By Mark Atterby

Photo on right: Adam Keast, general manager for concierge services, First Contact

Organisations that invest significant resources marketing their brand and reputation, often neglect the one area where peoples’ first impressions are formed about a company – reception. First Contact is one outsourcing provider that tries to help its clients address this area of their business to create a good first impression.

First Contact works with commercial clients to help them create truly positive visitor experiences. They provide concierge and visitor management services for enterprises and commercial buildings. Since establishing their first commercial site in 2007 First Contact has flourished. They currently manage a range of sites across Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane as well as attracting considerable interest from Asia.

First Contact and the people behind it started in the hotel industry, Adam Keast, general manager for concierge services, comments, “Originally we were providing outsourced front-of-house services to the hotel industry. We were increasingly being asked how hotel service methodologies could be applied to the commercial sector. We commenced our first commercial site in 2007. Following on the success of that first site, we have subsequently focused on this sector and discontinued the hotel outsourcing.”

At first, potential clients were unsure about outsourcing their reception and visitor management. What would it look like? Would it achieve improved service levels and cost benefits? Once the proof was in the pudding, however, a number of organisations including a range of leading financial institutions and blue chip companies have come on board.

“We provide a highly personalised managed solution that specialises in traditional concierge, event concierge services, conference suites, VIP visitor management, reception services and event management. We also provide training programs in customer service and hospitality principles to companies nationally, assisting their staff to provide better frontline service”, says Keast.

First Contact delivers its concierge services in premium commercial assets and office blocks, directly for the tenants or an organisation’s global headquarters. The head count at these sites range from two to over twenty staff.

Important to the success of First Contact is the commitment of its staff to providing exceptional service, “Our professional concierges, many with Les Clefs d’Or experience, are equipped with the latest tablet technology and programs to seamlessly deliver traditional hotel services to the fast paced corporate environment”.

“Our recruitment ethos is in sourcing and retaining dedicated service professionals that are matched to service centric clientele. Management and front line teams have formal hotel training and experience prior to commencing with First Contact. We have developed our own service based training in-line with hotel methodologies ensuring a consistent service delivery across our portfolio.”

By Deepti Krishnan, Research Analyst – Value Notes

As the credit market slows, Australian banks are under pressure to maintain profits. The four largest banks in Australia by market capitalization are planning on a major restructuring through outsourcing. Westpac and the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), two of the big banks, are already on the outsourcing path. The initial trend is predominantly ITO, including system maintenance. Infosys is currently fulfilling Westpac’s need for IT services. A successful outsourcing relationship here could mean a foot in the door for its BPO service line, thus opening up the field for other BPO service providers.

The worldwide banking sector and BPO
The HfS report “Banking BPO Services: Getting Back to Basics”, co-authored by ValueNotes, concluded that worldwide demand for core banking processes is increasing. These core processes include asset management, mortgages, and cards and payments. Banks are also looking to consolidate and streamline back-office processes by outsourcing horizontal services. These horizontal services are Finance & Accounting, Human Resources (HR), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Reporting & Analytics. The exhibit below, titled “BPO services in demand by banks”, lists these horizontal services, and their sub-services. They are repetitive and not unique to an individual business, for instance payroll. On the other hand, some sub-services are more ad-hoc and knowledge-driven. They require significant client interaction, and thus, are categorized under knowledge process outsourcing (KPO).

According to the HfS report “Banking BPO Services: Getting Back to Basics” only 2% of the BPO deals by banks, from 2008 to 2011, were from the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region. As banks in this geographical location become more comfortable with outsourcing, this could mean an increase in the number of BPO deals.

Outsourcing models favored by banks

Banks can choose from various outsourcing models for BPO. The degree of affinity to their choice of outsourcing model is depicted in the exhibit titled “Outsourcing models deployed by banks”. The initial phase in the lifecycle of an outsourcing service provider is the captive center model. The goal shifts to better customer experience as the captive center model evolves to a shared services model. This evolution requires SLAs for all processes and sub-processes, and with clearly defined responsibilities for both the client and service provider. A shared services model lets the banking organizations retain some functionality based on their own unique requirements. A service provider must be an expert in process management to evolve to the last stage depicted in the exhibit.

The Australian Business Process Outsourcing Association (ABPOA) is releasing a research report titled “The Sauce Australian BPO Report 2012”, sponsored by IBM and Fuji-Xerox Australia. It investigates the current and future adoption levels of BPO by organizations in the BFSI sector. The report, analyzed by ValueNotes, further illuminates the current adoption levels of outsourcing models, including shared services, preferred offshore locations, and operating models adopted for BPO.

