He was able to give us some similar competitor product photographs – yes, readily available online and in the public domain – with his own unique requirements.

KPGS then took all that info and working with our partners in India and Eastern Europe, are producing exactly what this entrepreneur needs at a fraction of what he would pay otherwise. In addition, we’re saving him valuable time by taking care of this piece of his OVERALL business model. Likewise, we’re handling all the day to day back and forth and tedious discussions which are often the up-front part of any new relationship.

And guess what? KPGS now stands prepared to help not only in the production, but also delivery of the finished, manufactured product.

The savings to our client in this case are in his words, “astronomical in real capital and time.”

Engineering process outsourcing is a real value for many companies. We’d love the opportunity to speak with you about providing a custom tailored solution for your needs.

For our non “Diwali” enlightened (no pun intended) friends and family, Diwali is the festival of lights which this year falls on Nov. 5. It is a five-day festival celebrated by families, fireworks and festivals.

Of course, you may read more on Diwali at one of our favorites, Wikipedia.com.

Don’t make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up.

~Thomas J. Watson

Whether you’ve already outsourced some part of your business process or you are looking to outsource, finding a good fit is paramount. Those who have already outsourced their call center operations, back office or other business process are probably looking for the next step: innovation and further efficiencies. Those who are ready to outsource their call center, back office or other component are looking for a strategic partner – someone who is a good fit on price, yes, but an even better fit on taking care of a critical piece of your organization’s overall business offering.

At KPGS, we have a stable of vendors, carefully vetted and evaluated offering:

• Customer Service
• Sales
• Technical Support
• Chat and Email Support
• Outbound Voice and IVR Solutions
• Back Office and Virtual Support

All of our vendors offer best in class, proven support models and applied thought leadership in the areas of innovation and process improvement. Additionally, because the staff at KPGS believes so strongly in maximizing value at each step of your outsourcing process, we remain involved for as long as you want to ensure top performance in:

• Day to day operations and performance (vendor management)
• Contract negotiations and Statement of Work reviews
• Quarterly Business Reviews
• Periodic site visits
• Management and agent roundtables (feedback mechanism)
• Joint client and vendor value health check surveys and reviews

If you are looking to diversify your outsourced portfolio, improve the performance of existing outsourced provider, or seeking to outsource some of your business processes and call center needs for the first time, call KPGS.

Please, contact us today to set up a free initial consultation to better determine your BPO and call center outsourcing needs.

Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.

~ Albert Einstein

Chances are, you have worked with an outside advisory agency or consultant in the past. Rest assured, the team at KPGS does not fit that mold.

We apply a rare mix of operational expertise, people skills, on the ground working knowledge of cultural differences and strategic savvy to assist you in optimizing your outsourced relationships.

There is no “one size fits all” approach at KPGS. Our first meeting is free to you and from that knowledge transfer we will build a custom solution to your problem areas. You then pick the engagement model that suits your budget and timeline. We believe in accountability, so there are deliverables built into each phase of the overall operation where stakeholders (that’s you) get to grade the performance of the plan (that’s us together) and consultants (that’s us). We do not simply “fight the plan”, we adjust accordingly so the desired end state gets met.

Our areas of expertise are:

• Outsourcing Analysis – current and proposed outsourcing arrangements
• Performance Optimization – at vendor and program level
• Cost Reduction – in vendor management and processes
• Call Center/Contact Center Health Check – a valuable survey we administer and review jointly with the client and vendors
• Expert Witness – when things wind up on the wrong end of arbitration
• Offshore destination support – in-country expertise in: India, the Philippines, South Africa, Egypt, Israel, Mexico, Dominican Republic, US, Canada and most of the Eastern European countries

At KPGS, we are not focused on creating a long term billing cycle. Our solutions focus on desired end state whether that takes one week or one year. Our overall goal is that you value your relationship with us as much as your most prized outsourced vendor relationship because we are that integral to your organization.

Please, contact us today to set up your free initial consultation so we can roll up our sleeves together and solve your outsourcing problems in innovative ways.

