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The sluggish economic recovery and pressure to increase earnings continues to influence the leadership of banks and insurance companies to focus on driving down costs. The temptation, of course, is to offshore jobs – a strategy which promises a quick fix by reducing labour costs but one that also has serious ramifications. Cultural differences, customer complaints, damage to the local economy, and the complexity of long-distance management are just some of the problems organisations encounter when offshoring.

Creating operational excellence and instilling a culture of continuous improvement is a utopia that most organisations never reach. Nonetheless, certain industries have witnessed much greater success than others in the quest for continuous improvement. The manufacturing industry, for instance, wholeheartedly embraced the quality movement many decades ago, which has led to continuously improving organisations.

Vendors in the market are increasingly encouraging their clients to develop “flexible” back-office operations, whereby work moves seamlessly between teams based on capacity, rather than based on narrowly defined team functions. Indeed, there are several advantages to adopting flexible work teams, and companies that successfully implement this resourcing strategy have much to gain.

Executives seeking process improvement are adopting BPM solutions in ever-increasing numbers to help automate complex back-office workflows. The promise of streamlined operations is compelling, with BPM solutions offering a sophisticated array of capabilities well-suited to the back office.

Early on in our engagements, the most common fear clients express is fear of publishing individual efficiency results. “We haven’t had positive experiences with displaying employees’ scores before,” is the concern typically voiced.

Employee engagement is a powerful driver of business success. Data from companies across sectors and around the world show just how large an impact engagement makes, and what a competitive advantage it can provide.

An agile back office that can quickly respond to opportunities and threats – what an enticing vision! But how can large companies put this vision into practice and become truly agile?

Vendors in the market are encouraging their clients to implement “blended work teams”, whereby relatively straightforward transactions from the back-office are moved and processed by Contact Center staff during quieter periods.