company providing agile and innovative solutions to leading brands across the globe. WNS was founded as British Airways' captive in 1996; and today, we have risen to a leadership position with more than 200 global clients, serviced by over 22,000 professionals across 25 global delivery centers world-wide, including Costa Rica, India, the Philippines, Romania, Sri Lanka and the UK. We deliver over 600 processes across industry and functional domains.

WNS is the first organization in the outsourcing world to take a vertical approach to delivery, which implies industry-specific solutions for industries, including Banking & Financial services, Consulting & Professional Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Manufacturing, Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods, Shipping & Logistics, Telecommunications, Travel and Leisure, and Utilities. Our cross-industry solutions include Contact Centre, Finance & Accounting, and Research & Analytics.

We enable clients to outperform with our passion for service and innovation. Deep industry knowledge and expertise, a partnership approach, comprehensive service offerings and a proven track record enable us to deliver business value to many of the world's leading companies. We are passionate about building an organization that is valued by our clients, employees, business partners, investors and the community at large. 

www.xchanging.com

Xchanging is at the heart of the global BPO markets. We believe that 2012 offers the opportunity to develop a strong pipeline of business focusing on our core service areas of banking, insurance and procurement; supported by technology. The market indices and projections by Ovum, Everest, Nelson Hall and Horses for Sources indicate that we are on the right path in specialising and being laser-focused on our provenance in these three markets.

We see 2012 as a time to concentrate on: protecting our existing business from aggressive competition, expanding and extending our reach in existing and synergistic customers and growing new business from new clients. The task of our sector business units is on the first two elements and the introduction of a dedicated third party advisor programme is already identifying opportunities within our bailiwick.

Whether this will become a blue-riband year is becoming of interest to the advisory market. At least three firms are opening their pipelines to us as they see the value in partnering to the benefit of their clients.

Focus, communication and a continued dedication to deliver services at the highest level is supported by market direction. If we harness this to our ability to utilise the intellectual property, assets and people at our disposal, Xchanging will have really turned the corner.

www.hml.co.uk

HML is a financial services outsourcer specialising in end-to-end mortgage, savings and personal lending administration, business intelligence and securitisation services.

Established in 1988 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Skipton Building Society, HML currently manages around £44bn of assets for over 50 blue chip clients in the UK and Ireland.

HML specialises in speed to market for new entrants, efficient and effective operations, and it boasts the size and flexibility for clients to scale up or down to meet demand.

HML’s people have the skills and experience to handle complex portfolio migrations, helping organisations divest themselves of assets, or new clients to board portfolios in short timeframes.

Much more than just an account servicer, HML offers value to its clients through its analytical approach, using behavioural analytics to inform customer contact strategies and reduce provisioning.

Technology is also central to HML’s services. It has developed the mortgage industry’s first white-labelled online self service platform so customers can make online payments, while it invests heavily in its administration platform, HML iCONNECT, which clients can use as part of a full administration package or remotely as a standalone service.

HML’s vision is to create value for our clients, our people and our parent company.

Parseq is a technology-led Business Process Outsourcing provider with a strong Financial Services heritage. Headquartered at a secure location in South Yorkshire, Parseq supports a wide range of Blue Chip clients with value-add, technology-enabled services.

Built through both acquisition and organic growth, Parseq has long-term (over 20 year) relationships with Tier One UK banks, as well as major energy, utility, telco and other clients. Parseq provides high quality outsourced finance and inbound document management solutions, processing in excess of 50 million documents per year. It also processes over 100,000 payment transactions daily, with an annual value in excess of £25 billion. Our contact centres handle more than 2 million customer contacts per year via our multi-channel inbound and outbound operations.

With an ambition to ‘Simplify Business’, Parseq is an exciting, imaginative company, driven by continuous improvement and innovation. To find out more, please contact:
Rod Edwards, Chief Executive +44 1709 448 000

The Trestle Group Foundation partnership program with UBS is an initiative that has supported a woman entrepreneur, Vivian Labib Nouer, Founder, Charisma Arts, based in Egypt. They had the pleasure to host Vivian in Zurich during this program, as well as interact with her in Cairo.

By providing Vivian access to talented executives at UBS, she will be able to grow her business faster during a very challenging time - creating both a social and economic impact.

Appreciation is extended to a-connect for their financial support and to UBS for their human capital support.

Collaborating with innovative organizations enables our Foundation to reach women entrepreneurs around the world and fulfill our mission of creating both economic and social change.

Often views differ between business and IT about how to approach the cloud . Are the new technologies of cloud, mobility, and big data an IT evolution? Or are they a game-changing revolution as many in the business world seem to think? Capgemini believes both views are correct: “inside out” and “outside in” approaches are needed to maximize benefits from the cloud.

