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Executive Report<br />
business processoutsourcing<br />
sponsored by
EXECUTIVE REPORT<br />
By Jeff Pape<br />
Banking on financial institutions<br />
for business process outsourcing<br />
Business process outsourcing<br />
rests on the theory that activities<br />
not core to an organization’s mission are<br />
best left to others, for whom such work<br />
is core. Good outsourcing partners help<br />
lower operating costs; better outsourcing<br />
partners add enhanced visibility and<br />
control over back-<strong>of</strong>fice activities; the<br />
very best outsourcing partners serve as<br />
trusted advisers who drive growth for<br />
their clients.<br />
Trust is not a given; it is earned over time. One <strong>of</strong> the most trusted<br />
relationships an organization has is with its banking partner. Why<br />
not, then, consider a bank when looking to outsource back-<strong>of</strong>fice<br />
functions, such as processing and paying invoices A reliable<br />
banking partner can <strong>of</strong>fer access to an ever-expanding array <strong>of</strong><br />
payment options, as well as expert, customized counsel to ensure<br />
an organization gets the right tools, and uses them in the right<br />
proportions, for its unique needs.<br />
Beyond that, the best banks have established processes for<br />
regularly sitting down with clients to assess needs and address<br />
whether current services can be improved to better meet<br />
those needs. It’s not about showing <strong>of</strong>f the latest technological<br />
breakthrough and pushing it on the client. It’s about asking the<br />
right questions, eliciting thorough responses, carefully considering<br />
those responses, and developing a holistic set <strong>of</strong> recommendations<br />
based upon them.<br />
Without such a process, the provider is merely <strong>of</strong>fering products,<br />
not solutions. With it, the provider begins to earn the trust required<br />
to move beyond service provider toward valued adviser and partner.<br />
Jeff Pape is senior vice president and payables strategy manager<br />
with U.S. Bank Corporate Payments Systems.<br />
Moving funds is what financial institutions do. No other third-party<br />
provider can deliver the level <strong>of</strong> cost-efficient and secure payment<br />
reliability that a bank can. Banks are unequalled in their ability to<br />
guarantee payment delivery exactly when promised and to whom<br />
promised. <strong>The</strong>ir latest solutions — including cardless, “virtual,” and<br />
single-use payment accounts — provide exceptional visibility into<br />
an organization’s payment history and an unprecedented ability to<br />
manage employee spending, account misuse, and overall payment<br />
activity. Through automation, these tools minimize human error and<br />
maximize efficiency.<br />
As important as the latest solutions are, they’re meaningless<br />
without the backing <strong>of</strong> experts who understand them and — more<br />
important — understand their client. Technology without customer<br />
knowledge is like a Maserati with an empty tank: It looks great, but<br />
it won’t take you very far.<br />
A deep knowledge <strong>of</strong> the how and the why <strong>of</strong> a buyer’s current<br />
payment processes makes the banker more likely to generate<br />
sensible and attainable recommendations for integrating new<br />
solutions into a more comprehensive, more holistic, and customized<br />
payment strategy. <strong>The</strong> groundwork for such understanding is laid<br />
every day through focused interactions, attentive conversations,<br />
and a general readiness to listen.<br />
2 Executive Report | Second Quarter 2013 | <strong>The</strong> <strong>Institute</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Financial</strong> <strong>Operations</strong>
EXECUTIVE REPORT<br />
By Frank Tiedt<br />
‘Content-to-process’: <strong>The</strong> increasing need for outsourcing<br />
document management to ensure paperless processes<br />
In the competitive environment <strong>of</strong> a<br />
globalized world, companies strive<br />
for business process optimization<br />
to maintain and expand their market<br />
position. For many companies, being<br />
competitive requires concentrating<br />
on their core business. This means<br />
becoming more service-oriented by<br />
leaving certain tasks to the experts:<br />
business process outsourcers or<br />
shared services centers. This article<br />
focuses on external business process outsourcers, although<br />
internal shared services centers work in a similar way.<br />
Gartner’s forecast from Q4 2012 shows that business process<br />
outsourcing will grow 6.2 percent in 2013. This means companies<br />
are increasingly relying on a service provider’s expertise.<br />
When choosing the right service provider, companies particularly<br />
value: extensive business know-how, innovative and evolutionary<br />
thinking that keeps up with market developments, service<br />
orientation, quality, and certainly cost and time efficiency.<br />
Companies expect that their needs are identified and fulfilled.<br />
Automated information and document management<br />
Before documents and information arrive in different departments,<br />
they have to be identified and then processed accordingly. Every<br />
day, companies receive a range <strong>of</strong> documents and information,<br />
such as invoices and credit notes that need to go into the<br />
accounting department.<br />
Processing different types <strong>of</strong> information and distinguishing them<br />
from one another is time-consuming and resource-intensive,<br />
the major reason companies outsource this task. Many service<br />
providers specialize in document management and automatically<br />
and digitally process the incoming information for paperless<br />
processes in the respective departments. Not only is relevant<br />
information available faster, but it arrives efficiently and in a reliable<br />
quality.<br />
Business process optimization calls for automation. Only then<br />
are operating costs decreased and efficiency increased — the<br />
two things that have a major impact on a company’s competitive<br />
advantage.<br />
Flexible and scalable solutions to serve different needs<br />
Ideally, solutions for automating business processes should be<br />
adaptable to a company’s individual needs. Depending on the<br />
size and type <strong>of</strong> a particular project, companies may require<br />
different technologies. Additionally, when choosing to outsource<br />
processes, a company <strong>of</strong>ten seeks to do so for more than just one<br />
department, and the accounting group has different needs than<br />
human resources. International companies with different sites<br />
in different countries have even more complex requirements. A<br />
service provider <strong>of</strong>ten has to serve many customers at the same<br />
time, each <strong>of</strong> them demanding considerably different solutions.<br />
Implementing technologies that can handle these variations allows<br />
an organization to <strong>of</strong>fer tailored configurations for all clients while at<br />
the same time increasing its own efficiency.<br />
Innovation and evolution is the key to success<br />
Complex document management solutions that are flexible<br />
and scalable are likely to cover all the needs a company might<br />
have. With such technology, a service provider can, in addition,<br />
guarantee optimized setup times, efficient implementation, and<br />
reliable calculation <strong>of</strong> project costs to ensure a faster return on<br />
investment for the customer.<br />
To keep up with the pace <strong>of</strong> today’s changing economy, companies<br />
constantly need to develop their business model further as well as<br />
increase their efficiency. <strong>The</strong> same applies to a service provider:<br />
Depending on the changes the company’s customers go through,<br />
the solutions <strong>of</strong>fered must also be adapted. Only state-<strong>of</strong>-the-art<br />
technology allows companies to maintain or even increase their<br />
competitive advantage.<br />
<strong>The</strong> right partner<br />
I.R.I.S. has identified both the demands <strong>of</strong> companies that<br />
outsource processes as well as which technology service providers<br />
need to fulfill them. With IRISXtract for Documents, business<br />
process outsourcers and shared services centers have access<br />
to a “content-to-process” solution platform for invoice and order<br />
processing, HR and supplier recordkeeping, and case management<br />
in the legal, healthcare, and finance fields.<br />
Frank Tiedt is the chief sales <strong>of</strong>ficer for I.R.I.S., a computer<br />
s<strong>of</strong>tware company based in Belgium.<br />
Executive Report | Second Quarter 2013 | <strong>The</strong> <strong>Institute</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Financial</strong> <strong>Operations</strong><br />
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