{"id":1440,"date":"2011-11-14T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/business-platforms_111411\/"},"modified":"2011-11-14T15:04:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-14T15:04:00","slug":"business-platforms_111411","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/business-platforms_111411\/","title":{"rendered":"What are Business Platforms and why they represent the future of outsourcing"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve been talking about Platform BPO<\/a>, Cloud BPO<\/a>\u00a0and every other permutation of BPO for a very, very long time. \u00a0So what’s changed, we hear you cry<\/em><\/p>\n

Buyers are ready to standardize business processes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

"Please mind the innovation gap"… click here to find out what Business Platforms are and why they represent the future of outsourcing<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Our recent study\u00a0that covered the intentions and observations of 534 buyers,\u00a0advisors\u00a0and providers with their sourcing strategies, in the event of this seemly ever-present threat of a \u201cDouble-Dip\u201d Recession, revealed what is motivating buyers to outsource in this current climate.<\/p>\n

While eliminating cost is an ever-present obligation, buyers are\u00a0also equally focused\u00a0on achieving greater flexibility to scale and support their global\u00a0operations – and even more significantly<\/em> – prepared to explore adopting standardized business processes.<\/p>\n

Yes: \u00a080% of buyers are willing to move onto standard processes. \u00a0They are increasingly unconcerned if their closest competitors use the same expense management or claims adjudication processes, the same cash applications or collections tools. \u00a0They simply want to adopt quality process flows they can deploy effectively and efficiently, if there is no competitive advantage to be gained that necessitates conducting these processes in a certain unique manner:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Providers have a real incentive to position productized\u00a0and one-to-many (or at least one-to-few) utility offerings onto buyers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The ability to develop some best-in-class processes as “Business Platforms”, whether they focus on horizontal or vertical process clusters, is becoming a real differentiator\u00a0in the market, as buyers seek more standardized solutions from their outsourcing engagements. Moreover, more process standardization leads to more Cloud-based BPO services where clients can easily tap-into these Business Platforms without having to grapple with cumbersome on-premise software and expensive licenses, or contend with resistance from awkward internal IT staff. \u00a0In short, buyers can start to look at moving from \u201cA to C\u201d with adopting quality standard processes and miss out much of that painful \u201cB\u201d phase (which is often where many get stuck unto perpetuity).<\/p>\n

So what are Business Platforms?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Business Platforms, enabled by the fusion of Cloud Computing, SaaS and BPO innovations in an integrated singular managed service, are emerging rapidly as the desired \u201cone-to-many\u201d utility service provision for providers and a new source of value for outsourcing buyers.<\/p>\n

Buyers can now explore transitioning more rapidly to a desired future state for a specific business process, or set of processes.\u00a0 The gauntlet being laid out to providers, with these Business Platforms, is their ability to support their clients\u2019 transitions quickly and inexpensively.\u00a0 Simply selling \u201cproducts\u201d is not the concept of business platforms \u2013 it is the provider\u2019s ability to work with their customers to facilitate and support the ultimate business outcomes of managing the processes associated with the Business Platform offering.<\/p>\n

Business Platforms have four key characteristics:<\/em><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Business platforms provision managed standardized business processes;<\/li>\n
  2. Business Platform owners (services providers) are responsible for managing the business processes associated with the Business Platform and provisioning the people that operate them, the underlying software-as-a-service platform, and the supporting public of provate Cloud infrastructure;<\/li>\n
  3. Business Platforms focus on business outputs or outcomes rather than inputs such as labor and physical assets;<\/li>\n
  4. Business Platforms service more than one client<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Well-executed Business Platforms provide customers with compelling technology-enabled business process services that help drive innovation via process re-engineering, greater business agility and productivity improvements. They are flexible and scalable in the face of global demand fluctuations and provide high-quality process workflows.<\/p>\n

    The Bottom-line: Business Platforms change the focus to the\u00a0achievement\u00a0of outcomes\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    The days of clients being able to spend multiple-millions of dollars to transform processes as part of a complex outsourcing transformation are fast diminishing. Subscribing to Business Platforms that consolidate infrastructure, middleware software, labor, and process\/domain expertise including future investments, as OPEX is attractive to clients. Cheaper to get started, and with output or outcomes-based fees, Business Platforms align with the current budgeting trends evident in the market. Buyers of non-core operational processes do not want to go and ask for CAPEX in this economic climate.<\/p>\n

    Click here to download our new RapidInsight, “What Are Business Platforms and Why Do They Represent the Future of Outsourcing?” <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We’ve been talking about Platform BPO, Cloud BPO\u00a0and every other permutation of BPO for a very, very long time. \u00a0So…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,51,847,81,91,92,832,830],"tags":[191],"ppma_author":[19],"yoast_head":"\nWhat are Business Platforms and why they represent the future of outsourcing - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/business-platforms_111411\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are Business Platforms and why they represent the future of outsourcing - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We’ve been talking about Platform BPO, Cloud BPO\u00a0and every other permutation of BPO for a very, very long time. \u00a0So...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/business-platforms_111411\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Horses for Sources | No Boundaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-14T15:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Business-Platform-Tube.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Phil Fersht\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pfersht\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Phil Fersht\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/business-platforms_111411\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/business-platforms_111411\/\",\"name\":\"What are Business Platforms and why they represent the future of outsourcing - 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