People management challenges are to some extent explained by location. BPOs show a greater concern around people factors, reflecting their main employee base in Asia, where many staff don’t have WFH environments that meet the connectivity or even space requirements of a modern-day worker. Roughly 75% of BPOs concede that their service delivery has been severely impacted by workforce challenges (i.e., remote teams) compared to just 42% of enterprise (i.e. captive SSO/ GBS) respondents. Similarly, availability of staff is a much more significant concern for BPOs than it is for captives, most of which operate outside typical BPO locations. SSO vs BPO: What is currently limiting your ability to deliver services? [multiple options chosen] People Management Challenges Location-Driven
“We had already thought ahead and redefined our BCP on the basis of ‘mobile’ operations by heavily leveraging technology,” he explains. “As a result, on March 16, when we determined that we would work from home, we were ready with a plan for a truly mobile workforce.” Jester’s priority was to ensure the infrastructure was in place so that all staff could switch seamlessly to remote operations. “That meant laptops, full connectivity, and access to all necessary systems. Our operations were already virtually paperless, so that made it much easier,” he adds. “This preparation allowed our team to shift to remote very quickly.” At American Fidelity, the story is similar. The Corporate and Human Resources team, a short drive from CACI’s Oklahoma City-based operation, had laid the necessary groundwork 10 years earlier, when the bird flu hit. As Bev Wood, VP of Business Continuity, explains, that event set in motion an experiment to evaluate business continuity plans in the face of a pandemic. “We got to test scenarios that involved working in the office with N95 masks. The truth is, we didn’t like it!” Wood says, “So it initiated a shift towards telecommuting and the WFH movement, which we took advantage of right away.” At any given time, says Wood, at least a third of American Fidelity’s 1,300 home office colleagues work remotely. As a result, most of the team based at their Oklahoma City headquarters were able to pivot to ‘home offices’ fully equipped with laptops. “We were even able to provide additional office amenities like office chairs from our reserve stock. And where there were connectivity issues we set up hotspots for employees.” While SSOs like CACI and American Fidelity found themselves suddenly forced into operating via ‘remote’ teams, productivity was nevertheless well sustained. The main issues that have emerged during this period are around ‘people management.’ Indeed, roughly half of the global SSO leaders surveyed cite significant challenges in managing remote teams, which presents the most significant limitation to the new way of working. With ‘remote’ likely to form part of the new service delivery model, re-imagining work for disparate teams and increased reliance on technology will be key.
Enterprise GBS or Shared Services
45%
42%
36% 38%
29%
24%
18%
Business process outsourcing provider
74%
48% 48%
41%
What is currently limiting your ability to deliver services? [multiple options chosen]
26%
22%
49%
Challenges managing remote teams
7%
39%
Inadequate infrastructure / hardware
Insecure networks Lack of system bandwidth Inadequate infrastructure / hardware Challenges managing remote teams Mental and phyiscal health of employees Availability of staff Other
37%
Mental and physical health of employees
31% 31%
Lack of system bandwidth
Availability of staff
18%
Insecure networks
27%
Other
Source: SSON survey Q1 2020
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