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CERTIFICATION OPTIONS
As BPO companies face heat from the West on quality of services, there is a
rush to get themselves benchmarked and certified to global standards. Being a
relatively nascent sector, when compared with the software counterparts, BPO
companies are trying to find a quality-assurance standard which will identify
problems and suggest ways and means to improve process. This, however, does not
mean that there are no benchmarks or certification standards in the industry at
the moment.
Most of the BPO firms have been ISO certified, but ISO is seen to be
associated more with manufacturing sector than in BPO services. The ISO,
BS-7799, PCMM and Purdue University Certification for Customer Relationship
Management are some of the generic standards and have been modified to suit BPO
companies.
A couple of years ago, Satyam partnered with Carnegie Mellon University and
Accenture for the eServices Capability Model (eSCM) to provide a set of
practices that enable companies to effectively manage outsourcing relationships
by focusing on the critical organizational attributes for people, technology and
knowledge, and their applicability in the outsourcing process. But eSCM
certification has not become as popular as Customer Operations Performance
Centre (COPC) certification.
l Benchmarking vs Certification:
Benchmarking and quality-assurance certification are two separate fields and
should not be confused with. For a BPO company both are equally important. While
benchmarking is a comparison of the company’s processes and performance with
the best in the industry, certification is measuring the company on certain
operational parameters. Benchmarking gives the company a reason to introspect
and an insight as to where the company stands vis-Ã -vis the best performers.
Certification means meeting at least the minimum targets to maintain the quality
standards. Certification has to do more with being consistent in meeting a
framework of matrices.
Benchmarking is a must as it gives a peer-group profiling and
provides best-in-class comparison. It helps identify areas of improvement,
adaptation and change. Whereas certification is essential as it gives the
companies a perspective to maintain minimum standards to meet the targets
required for certification. As a result, a company has to constantly improve
itself to attain the targets and, hence, the performance level also goes up.
l Six Sigma and Kaizen:
Six Sigma and Kaizen are processes aimed towards achieving total quality
management. Six Sigma means measurement of quality and processes to achieve near
perfection. But the statistical implications of a Six Sigma program go well
beyond the qualitative eradication of customer-perceptible defects. It’s a
methodology that is well rooted in mathematics and statistics. The objective of
Six Sigma quality is to reduce process output variation so that on a long-term
basis this will result in no more than 3.4 defect parts per million
opportunities.
Kaizen is a Japanese term which means continuous improvement
by benchmarking oneself for the better. Both Kaizen and Six Sigma methodologies
are implemented at individual level to improve the performance of the
organization as a whole. These are philosophies which lead to process and
performance improvement and, hence, help in getting certifications.
l Customer
Outsourced Performance Centre: Customer outsourced performance center (COPC) for
call centers is the equivalent of the CMM level certification for software
firms. The COPC standard was written in 1995 by a core group of users of call
center services and associated distribution fulfillment operations. COPC is a
proven system that helps achieve operational efficiency with high customer
satisfaction and retention. It helps clients to develop and execute high return
on their investment and frame operational improvement strategies for their
contact centers.
The Registered Coordinator Certification is an essential part
of the COPC certification process for any entity. Each location seeking
certification needs at least one COPC-certified registered coordinator.
In India, QAI has facilitated COPC implementation and Six
Sigma deployment in over 20 leading customer contact centers and business
process outsourcing organizations.
There are 32 essential parameters that a company has to
comply with in order to get a COPC certification, the main ones being: client
satisfaction; end-user satisfaction; timeliness, quality and accuracy of
responses; efficiency, speed and productivity; telecommunications and computer
infrastructure; people policies relating to recruitment, compensation and
training; attrition; staff satisfaction and resource utilization.
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The process begins with a baseline assessment of the call
center’s current services moving on to a gap analysis, structural and training
support, followed by a final audit, after which the ‘pass’ certification is
awarded.
In between, COPC consultants interact with the client on
issues as process control, transaction monitoring, staffing and scheduling, data
security, contingency planning, defining and verifying skills. One certified, a
re-audit takes place in 12 months and each year the standard of assessment and
targets become more stringent. If a client fails to get certified then a plan is
drawn to close the gaps and lapses. Then again the whole process of conducting
the audit for certification is carried out. A COPC certification may cost from
Rs 27—30 lakh.
Tips to Clear the Quality Test
Performance: The basic parameter of a certification
agency includes testing the performance level of a company. They see whether
the organization has been meeting the minimum target level or not. If they
are meeting the targets, then the consistency of the company is seen over a
period of time, which can extend from six months to one year. If the company
has not been meeting the target then the agency sees what efforts have been
employed towards attaining those targets.
Quality Monitoring: The certification agencies do quality
monitoring from the end-users’ perspective. A company might be maintaining
very high quality standards internally but the end user experience might not
be up to the mark. Being in a service industry where resolution of customer’s
problem is the primary objective, what matters most is the accuracy with
which an issue is resolved. The agency monitors number of mistakes done
while resolving an issue and steps taken to reduce the mistakes.
Training Testing: The level of training imparted to the
employees is measured on the pass-fail threshold. The agency tests the
employees and ranks them accordingly which in turn is added towards the
overall performance of the company.
Forecasting and Scheduling: This includes estimating the
workflow in the future and deciding on the manpower to be used accordingly.
The certification agency sees how efficient is the company in managing its
resources. While some companies have huge buffers which means loss of
manhours while some might pressurize agents to do more. All this needs to be
kept in mind in the final ratings.
Planning and Reviewing the Whole System: Planning forms
the base on which the success of a company is dependent. Without planning
the process being implemented would not succeed. Similarly, a BPO company
has to review its processes to keep pace with client requirements and
technological changes. Certification auditors take into account the
efficiency in planning and reviewing system while estimating the company’s
capabilities.
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Importance of Certification
The process of certification is a powerful management tool and cannot be
ignored especially when the market is highly competitive. The whole exercise to
get certified makes perfect business sense as it gives an idea of the company’s
performance. It also helps in understanding performance gaps in financial terms
and suggests corrective measures to avoid potential failures. The investment
made in certification is rewarded by improving the overall performance and it
also makes a good impression on the clients.
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