- In a set up, it will mean consolidating the various identified people, processes and related technology under the Captive Shared Services operations.
- In a takeover or a carve-out of shared services, it will mean moving the consolidated captive operations with people, process and technology to a new location or new service partner
- In an insourcing of outsourced operations, also referred to as ‘reverse transition’, it will mean bringing back the processes with or without people as per the contracting arrangements – the operations can come back to the Client directly or go to another service partner as well.
- In offshoring, the requirements are very different – the people and leadership are fresh hires for a first time set up, trained to perform the processing offshore, the handoffs in processing have to stand the test of a longer distance and the knowledge transfer is quite complex and time consuming. There are also cross cultural issues to be taken
- In an onshore like, say India to India, it will mean rebadging of existing people, having the right structure, span, skill, and mix with new people who may be required with previous Business Services experience.
- Transformation starts right from Design & Transition and our experience indicates that it is best to focus on ‘Transformation Centric Transition’ to initiate the journey towards realizing value. This is an integral part of our differentiated and unique Dedicated CaptiveTM Model.
- Transition Checklist is a structured approach and is a must to ensure that all Program Management and Change Enablement areas are fully addressed and confirmed as per the requirements, without any short-cuts!
The Program Management component of Transition will focus on the 5 Pillars of Designing the Shared Services – People, Process Technology, Site & Infrastructure & Services as it relates to Transitioning of Captive Shared Services Operations.
Team Deployment & Work Reallocation: From People & Org Design and Headcount determination, it is important to identify the right leadership and team to support the org structure for both Teams - those who are moving into Captive Shared Services as well as reallocate the work to those who are Retained at the sending center. The Shared Services Head and the Process Area Leaders need to be in place, preferably from the Design stage, but surely during the Transition stage. The consolidation leads to release of some headcounts and hence, proper redeployment of people needs to be planned and the timing of release to other roles, ensure training and knowledge transfer for people for the new roles assigned, and refresh of the roles of people and leadership retained at the sending center.
Process Documentation & Tent Cards: Documentation is the discipline that is core to effective process transition, people training and identifying the potential for improvements. Typically there are several components to the Process Documentation – Business Units serviced, segregation of duties, policy & functional guidelines, key stakeholders, process/ subprocess list, responsibility matrix, process flows, process controls, screen shots for process steps, process variations, process checklist, reporting and escalation procedure, issues and exceptions, Key Service Levels, process improvement opportunities etc., The Tent Cards is an interesting ‘table-top calendar’ like document that covers two aspects – ‘what is’ of the process as well as the ‘what ifs’ of the process.
Technology Deployment: This is another key driver and a pre-requisite for Business Services to the extent in the early days it was referred to as IT enabled Services (ITeS). This calls for ensuring all those changes that can be easily carried out to optimize ERP Utilization, for Shared Services capture of automated controls, process/ service metrics, resolution of current system related and alignment of system with ERP. Typically, based on the business case, Document Management and Workflow Tools will be designed and deployed to track, monitor and report the process, ensure process visibility and drive customer experience. Beyond transition certain improvements will be planned by leveraging RPA and process specific tools.
Site & Infrastructure: Being a critical requirement to ensure smooth transition, the Program Management team ensures that there is adequate planning and value stream mapping for office and workstation layout, support facilities and rooms and smooth workflow from mail room to record retention. Infrastructure is crucial to take care requirements relating to speed and latency avoidance due to larger volume of transactions in one location, as well as from data security, privacy and cyber security. Finally, there is dry run and wet run of processing to reflect real life situation to ensure that the operations are functional in line with plans and expectations and there are last minute hitches are taken care to avoid disruptions during Go Live.
Service Management Framework: The Service Management Framework (SMF) covers three parts:
SWO describes the standards to which need to be monitored, measured, collected, recorded and reported to performance with respect to the Service Levels to be achieved post Go Live. This will also enable first to understand and later to establish the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) covering Critical Service Levels (CSL) and Performance Service Levels (PSL).
The framework outlines Pre-Cut over requirements under two situations - when current performance is available or not available. Where service levels are available, average of the last 6 months will be taken as the Post Cut over target to start with. If Pre-Cutover performance or service levels are not available, interim service levels will be established to determine CSL/PSL. In both cases the data sources for the numerator/ denominator will be validated to derive the service levels as well as the templates for data capture will be finalized.
This captures the service performance from Day 1 post cutover for the first 6 months to establish the Service Baselining, ‘Excused Performance’ criteria any impact caused by factors beyond control and the SLA Change Management process will be followed for any change in business environment (peaks/ troughs/ recession etc.,)
Change Enablement: The Change Enablementtakes care of the softer dimensions of Transition, includes the Services dimension as well, since this needs to be managed very carefully. There are 5 more Pillars in this connect:
- Sponsorship & Governance,
- Communication across levels from top leadership to operations teams,
- People Management & Redeployment,
- Stakeholder Engagement and Service Levels baselining, alignments properly planned in stages i.e. from Go Live to stabilization, and post stabilization.
- Shared Services Orientation & Mindset shift towards process, services and metrics orientation, beyond function.
Transition Success: For Transition to be successful, It is important to ensure that progress is achieved both in program management and change enablement areas. The caution is valid as the change enablement is not task focused but outcome focused and takes much more time than what it appears on the project plan. Change enablement needs to be constantly assessed and not assumed! The Transition checklist adds as a good tool to ensure tracking, monitoring, escalation, resolution and closure!
Transition to Delivery is all about Go Live! And go live is only the commencement of operations, moving from incubation to implementation! The Stabilization of Operations is an essential process and the SSC Head & the Leadership Team need to ensure that wet run for processing is sustained with ongoing and regular Operations in the new Shared Services environment.
