Vetting a BPO/Outsource Partner

Here are 5 key factors and some good questions to consider when vetting a BPO (Contact Center). This is only an abbreviated version. For the full version contact Luis.Nicot@skycomhealthcare.com.
Feel free to use any portions in your current RFP/RFI. Document the responses and use them to build the Work Order. Also, you should visit the sites before making your selection.

1. Partnership

a. Culture

i. What is your company culture and how would you describe it?

b. Size

i. Define your management structure today and can you share an organizational chart in today’s current state?

c. Management Style

i. Is your management style classical or behavioral?
ii. What is your training/coaching methodology?

d. Scale/Burst

i. How quickly can you ramp up a project with 5 agents?
ii. What is your recruitment process flow?

e. Flexibility

i. How easy is it to ramp down a project and what are the associated contingencies/costs?
ii. Is there a minimum contract term?

2. Location

a. Location / Languages

i. In which countries do you operate?
ii. What languages are supported in each location?
iii. What is the average language proficiency level by location?
iv. How do you determine which location is best equipped for my project?
v. Can you describe skill set levels per location?

b. Infrastructure

i. Describe your complete infrastructure with staffing levels.
ii. What percentage of your budget do you invest for infrastructure?
iii. How do you perform operational forecasting? How do you forecast growth and sales?

c. Education Levels

i. What are the educational requirements of the staff for my potential project?

d. Accessibility

i. What accessibility will we have to agents and management?

e. Safety

i. How safe/secure is my project location? What internal and external crime/theft/political forces exist that should we be concerned with?

3. Pricing

a. Languages

i. What languages am I buying?
ii. How do you price languages that you do not support internally?

b. Skill sets

i. Can you describe what skill sets are available within each rate?
c. Hours of Operation
i. What hours of operation are included in the rate?

1. How does it work if we need coverage outside these hours?

ii. How is the rate affected by local and US holidays?

d. Complexity

i. Are there multiple factors to consider?
ii. Do you offer all-inclusive rates?

e. Efficiency Guarantee

i. Do your SLAs or MSAs include volume and/or performance assurance penalties/discounts?

4. Workforce Management

a. Headcount Distribution

i. How many FTEs do you operate for your largest client?
ii. How many FTEs do you operate for your smallest client?
iii. What is the average amount of FTEs per operation?
iv. What are your attrition rates for each location?

b. Remote/Onsite

i. What percentage of your workforce is remote and onsite?
ii. How do you manage your remote workforce? What tools do you utilized to monitor their performance?

c. Scheduling

i. What systems/platforms do you use to manage workforce?
ii. What are your current staffing assumptions?

1. Please include staffing ratios for team management, quality assurance and other support roles.

iii. Please share the Workforce Management Org Chart.

d. Training

i. Describe your Account Training program.
ii. Do you have a HIPAA training/certification program.
iii. Provide details on your Work Improvement program for underperformers.

5. Technology

a. Please provide a Network Diagram of your current client operations and IT Org Chart.

b. Please provide the requirements for a basic BPO workstation.

i. How flexible is this?

c. Do you have any certifications for Information Security?

d. Please describe your physical and logical redundancies.