While the aforementioned BPO report provides insights for the BPO sector, ValueNotes’ upcoming study on the KPO industry will illuminate the KPO service offerings of a range of service providers in India, and their capabilities to cater to the market.

Hayleys Business Solutions International (Pvt) Limited (HBSI) recently reinforced its commitment to sustainability and service differentiation by being the first and only BPO Company in the country to obtain Carbon Neutral certification.

Photo on right: Mohan Pandithage – Chairman and Chief Executive of Hayleys Group (third from left) receives the carbon neutral certificate from Subramaniam Easwaran- Co Founder, Carbon Consulting Company. Sutheash Balasubramaniam – Director/CEO (extreme left), Dr. Arul Sivagananathan – Managing Director (second left) and Asiri Silva Manager – IT and Infrastructure (extreme right) of Hayleys Business Solutions International and Sanith de Silva Wijeyeratne – Chief Operating Officer – Carbon Consulting Company, were present.

This pioneering achievement, unique in Sri Lanka’s business process outsourcing services industry, was earned after a focused effort by HBSI to adopt practices that reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. The certificate was awarded by The CarbonNeutral Company, a world-leading provider of carbon reduction solutions.
In accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol, a global standard for carbon neutral certification, an independent assessment of the CO2 emissions produced was undertaken. The company has already implemented several energy management initiatives in accordance with its offset-inclusive emissions reduction programme.
“HBSI has reduced and offset its CO2 emissions to net zero in accordance with The CarbonNeutral Protocol. As a result, we are Sri Lanka’s first and only CarbonNeutral certified BPO Company, as verified by an independent organisation,” Managing Director- Hayleys Business Solutions Limited, Dr. Arul Sivagananathan stated.
The certification makes a clear and credible statement about the action HBSI has taken on climate change and is expected to meet growing demand for climate friendly solutions. “We are confident that this move will go a long way in enhancing the competitiveness of our service offering in local and international markets.
Clients of Hayleys Business Solutions International stand to benefit immensely from the work they outsource being carbon n eutral. This certification plays a decisive role towards branding Sri Lanka as a sustainable outsourcing destination,” Hayleys Group Chairman Mohan Pandithage said.

ReSource Pro, a US-based company with its processing operation center in the Olympic sailing city Qingdao, was recently selected as a TOP 20 Business Process Outsourcing Enterprise (“BPO TOP20″) in China at the Chinese Service Outsourcing Leaders Conference 2012.

According to sources with the conference, ReSource Pro is the only company specialized in American insurance sector among the awarded companies and the largest one of the kind around the globe.

ReSource Pro is also selected as a TOP 50 Service Outsourcing Enterprise in China at the conference in light of its scales, revenue and other information reviewed by the judging panel of advisers, academic professionals, researchers, and government officials.

“We’re founded by professional insurance experts, and we’re solely focused on the insurance process management,” said Matthew Bruno, managing director of the company, “Our success is based on the value that we help increase for our clients.”

The conference is organized by China Sourcing, the official website of China Service Outsourcing Magazine in Tianjin, which is supported by the Ministry of Commerce. Over 2,000 companies enrolled in the evaluation process for the award this year.

ReSource Pro CEO Dan Epstein said: “Our back office operation is a source of our clients’ competitive advantage and growth instead of a tool to cut staff. It’s a way for their employees to contribute more value in the US.”

“We will continue to grow and achieve more success as we’re always seeking win-win-cooperation, both with our US clients and our employees in China.” He added.

(chinadaily.com.cn)

The East Africa Outsourcing Summit will be held at the Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi from 5 to 6 June 2012. The event is hosted by international business-to-business conferencing company, Kinetic Events. The strategic invitation-only event will host senior-level professionals currently outsourcing, or considering outsourcing as an option. The event will address both operational and technological strategic issues shared by leading decision makers globally seeking to influence market share and profitability.

Kinetic Events is proud to announce confirmed speaker Jim McFie, Academic and Research Director at the School of Management and Commerce, Strathmore University, Nairobi. Jim is the Head of the Board Audit Committee, Standard Media Group Limited, and the Chairman of Sasini Limited, both quoted on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
From 1993 to 2002 he was a Director of the Kenya Capital Markets Authority, a Member of the Kenya Value Added Tax Tribunal and a Trustee of the Kenya Corporate Governance Trust. Jim boasts an impressive résumé as Honorary Treasurer on the Board of Directors, AfriAfya, and the African Network for Health Knowledge Management and Communication.

