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Executive Summary
To what extent are digital technologies
changing the operations of your companys
key functions and processes, as well as how
your service provider works with you? These
days, every business is a digital businessor
will be soon. Technology is intertwined in
nearly every aspect of the enterprise today,
with information technology fast becoming
a primary driver of market differentiation,
business growth and profitability.
Digital technologies are also disrupting
industries and markets in nearly every
corner of the world. Industrial companies
are becoming customer service companies.
Consumer products companies are becoming
Internet companies. Energy companies are
becoming information companies. Media
and entertainment companies are becoming
logistics companies. And on and on. The
question for every business today is: Are
you going to allow yourself to be disrupted,
or will you take the proactive steps to be a
disrupter? Your approach to technology
innovation will be key to how you answer
that question.
The rise of digital is still on the horizon for
many buyers and some business services
providers. But its fast approaching. After
all, if every business is a digital business,
then the operations that enable and support
the businesswhether theyre delivered
internally or through an external provider
must be digital as well.
In many cases, however, these operational
arrangements are still stuck in an analog
world, using a gramophone when everyone
else is using an MP3 player.
Introduction
Whats the impact of innovative digital technologies on enterprise operating
environments these days?
The digital revolution is dramatically transforming every industry, whether it has
traditionally been considered technology enabled or not. Digital is changing
the way companies serve customers, manufacture products, interact with
stakeholders, manage operations, support and engage their workforce and more.
Every business is, or soon will be, a digital business.
In the meantime, how is digital reshaping the worlds of operations and business
services? Its an important question. More than 90 percent of large enterprises
(revenues over $1 billion) now use external providers for the operations of one
or more of their business processes.3 To what extent is the digital revolution
transforming the way such work is designed, sourced and delivered?
The answer is not necessarily a happy one. While the rest of the businessand
the rest of the worldis proceeding apace with its digital revolution, the external
sourcing of operations has in many cases continued on an analog path. In a
world of MP3, a great deal of operations and business services are still playing
old Beatles records on vinyl, still turning at 331/3 revolutions per minute when
business users want hundreds of megabits per second.
How can enterprises and their providers step up to take advantage of the
enormous opportunities that innovative digital technologies offer? How can
business operations transform to become digital operations?
New Accenture-sponsored research, conducted by analyst firm HfS Research, finds
that most externally sourced business services and operations engagements today
take place in an environment of low expectations when it comes to technology
innovation and, therefore, are not delivering the kind of value they should.
About half (49 percent) of the 189 buyers surveyed described their current
engagements as mainly lift and shiftthat is, a simple transfer of processes and
people to a service provider, with limited business transformation involved. Only 28
percent said they are involved in a wide-scale transformation of business processes.4
However, the potential for improvement certainly exists, since those percentages are
essentially flipped when buyers are asked what they expect of those engagements
in two years or so: Almost half of buyers (49 percent) expect to be in an operations
engagement focused on transformation of the business and its processes.5 But if that
turnaround is to occur so quickly, buyers and providers alike must focus on outcomes
beyond transactions. (See sidebar, Achieving transformational operations, page 15.)
A key differentiator for achieving such transformational goals is the increased
use of digital technologies and platforms.
3. HfS Research, Failure to Launch: Why are So Many Organizations Struggling to Move Process and Capability
to Shared Services and Outsourcing? June 2012.
4. HfS Research, BPO on the Brink of a New Generation: Technology Transformation, March 2014, p. 6.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p. 17.
7. Ibid., p. 19.
8. Ibid., p. 17.
Figure 1: How buyers of business process services see the changing importance of different technologies to their engagements
To what extent is each of the following emerging technologies increasing in importance as they relate to your
BPO engagement(s)?
5. Increasing significantly
4. Increasing slightly
1. Decreasing significantly
56%
Analytics
Automation
29%
47%
Cloud
31%
38%
40%
35%
Mobile
Social
45%
18%
0%
12%
41%
20%
40%
60%
2% 2%
19%
2% 3%
3% 1%
8%
80%
Source: HfS Research, BPO on the Brink of a New Generation: Technology Transformation, 2014. N = 189 buy-side executives
20%
17%
30%
2% 1%
3%
100%
16%
10%
Nothing.
Occasional
descriptive insights.
Descriptive and
real-time insights.
