The Case for Selective Outsourcing FIS Consulting Services 1 800 822 6758
Introduction In current times, speculation and negative criticisms raise national sentiment against outsourcing to offshore destinations. With the global economy driving jobs to the most efficient location, outsourcing receives a great deal of bad press. But not all outsourcing ends up offshore. Outsourcing also isn t an all or nothing proposition. Alternatives exist today for selective outsourcing especially within the banking industry. Selective outsourcing allows very specific functions to be performed onshore by personnel familiar with U.S. banking regulations and skilled in specific banking technology. History of Outsourcing Outsourcing as a phenomenon is not new and has been going on in some form or fashion since the Industrial Revolution. Since ancient times, organizations and enterprises in developed countries have outsourced services to nearby less developed counties. Even before the IT revolution, many companies in the U.S. outsourced manufacturing jobs to countries such as Canada and Mexico and regions in South America in order to cut costs. Many even set up separate workstations and factories in these regions. The only difference between then and now surfaces in the frantic pace at which business is conducted today. In 1989 Eastman Kodak decided to outsource the information technology systems that underpinned their entire enterprise. This action was considered revolutionary in 1989, but it was actually the result of rethinking what their business was about. The Kodak deal was quickly followed by dozens of major corporations whose managers had determined it was not necessary to own the technology to get access to information they needed. In the 1990s, as organizations began to focus more on cost-saving measures, they started to outsource those functions necessary to run a company, but not related specifically to the core business. Managers contracted with emerging service companies to deliver accounting, human resources, data processing, internal mail distribution, security, plant maintenance, and the like as a matter of good housekeeping. Outsourcing components to affect cost savings in key functions is yet another stage as managers seek to improve their finances. The focus today is less on ownership and more on developing strategic partnerships to bring about enhanced results. Consequently, organizations are likely to select outsourcing more on the basis of who can deliver more effective results for a specific function than on whether the function is core or commodity. The public may not have a favorable perception of outsourcing, but executives must reduce costs through all possible methods. That s the message from a study released in August 2011 by Chicago-based outsourcing firm Capgemini. Their survey of executives found that while 79 percent of executives recognize that outsourcing may have a poor public perception, most (72 percent) nonetheless decide to go ahead with it. 1
A New Definition for a New Approach Even as executives reluctantly pursue outsourcing, new sourcing solutions appear. Banks can now leverage a new outsourcing alternative selective outsourcing. By taking advantage of sourcing providers offering a powerful combination of banking expertise, banking technology, and a highly skilled work force, financial institutions can consider new options. They can draw a defined line around specific tasks to source to outside providers. The following definitions contrast general outsourcing and today s selective outsourcing alternatives. Outsourcing: The hiring of subcontractors to perform specific jobs or functions based on their superior economies of scale and expertise with certain business functions and services. Selective Outsourcing: This form of sourcing is aimed at building trust and establishing compatibility between the provider and the outsourcing partner before any long-term agreement is reached. While the outsourcing partner works on very specific processes or tasks, the bank retains control over the overall function. Instead of all encompassing contracts like Eastman Kodak cut with IBM back in 1989, bankers can outsource functions such as proactive calling to overdrawn customers in order to meet new Reg. E requirements. Alternatively they could extend their help desk to a 24/ 7 operation in order to meet call demand from online customers. Or they could offer transaction dispute management to handle payment claims requiring resolution in a very specific timeframe. Selective outsourcing opens the door to many creative, hybrid solutions that add value operationally, while allowing the bank control over the entire functional area. Outsourcing evolved from a global push for greater efficiencies and cheap labor. But now selective outsourcing lets banks try out very tactical sourcing solutions to finite business challenges. The Evolution of Bank Outsourcing looks like the following. Evolution of Bank Outsourcing Outsourcing Administrative Functions Payroll Finance HR Security Etc. Outsourcing Information Technology Deposits Lending Internet CRM Etc. Outsourcing Business Processes Call-center operations Focus on labor arbitrage Business Transformation Create differentiation Create competitive advantages Improve speed-tomarket Create value Selective Sourcing Laser focus on specific challenge Dependent on Banking and Technology integration Can address regulatory requirements Creating Business Value Beyond Cost Savings The Key Challenge 2
Selective outsourcing is also considered to be the most practical way of identifying the right kind of long-term outsourcing partner. Consider this example your bank has a series of graphic demands. With several self-proclaimed graphic experts all over the Internet, it gets hard to identify qualified experts. In this situation, instead of handing over the complete graphic needs to an unproven "expert", you can check them out. Parcel out the work by having different vendors handle just a part of your graphic needs (e.g., a logo, a banner, an icon). Each will be considered as a separate project. This will allow you to evaluate your options by selectively outsourcing. Besides the value of an incremental approach, selective outsourcing provides the traditional benefits of a larger outsourcing arrangement (without the risk). With selective outsourcing, banks can gain from the following: Reduced Cost of Ownership: Technology related costs are minimized by relying on existing banking technology installed already in the bank. Faster