outsourcing small programs successfully

AnswerNet 2325 Maryland Road, Suite 150 Willow Grove, PA 19090 Tel: 267.942.6000 Toll-Free: 1.800.411.5777 Fax: ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

215.659.6486

6/5/12Outsourcing Small Programs

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Outsourcing Small Programs Successfully

By Gary A. Pudles President and Chief Executive Officer

AnswerNet


215.659.6486


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Why Outsource?

• Outsourcing to third parties enables organizations to focus on their core missions

• Outsourcers support businesses by handling non-core functions and tasks


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Why Outsource?

Examples of these functions provided by outsourcers for businesses:

• Gaining customers• Service and support• Order taking • Billing• Fulfillment


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Why Outsource?

Outsourcing cuts costs and increases revenues by:

• Reducing facilities, HR and technology costs by not hiring or providing agents

• Lowering operating costs – Programs from many different customers can be handled by the same agent, which increases use

• Flexibility and awareness – Outsourcers are available 24/7

• Experienced management and staff – Outsourcers will work with you to get the most out of your program


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Outsourcing andLow-Volume Programs

• Outsourcing is especially valuable for low-volume programs

• Minimizes internal resources, which are scarce for start-ups and not right for niche or test programs

• Allows easy, quick growth without adding staff or centers


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Keys To a SuccessfulOutsourcing Program

• Tasks require minimal and repetitive client involvement

• Plug-and-play• Results must be able to be measured and valid• Performance by outsourcer needs to be compared

fairly against in-house or other vendors• Fair payment plans that are aware of vendor costs in

keeping quality service• You get what you pay for


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Keys To a SuccessfulOutsourcing Program

• Client must have performed research in selecting outsourcers. Not every outsourcer is willing to take on a client’s program—many firms have high volume minimums or require high payments

• It is a true partnership; client trusts the outsourcer, keeps the outsourcer informed of changes and vice-versa. Outsourcers are free to manage the program to the client’s constraints


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Choose the Right Vendor For You!

Outsourcing can achieve important benefits for the right small/low-volume programs partnering with fitting vendors. But just don’t take our word for it…


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CoffeeCakes.com

Using Outsourced Services in a Small Center: CoffeeCakes.com Experiences

Sherry Comes – President and CEO CoffeeCakes.com and oDelish Baking Company

[email protected]


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• Computer Science Degree from the University of Colorado in 1987

• Executive IT Architect with world’s largest International IT Consulting Company

• Over 20 years of professional consulting experience• Started CoffeeCakes.com during dot-com boom in

1995, been running and growing this business ever since

Introduction: Sherry Comes


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• Pioneers in Internet Retail, in business over 10 years, incorporated May, 1995

• Very high customer satisfaction rate• Over 45% of our orders are repeat orders• Received five star excellent customer service

ratings year after year

• Continued revenue growth over past five years

• 2005 (Jan-Aug) is already up 40% over 2004 (Jan-Aug)

Introduction: CoffeeCakes.com


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• Built a fully scalable business model that is profitable, has increasing customer demand and is built upon outsourcing

• We have outsourced all non-core skill functions• Our entire staffing model is currently outsourced• We do not have any payroll or employees, just

partners

Current Business Model BuiltUpon Outsourcing


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Successful

CoffeeCakes.com has been successfully outsourcing with AnswerNet since

August 2002

"I had a very good experience with CoffeeCakes.com. The person who took my order over the telephone was excellent. I would definitely use this company again." -- CoffeeCakes.com Customer


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Why Outsource?

• Our main skill is Specialty Food Internet Retail; not Call Center Management

• We could only operate 8:00am-5:00pm Monday through Friday; we were missing opportunity

• Could not scale with seasonality of business• More easily build costs into pricing model• Allows us to scale quickly


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Various Order Entry Channels

Fulfillmentand

DistributionCenter

Order electronically sent, real-time into order fulfillment system

with no human intervention.

Order entered into our 24/7/365 online order entry system and

automatically uploaded into order fulfillment system with no human

intervention.

Order Sent to our happy

CoffeeCakes.com customers

Call Center1-800-830-2696

Drop Ship

CoffeeCakes.comBusiness Process Flow

Storefronts


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• Documented our requirements• Did a broad market scan and selected top 25 companies • Short listed to top 10 based on our requirements• Did a deep dive on top 10 to short list down to top 3• Interviewed top 3, built matrix and compared all three against the requirements• Made final selection• Started building our partnership

Selection Criteria:Used Standard Selection Methodology


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• 24/7/365 days a year• State-of-the-art technology• Real-time solutions through voice,

email and web• Emphasis on quality and excellence• Web integration• Full training program• Phone etiquette• Metric reporting• Disaster recovery• Power system backup• Overflow queuing• NDA

What an OutsourcingAgreement Should Cover


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• Inbound calls (full-time, overflow, nights, and weekends)

• Order taking• Customer service • Conference calling

services

So Far We Have Outsourced:

• Support of increased call volumes resulting from promotional campaigns

• Testing outbound calling

• Up-Sell/cross-sell


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• FAQs• Mutual Trust• Strong teaming • Constant communication• Automation• Dedicated Customer Service

Representatives• Keep AnswerNet CSRs

informed of upcomingmarketing promotions

Keys to Success


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“Very fast shipment, well packed. Item exactly as described. Will order again." -- CoffeeCakes.com Customer

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Sherry Comes at

scomes@CoffeeCakes.

Thank You

Questions?

outsourcing small programs successfully

Business

maryland road

willow grove

small center

answernet sinceaugust

outsourcing cuts costs

operating costs programs

test programs

noncore functions