BPO services are back in the spotlight in both the public and private sectors this year, as organisations look to cut costs.

William Heath Robinson, Rube Goldberg, Caractacus Potts - all gifted with the ability to partly solve a relatively simple problem with an excessively complex solution. Perhaps they should all come and work in outsourcing...

John Willmott, founder and CEO at analyst company Nelson Hall, discusses the emergence of BPO 'Version 4.0' and the pitfalls of viewing BPO purely as a technology solution.

We have heard a great deal claimed about Cloud Computing in recent years – about how it can help enable a more agile, cost-efficient enterprise – but this is the first supplement to take youBeyond the Cloud.

This special report is taken from the Spring 2011 issue of Professional Outsourcing Magazine

Interview by Helen Winsor, SSON

Graham Russell, Head of Global Transactional Finance at AstraZeneca, joins Shared Services and Outsourcing Network to discuss how to excel in governance, leadership and process excellence.

As with many other specialised IT disciplines, software testing is not one of the core business activities of most companies. This White Paper discusses the specific opportunities available to companies through the use of Managed Testing Services, and uses different areas of activity to show how its introduction impacts on technology, processes and company organisation. The topics examined include contract arrangement, governance, monitoring and service levels, all of which further regulate the working relationship between the customer and contractor.

Some procurement managers believe that outcome-based agreements (OBAs) are the future of contracting and outsourcing. To others, they are a messy annoyance, one of those ideas that sounds great in an MBA classroom, but never quite works out in the real world. To explore the issue further, Mark Kobayashi-Hillary had a conversation with Gavin Bowden-Hall, director of sourcing advisory firm SSAPS and also chair of the Intellect outsourcing and offshoring group.

Lyceum Capital signs five-year contract with Business Systems Group for the delivery of a fully outsourced IT managed service

De Agostini and NIIT Technologies Join Forces to Provide Mission Critical Application Re- development

Raytheon is first provider to offer accredited qualifications in a virtual classroom environment

Contract for managed testing services, valid until the end of 2013

AccessPlus and TPF Group join forces as 'Banner Managed Communication'

Change Management and Understanding Outsourcing

Trestle Group provides suggestions for organizations as they prepare for a multisourcing journey.

Trestle Group explore what makes a captive centre a stretegic asset and the factors that can turn this asset into a competitive disadvantage.

Sourcing Destination Snapshot: The Philippines

Extending Your Corporate Culture to an Outsourcing Provider

A Guide to Effectively Outsourcing your Customer Care.

From Acquisition to Loyalty in the Fast Lane.

What are the baby steps to an outsourced environment, and how your strategy can transform your business.

Your Path to Turn Your Service and Support Contact Center into a Customer-Central Profit Center.

The Three P's to Preventing Fraud.

Choosing the Geographic Support Strategy Right for Your Business.

There are five top reasons most organizations choose to outsource, and examples of how Sitel has helped them meet or exceed their goals.

White Paper examining the future of the Multishore Outsourcing Industry.

This essay, ‘Cross-cultural Communication and Offshored Contact centers' by Dr. Guy Fielding, looks in depth at the contact center industry; its creation, how it has grown, developed and prospered and considers how "mental models" of communication have impacted how it operates.

This essay by Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, considers the impact of entrepreneurs on the BPO industry and discusses how Egypt is supporting the growth of SMEs and start-ups through initiatives such as EduEgypt and the Technology Incubation Program.

Renewed Enthusiasm for HR Outsourcing Driven by Need for Cost-Effective Access to Consistent HR Information.

The overriding issue which continues to concern HR departments during 2010 is the ongoing need for HR service cost reduction.

Globe-straddling giant, or dinosaur? Thought-leader, or part of a consultancy malaise afficting Whitehall? It's time to examine Accenture's scorecard says Chris Middleton.

Professional Outsourcing had exclusive access to this year's NASSCOM conference.
What is India's mood in 2010? Alex Blues, head of IT sourcing, PA Consulting, reports.

Cloud computing stands centre stage in government policy as we move into a new political era
- says the government's CIO. But are outsourcing providers listening? Chris Middleton reports.

This essay discusses the role of Education and the MBA in the modern world of outsourcing. It focuses on how Egypt is developing its human capital to ensure it is firmly placed as a great location for the world‟s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sectors.

Perspective Paper by Dr Paul Davis of Onshore Offshore Consultancy Services.

This essay by Professor Leslie Willcocks and Catherine Griffiths of the London School of Economics, looks at what middle managers do and what their role is in making an outsourcing arrangement successful.

Offshoring in non-BRIC countries: Egypt - a new growth market. An LSE Outsourcing Unit report.