How to Evaluate the
Communication Abilities
of a Vendor
By
Suma Ramachandran
Always evaluate the
communication ablities of
your outsourcing vendor
along with technical and
operational competencies.
So you've decided to
outsource certain functions
to India as part of a
corporate revenue and growth
strategy and are scouting
around for a partner. Bear
in mind that while judging
the technical and
operational competencies of
potential vendors, you need
to simultaneously test their
communication abilities too.
An outsourcing deal is a
long-term relationship and
anything short of open and
honest communication can
wreck the partnership.
Before entrusting your
outsourcing project, it is
better to evaluate not only
technical and operational
competencies but also
communication abilities of
the outsourcing vendor. As
the outsourcing deal happens
to be a long term
relationship lack of
communication ability of the
vendor may have an adverse
effect on partnership.
As a client, you expect:
(a) Correctness - in terms
of the how the work is to be
done,
(b) Completeness - of all
work done, and
(c) Commitment to deadlines.
While Indian technical
competencies are rarely ever
in doubt, a huge chunk of
the Indian BPO workforce has
a long way to go in the
communication skills
department.
Most companies train their
employees in these areas but
a customer needs to know if
honest communication is
ingrained in the vendor's
work culture.
Though the Indian BPO
workforce are trained by
most of the companies, a
customer has to find out if
honest communication is
ingrained in the vendor's
work culture.
To help you decide whether
your vendor can successfully
bridge the cultural divide,
here is a step-by-step guide
to things you can do and
look out for during the
negotiation phase to avoid
problems later on. At the
outset, there are the
absolute basics that
potential BPO vendors must
do.
Here is a step-by-step guide
to things you can do and
look out for during the
negotiation phase to avoid
problems later on.
1. Establish credentials:
Your vendor should be able
to prove his company's
credentials in terms of past
work done - provide you work
samples if needed - as well
as the firm's ability to
conform to your
requirements. The vendor
must be well-versed with the
kind of compliance standards
your process demands and
clearly understand its
importance.
2. Business Proposal:A
vender’s proposal must be
detailed, transparent and
must emphasize HOW the job
will be done. If the less
experienced companies cannot
explain a predictable and
repeatable process, they
have not understood you as a
client and are not worth
doing business with.
The proposal must also
contain:
Clearly defined roles and
responsibilities (task
specific channels),
especially those related to
reporting progress on the
job. A dedicated single
point of contact on both
sides is a must for smooth
functioning, as is a
detailed issue escalation
system.
The reporting system in turn
must clearly specify the
traceable and non-traceable
modes of communication that
will be used so that you can
monitor progress every step
of the way.
The proposal must establish
specific milestones for all
phases of the project and
how you can track whether or
not things are being done on
time. One problem with many
Indian vendors is the
tendency to inform clients
about delays and problems at
the time of delivery.