Predictive and
descriptive insights
on my processes and
my business outcomes.
Predictive and
descriptive insights
on my business linked
with other internal/
external data.
Source: HfS Research, BPO on the Brink of a New Generation: Technology Transformation, 2014. N = 189 buy-side executives
9. Ibid., p. 23.
10. Ibid., p. 17-18.
Figure 3: Relative importance of key technologies in business services engagements today and in the future
Type of technology
Analytics
82%
85%
Automation
76%
78%
Cloud
61%
78%
Mobility
54%
80%
Social
36%
59%
Source: BPO on the Brink of a New Generation: Technology Transformation, 2014, N = 189 buy-side executives
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2. Anytime, anywhere
digital insights
A key capability of digital operations is
analyticsthe use of advanced analytics
technologies to move a business beyond a
reactive state to one that is proactive. Two
points are important here. First, with digital
business services, providers need to move
beyond the descriptivesimply analyzing
what happened in the pastto predictive
and prescriptive insights, helping their
clients anticipate what will or might happen
in the future, and helping them decide
what actions they should take to keep the
company on the path to high performance.
Second, the use of both internal and external
data provides richer context and content for
the analytics service.
A transformational change is under
way today. Data collection is growing
exponentially (for examplecollecting data
about operations, customers, telemetry
coming off of devices, etc.). For this reason it
is important to have tools that can digitize
data delivered in any format (text, image,
email, etc.). Data is also being collected
more cost-effectively and being retained for
longer periods of time. Big Data techniques
can enable business services providers and
their customers to sift through terabytes of
operational and customer data for insights
that could drive both greater efficiency and
innovations to grow revenue.
For example, as part of a Supply Chain
Operations engagement for one of the
largest manufacturers of agricultural
machinery, the provider created a social
media capability for its warranty and claims
service. Based on the social media input,
the team was able to analyze consumer
sentiments and perceptions toward dealer
services, customer service capabilities
and the complaint resolution process, all
activities related to the scope of work.
Issues and insights could be highlighted and
presented to corporate leadership as a way
to improve service.
Performance support
Collaboration
Social and collaboration tools provide
personalized assistance to the connected
workforce. Real-time collaboration and
chat are enabled through applications such
as Lync or Blue Jeans to enable conferring
with colleagues and clients without leaving
the process at hand.
Predictive matching capabilities provide
a list of contacts that are specialists in
the task at hand, and who are online
and available. Relevant content from
blogs, posts, websites and forums is made
available, and this information is rated
by informed peers and contacts to help
workers select the most useful and reliable
information from oceans of content to
perform services required.
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Conclusion
Becoming a digital businessand achieving digital operations
is no longer simply about how we incorporate technology into
our organizations; its about how we use technology to reinvent
those organizations and reinvent operations to get out in
front of the dramatic changes that technology is creating. For
companies and their service providers, the opportunity to shift
from disrupted to disrupter cannot be overstated. The question
all businesses must now ask is how they will use the coming
years to redefine their places in this new world.
Organizations should bear in mind the four key components
of digital operations:
1. Architecting for resiliency. In the
digital era, providers must support
wide-ranging demands for nonstop
processes, services and systems. This
has particular value for businesses given
the need for a secure and always-on
IT infrastructure. Resilient practices can
mean the difference between business
as usual and erosion of brand value.
The upshot is that operations must
adopt a digital mindset to ensure that
systems are dynamic, accessible and
continuousdesigned for resilience in
the face of failure or attack.
2. Incorporating analytics and mobility to
help deliver real-time, digital insights
anytime and anywhere. With digital
operations, providers and buyers have
the opportunity to overcome traditional
reporting capabilities that merely
tell you what happened. Predictive
analytics technologies offer the promise
of helping an operational account team
predict whats coming. Mobility, too,
offers advantages that have yet to be
unlocked with many provider-buyer
relationships today.
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About Accenture
Accenture is a global management
consulting, technology services and
outsourcing company, with approximately
289,000 people serving clients in more
than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled
experience, comprehensive capabilities
across all industries and business functions,
and extensive research on the worlds
most successful companies, Accenture
collaborates with clients to help them
become high-performance businesses and
governments. The company generated net
revenues of US$28.6 billion for the fiscal
year ended Aug. 31, 2013. Its home page is
www.accenture.com.
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