08.01.2015 Views

Download - The Institute of Financial Operations

Download - The Institute of Financial Operations

Download - The Institute of Financial Operations

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

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 />

3


www.<strong>Financial</strong>Ops.org

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!