EAO Summit is around the corner and aims to address dedicated outsourcing provider governance for the enterprise
The East Africa Outsourcing Summit is around the corner, taking place in Nairobi from 5 to 6 June 2012. The event is hosted by international business-to-business conferencing company, Kinetic Events in proud partnership with the Kenya ICT Board and KITOS. The summit is generating great excitement among attendees, with the opening address to be delivered by Dr. Bitange Ndemo, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Information and Communication.
The summit aims to address critical industry issues and concerns, featuring internationally renowned and respected guests including Anil Wadhwa, Global Business Devlopment Director from summit exclusive lead sponsor Spanco BPO; Paul Kukubo, Chief Executive fat the Kenya ICT Board; Gurdeep Grewal, Senior Vice President at Zensar Technologies; and Tejpal Bedi, Chairman of the Kenya Information Technology and Outsourcing Services (KITOS).
The summit will address industry concerns including dedicated outsourcing provider governance for the enterprise.
The key to creating, sustaining, and enhancing outsourcing value is establishing provider governance as a core component of your outsourcing strategy. Strong provider governance relies heavily on planning, effort, structure, and communication, all of which are critical to realising the benefits that properly managed outsourcing provides.
Effectively managing a complex BPO relationship requires dedicated resources, team engagement, and the proper skills and mindset to successfully manage. It is essential to have dedicated resources with skills specifically suited to successfully managing delivery including understanding the contract, its structure and its intentions, and to provide guidance in resolving the unexpected occurrences, escalating issues, and addressing performance deficiencies.
Significant time and resources are spent developing and negotiating a comprehensive contract that provides you with the opportunity to better realise and enhance the value of the outsourcing relationship. If executed as in the contract, these provide tangible benefits that could potentially lead reduced costs, optimised processes, enhanced technology, and improved service quality.
As successful as outsourcing could be for an organisation, it is critical to maintain a presence throughout the process. A useful approach to making sure that contract provisions are leveraged is to diarise any activities during or immediately following the contract negotiations, in order to keep track of process deliverables and outcomes.
The most effective and successful outsourcing relationships are those with services and engagement styles refined over time as both organisations learn more about and become more comfortable with each other. Keep a strong awareness of where your outsourcing relationship is and work closely together with your provider to address any performance gaps. Open, active communication is the most effective way to ensure your outsourcing relationship remains strong and positive as it provides a sense of trust, which will improve performance, and limit risks and issues giving you enough time to resolve or avoid them. The age-old trick of the trade is to treat offshore delivery teams as remote employees, instead of resources provided by third-party services.
Once the deal has been signed it’s time to shift your focus from transition to delivery, with a dedicated governance structure in place, providing the opportunity to realise the cost and efficiency benefits BPO promises, and enhancing the value of outsourcing by maintaining positive relationship attributes.
The summit will act as a platform for both existing and potential players in the outsourcing space in East Africa to network and gain insight from the major outsourcing regions. With a focus on global trends to underpin what it takes to achieve the market penetration and recognition, Kenya needs to develop as an outsourcing hub, which will support the development of a strong information technology industry.
The strategic summit will explore the alignment of people, process and technology; offering insight into the solutions available to contact centres today, assisting companies in the negotiations and selecting the tools best suited to their needs. Attendees will be able to engage in interactive conference sessions and educational workshops designed for quality time and interaction with peers.
For more information, to apply to attend, comment or photographs, visit www.eaosummit.com or contact Shaunei Meintjes on +27 21 555 0866 or [email protected]. Follow @ITLeadersAfrica and @KineticEventsSA on Twitter for daily updates and news feeds.
