Outsourcing of Essential Customer Services to “Off Shore” Based Suppliers The CPA Australia Experience Tony Gleeson Executive General Manager CIPSA / SCLAA Event Thursday 14 th April 2011
CPA Australia + 125 year old membership body for Finance and Accounting Professionals + 132,000 members in 111 countries 30% live and work outside of Australia • 6 th largest accounting body in the work • + Demographics Under 30 : 20% • 30-39 : 35% • 40-49 : 22% • 50-59 : 17% • 65+ : 6% •
CPAs Working Around The World Countries where CPAs live or work Major cities where CPAs live or work
CPA Australia’s Corporate Plan
The Opportunity CPA Professional Level Program • – 70,000 exam sits per year Corporate Plan • – Review & Revitalisation of the CPA Program – Address entry pathways – Very competitive market 20 + Year “Local” Single Supply Relationship • Education is a Global Industry – Northern Hemisphere Dominated •
CPA Australia’s Knowledge Blueprint
Drivers for Change + Entry to the Program Constrained – needed to broaden “Pathways” + CPA Australia has moved from being an Australian centric organisation to being International + New Product – Foundation Units + Single Supply Relationship > 20 years – Australia based + Professionals looking for “e” enabled learning – move from ‘pencil and paper’
Potential Suppliers : Environmental Scan + Global Industry – heavily driven by Northern Hemisphere + Funding dominated by Governments USA & European leadership Private alongside State – e.g. Pearson US$8b • + Hugh Budgetary “Influencer” – Commercial perspective v basis right + Governments drive Research and analysis – how we learn, tools “e” States drive Universities to work together • Professionals looking for “e” enabled learning – move from ‘pencil and • paper + Move to “outsource” more Content development, online tools support traditional class room delivery, • examination events, marking & student feedback. No longer all done by single source. • + ’
Our Journey + Supply Market Research & Analysis (RFT) Single supplier did not have the ‘new’ required capability • + Invited 13 to tender : local and global + Received 3 responses many did not believe we were serious after such a long single supply • relationship (invited way to many?) + Had to split the business no one “stop shop” created complexity • + Took us much longer than had planned Standard 3 month process took more than twice this •
Our Journey + Left much with incumbent for Professional level To ensure our calendar, published 12 months in advance, • Changed the relationship dynamic’s • Requires ongoing concentrated management effort. • + We selected 2 off shore suppliers for Foundation levels + # 1 a mid size UK based organisation with global reach for ‘content development’ Great to contract with • Good processes • Spoke a similar language • Delivery time became a constraint due to the length of our process impacting time they needed • to develop work Needed a full time Project Manager (plus some) • Time difference needed managing but can work for you e.g. We ask for that evening and have • when we arrive the next morning Split delivery so we could manage a staged introduction of our new academic calendar •
Our Journey + # 2 Large Global Organisation headquartered in UK ($10b pa business) + Initially started working with their Australia arm They withdrew when we split the work as they could not perform what we required • + Services then come out of India but we were contracting with USA entity Time, Culture, Language, Law’s, Distance, organisational scale all became material issues for • use – Understand your ‘levers’ Their internal supply chain was an issue – they outsourced key parts of their business e.g. • Customer help desk for booking exam time slots Speak a similar language – English is a first language of all three countries, it is not the same as • we speak in Australia Contracting – Don’t let this become Lawyer to Lawyer – Lawyers should just record what the • commercial people agree -lost weeks & nearly the deal
Lessons Learned + Don’t take on face value what they say understand their business models and operations • + Have very clearly and documented Project Plans with Milestone deliverables don’t wait for milestones to arise • + “Eye Ball” checks need to be made Invest in travel and face to face with them early – we didn’t this early • enough and things improved markedly when we did. + Don’t rely on the written word alone, talk to them every day and then document what you talked about and • insist they confirm understanding
The Outcome + We have two excellent new suppliers + We have diversified our supply base + Each see’s an opportunity so strives to meet and exceed our service needs + Compliancy of a > 20 year relationship has gone – both on our side and with the supplier + We have a clearer picture of what is possible in the future how this may impact our Learning and Development Strategies for customers / members • + Success of Foundation Examinations 3,000 in 15 countries were successfully delivered • All results and candidate feedback was delivered to time and standard •
Moving Forward … “ However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results” Sir Winston Churchill
Questions ?
Thank You Tony Gleeson Executive General Manager anthony.gleeson@cpaaustralia.com.au +61 3 9606 9867
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