Jim will lead a topical, must-attend discussion based on building the East Africa brand. The discussion will address how East African companies can develop a distinctive brand for themselves in a highly competitive international market. The focus will be set on how East Africa’s emerging status and outsourcing operators are ideally positioned to offer maximum service and price flexibility.

Attendees at the event will engage in interactive conference sessions and educational workshops designed for quality time and interaction with peers exploring the alignment of people, process and technology. The summit aims to offer insight into the solutions available to contact centres today, assisting companies in the negotiations and selecting the tools best suited to their needs.

For more information please visit www.eaosummit.com

By Malcolm Maiden

A fascinating race has begun between the Australia Post group and a joint venture between the listed share registry manager Computershare (40 per cent), Salmat (40 per cent), and a US digital mail technology start-up, Zumbox.

Last month they both announced their intention to launch a digital mailbox for all Australians that will function as a one-stop digital manager for confidential communication and transactions.

It’s an intriguing business idea, and might be a category killer worth billions of dollars. But there’s probably only going to one winner in a market as small as Australia’s, and after Australia Post’s announcement overnight that the listed US group Pitney Bowes will be its digital mail technology partner, the battle lines have been drawn.

The concept of the digital mailbox is pretty simple. Instead of having an array of sites to visit and a list of passwords and codes to remember, consumers can have a single log on that accesses a new online mailbox. It can collect the same material coming to them in a steady stream of emails and envelopes with windows.

Mailboxes provided by both groups will be encrypted, keeping information inside them confidential, and keeping spam and hackers out – in theory, at least. They will be accessible on smartphones, iPads and desktop computers, and will operate basically as specialist personal data assistants, organising and archiving the torrent of bills, payments and receipts that are part of everyday life, and also arranging future payments.

Consumers will be able to get the mailboxes for free. Revenue and profits are to be collected on the other side of the network, as fees are paid by businesses who want to access digital mailbox owners, with the mailbox owners’ permission.

The business plan of both groups assumes two, related things. First, that consumers will take on the new system if it is given away, and proves to be a more secure and simple way of dealing with banks, utilities and other businesses. Second, that companies and governments will move in large numbers to adopt a new system that is more expensive than email but much cheaper than snail mail.

There is a sort of circular critical mass equation involved in this, because the networks will not reach critical mass until companies and consumers both join it. Early momentum is going to be absolutely crucial, and the two groups each have strengths and weaknesses.

Speed to market, pricing and marketing will be important, and those skills have not been the strengths of Australia Post in the past. The
government-owned group has tended to see itself as a cost-plus supplier of services, for example. It may need to consider loss-leading to build early market share in this battle.

Like the pre-privatisation monopoly telco Telecom, Australia Post has also in the past placed more emphasis on getting a service set up perfectly than on getting it into the market quickly. Speed of delivery is going to be pivotal in this fight, and Australia Post’s ability to react and adapt will be a test of the cultural change that is being delivered by its chief executive, Ahmed Fahour, the former Australian boss of NAB who took the top job in early 2010.

Reputation, brand recognition and trust are also going to be crucial factors during the ramp-up of the services, however. And on that score you would have to say the 200-year-old Australia Post has the early edge. It’s one reason that Fahour instructed Australia Post’s lawyers to go to the Federal Court yesterday to seek an injunction preventing the joint venture from using the name Digital Post Australia.

Judge John Middleton turned down the request, which was logical, given that neither group is actually operating a service yet. Both say they will be up and running in the second half of this year. Australia Post’s claim that the joint venture business name is misleading and likely to be confused with Australia Post itself will, however, be heard by the court next month.

This battle is part of a war that start-ups such as the Computershare joint venture are waging against media incumbents right across the internet.

Australia Post’s personal letter delivery service has been pretty much wiped out by the internet and the personal communications alternatives it spawned, including email, mobile phone texting and social media platforms.

Internet alternatives have not as thoroughly taken over the physical delivery of bills, receipts, and other transaction-oriented communications, however, and they made up the bulk of the five billion items of mail that Australia Post delivered in the year to June 2011.
It was the package and parcel delivery services that Fahour has been expanding which boosted Australia Post’s pre-tax earnings from $253 million to $332 million in 2010-11, however. The letters delivery business lost $91 million – and with digital mailboxes, Fahour is looking to transfer the letters business to a new, lower-cost, more profitable base.

The US technology partner that Fahour has chosen, Pitney Bowes, has been on a similar journey. It has a market capitalisation of $3.5 billion and developed technology platforms including the Volly digital mail system that Australia Post will deploy after starting out in the early 20th century as a manufacturer of postal stamping machines.

Fahour will be hoping his company’s transition is as successful.

mmaiden@theage.com.au

Read more: Sydney Morning Herald