Time to Value Realization: The selective outsourcing model depends on standard banking technology deployments, while business processes are then customized per the bank. This reduces implementation and training effort significantly. Increased Scalability: The sourcing provider manages capacity on behalf of the bank while providing the resources to scale quickly if demand grows rapidly. Access to Best Practices: The selective outsourcing provider automatically integrates most efficient business processes with the banking technology platforms they also own. This allows bank staff to learn from these experts and then leverage that knowledge as sourcing alternative change in the future. Variable Pricing Options: The selective outsourcing model prices services based on transactions and other volume dependent usage statistics. Thus the bank saves on overhead and implementation costs. The following case studies highlight three instances of selective outsourcing at work in today s financial institutions. Case Studies in Selective Outsourcing Case Study 1 The Institution: The bank was founded more than 100 years ago and has grown to over $4 billion in asset with locations throughout the southeastern U.S. Business Objectives: Growth through acquisitions while maintaining efficiencies Maintain high customer services levels Achieve regulatory compliance with variable cost sourcing solution 3
The Solution: The FIS Virtual Back-Office service provides transaction dispute management for electronic debit card transactions submitted by retail customers that need to be resolved within 10 days. Benefits Achieved: Ten percent reduction in charge-offs Transferred back-office FTE handling disputes to another position Avoided adding FTEs with increase in dispute volume due to acquisitions Increase in bank employee morale Streamlined previously disjointed dispute management process Reg. E Challenges of Transaction Disputes A less publicized aspect of Reg. E offers bank customers certain safeguards against fraudulent/unauthorized account activity regarding electronic transactions. Consumers have the right to dispute these transactions, placing the burden on the banks to: Investigate such disputes and, if necessary, credit the consumer s account for the disputed amount and chargeback the merchant Handle disputes via a phone call or in writing Resolve issues within regulatory time limits allowing for investigation and making a final determination. With the rise in adoption of check cards, the number of fraudulent and unauthorized transactions has gone up and caused banks to search for a better way to resolve these disputed transactions. Benefits Exceed Original Expectations In the 18 months FIS VBO services has managed disputed transactions, the bank has been pleasantly surprised with the results. Charge-offs for these disputes have decreased 10 percent and employee morale has gone actually gone up. Reg. E dispute management had been a series of disjointed procedures that only came to play with a very small minority of customers. The retail staff were confused by the forms and rules governing Reg. E transaction resolutions. Training to improve the situation proved difficult to recall, as transaction dispute management did not come up in the vast majority of customer interactions. Now with FIS experts handling Reg. E transaction dispute management and all the customer interaction and tedious paperwork, the retail staff of the bank no longer worries about what they don t know about Reg. E. This outsourcing frees the client-facing staff for more productive sales tasks, allowing FIS to efficiently handle this compliance burden. 4
How the Process Works FIS VBO resources review, research and resolution of the consumer's dispute. The steps in the process cover the following: 1. FIS Call Center receives the dispute information 2. FIS analyzes the dispute along with merchant supplied information and makes a decision 3. FIS makes appropriate financial adjustments and handles decisioning for credits, chargebacks, etc. 4. FIS notifies the consumer and merchant regarding the final disposition 5. FIS handles all consumer communication required by the regulation The team handles transaction dispute management in partnership with the bank s front-line staff. The option to select a dispute management specialist exists on the bank s VRU menu option. The VBO team updates bank management on any exceptions and provides regular management reports for the monitoring of the process. Case Study 2 The Institution: This non-traditional bank started by a leading financial services enterprise has grown to more than $12 billion in assets with a sales force of over 16,000 throughout the U.S. Business Objectives: Rapidly scale consumer lending operations without incurring time and expense to build infrastructure and expertise Maintain high customer services levels with scalable lending resources Create next generation non-traditional bank The Solution: The FIS Virtual Back-Office service provides loan servicing outsourcing for more than 450,000 consumer loans with an emphasis on automotive and home equity products. Benefits Achieved: National market coverage with the FIS solution handling individual state titling requirements Saving client time and resources with FIS handling exceptions and special customer cases Handling client gaps in lending process, paperwork as this is not their mainline business Streamlined management reporting and communication processes 5
Case Study 3 The Institution: This global financial services firm with significant brand recognition wanted to jump start their own direct bank within a very aggressive timeframe. Business Objectives: Create a direct bank within 90 days Maintain consistent customer experience between FIS Call Center and other channels Offer 24/7 live customer contact for clients Protect sanctity of client s brand The Solution: The FIS Virtual Back-Office Call Center Service provides 24/ 7 support for direct bank customer inquiries and online products Consumer ebanking and Online Account Opening. Benefits Achieved: Gathering $10 million $15 million in new deposits daily On track to becoming a $10 billion institution Call Center fills gaps in banking knowledge Summary In summation, selective outsourcing allows the bank to see beyond the "all or nothing" approach to outsourcing, and to realize the benefits of a stair step outsourcing strategy. To find out more about the FIS approach to selective outsourcing, please call 800.822.6758 or visit www.fisglobal.com.. 6