IT directors need to recognise that the skills required to
manage business process outsourcing deals are not the same as for
IT outsourcing, delegates at the City IT forum
heard.
Kathleen Flanagan, senior vice-president of outsourcing supplier
eFunds Corporation, said, "With IT outsourcing the customer is
internal, whereas in most cases business process outsourcers have
direct interaction with the end-users, and therefore soft skills
are very important.
"Where technology is at the core of IT outsourcing, it is an
enabler with business process outsourcing. People are the core of
what you are purchasing," she added.
Although IT outsourcing requires good project management skills,
the key skills with business process outsourcing are understanding
the context of the technology and making intelligent decisions on
the user company's behalf, she said.
Business process outsourcing, which covers administration such as
processing documentation and cheque processing, has become one of
the most popular areas of IT services. The main attraction is the
potential to cut administration costs by passing them on to a
supplier carrying out the work from a low-cost location.