Off-shoring central functions to reduce cost, without risking quality
Client name
NCPLondon, UK and Baguio & Manilla, Philippines
Length of EA assignment
18 months
Number of EA Consultants provisioned
3 FTE
Challenge
Our client, NCP, a leading UK parking business set out with an ambitious objective to launch a new offshore office capability. It wanted to reduce costs and improve customer service.
The business requirement was to transition multiple back-office functions to a lower-cost offshore location which would provide a more sustainable model that would provide a platform to scale and improve service.
The client selected EA to act as delivery partner. It’s remit was to lead the strategy, design and implementation of the new offshore hub.
Approach
Initially a Senior EA Consultant interviewed Exec Sponsors to crystalise requirements and desired outcomes. It was important to confirm expectations at the outset.
In parallel, EA launched a simple yet effective governance structure which swiftly mobilised resources and enabled the Board to make decisions at pace.
The client had limited, if any experience in offshoring, and all their employees were UK based. In the first phase EA confirmed high-level requirements and identified potential locations which could offer significant costs savings, whilst retaining suitable high levels of service quality. This included producing a market assessment which proposed a shortlist of locations for decision.
EA provided IP through its already developed criteria-based ranking system. The focus was to assess the advantages and disadvantages of each location, and help the client to choose the most advantageous, which was then determined as the Philippines.
A detailed review of businesses offering offshoring services in the Philippines was then completed, and an offshore partner company was selected to provide the local infrastructure and management support that was required. EA undertook the DD of suppliers deemed suitable as part of this phase.
EA then worked with NCP and the partner businesses to establish new offices in the Philippines. This included recruiting and training a highly skilled team, with functions including a Call Centre, Compliance, Sales & Marketing, Commercial Analysis, Finance and HR. In total, over 100 new resources were recruited, onboarded and trained within a 6 month period, with a further 20+ roles in a subsequent phase.
EA was critical in designing and delivering the target operating model and control measures. This included implementing new IT systems & network solutions and complying with all relevant regulatory requirements. The client was delighted by the flexibility, efficiency and diligence of the new resources, who were soon outperforming their original staff across all key performance indicators (KPIs). The target operating model, with its repeatable methodology, has provided a scalable platform to achieve further benefits through offshoring.
Result / Impact
45% cost reductionEnabled the client to realise major labour cost savings, delivering over £millions in annual savings
6 months from decision to go liveThe first tranche of offshore resources started in two regional hubs within 6 months from the business case approval
Transitioned over 120 resourcesDesigned and implemented scalable operating model, with quality control processes, this included hiring and training of all resources
Risk mitigations in placeDefined disaster recovery plans to mitigate major risks, including provisioning two regional offshore centres
Selected Projects
0.1 Advisory
Navigating Regulatory Compliance
Our client, Brakes Group (part of SYSCO), lacked the specialist European regulatory experience necessary to deliver the required changes related to GDPR, and with limited knowledge of regulatory change, and a lack of standardised processes, they needed external support.
0.2 Transformation
Establishing a new strategic delivery office capability
Our client, Vocalink (a Mastercard Co.), wanted to get control of their change portfolio, ultimately with the objective of understanding priorities, financials, capacity, capability and whether risks were truly under active management control. EA were brought in to help support.