You must play boldly to win. ~ Arnold Palmer

Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) is a growing global trend. Whether you seek to reduce costs to serve for clients, or replace junior attorneys in your firm, or need short term assistance in a corporate or firm setting – LPO may very well be the answer you are seeking.

KPGS has in-house legal support who will, (a) manage your LPO efforts and provide the necessary checks and balances before releasing the results to your organization, or (b) review our carefully vetted global firms for the right fit for your needs. In either case, this represents significant cost savings and helps transition your firm into the day-to-day operations of outsourced legal assistance.

KPGS is proud to offer the following services:

Intellectual Property – IP protection and commercialization

• Infringement analysis
• License analysis
• Competitor analysis

Contracts and Sourcing – commercial contracting and licensing services, including:

• “Standard” Drafting, including employee contracts, non disclosure agreements (NDA), licensing agreements, supplier agreements, lease agreements, vendor agreements and distributor agreements
• Reviewing and revising contracts
• Contract management and abstraction services
• Custom drafting of contracts for specific needs

Litigation Support in the form of e-Discovery and document review

Legal Research on a wide range of subjects and a variety of legal research tools and on-line databases to extract case law information that suits client requirements

Paralegal Services such as virtual assistance on legal transcription. We assist in transcribing, formatting and proof reading testimony, pleadings, interrogatories, legal examinations, arbitration, subpoenas and reviews of administrative hearings recorded on digital voice processing systems.

Please, contact us today to set up a free initial consultation to determine if Legal Process Outsourcing is the right solution for your legal needs.

It’s the little things that make the big things possible. Only close attention to the fine details of any operation makes the operation first class.

~J. Willard Marriott

Vendor Management is a piece in the overall outsourcing puzzle. However, that one piece will determine how effective, what level of innovation and process improvement and to a large extent how much your relationships will ultimately cost.

Do your vendor management results only show up on expense reports? Do you sense you aren’t getting much in the way of process improvement or innovation out of your vendors? Or, are you just getting started on your own outsourcing puzzle and looking for the piece that helps determine long term viability?

At KPGS, we employ a combination of custom tailored solutions for your organization’s needs, industry best practices and client AND vendor side innovation to help you build the best strategy and tactical execution level team possible. We do this through implementation of SaaS (Software as a Solution), local (offshore or domestic) managers who are tried and tested in performance management and a holistic view of your outsourcing portfolio to create a vendor management approach which delivers.

Or, maybe you just want to reduce the expense of internal vendor management teams and their travel expenses? At KPGS, we can build you a team of in-country or local domestic managers to help focus on critical supply points in your business process outsourcing model.

Or, you are looking for a way to automate a long term relationship using a software platform which monitors key performance indicators, prepares quarterly business review reports and alerts key personnel when a vendor has missed a deliverable by a margin you set? At KPGS, we work with some of the brightest software development teams in the world who have Saas platforms that can be customized to your needs.

The bottom line up front is KPGS can help make your entire outsourcing process operation first class by narrowly focusing on vendor management: both the little things and the whole puzzle.

Please, contact us today to set up a free initial consultation to discuss solving your vendor management problems.

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the one who asked why. ~Bernard Baruch

How would you like to be able to exercise your thought leadership and ask more “why” questions in your engineering firm?

Outsourcing components of your design and build process may be the answer.

A partnership with KPGS could offer innovative, value added and cost effective engineering solutions. KPGS offers a comprehensive range of engineering and design services in:

• Automotive
• Heavy Engineering
• Industrial Engineering
• Aerospace

We work with you to reduce delivery lead time and lower design and product cost.

The services we can assist with in outsourcing your engineering processes are:

New Product Development – From Ideation through Engineering through Manufacturing Support, we can assist in all or individual phases so you can achieve an effective Product Launch.

Design Automation – Increasing your speed to market and improving efficiency.

• Reduced design time by 50% or more
• Completely automated process – less human interference
• Error free 3D models of part and assembly and manufacturing drawings – reduced efforts in quality control and reworks
• User friendly and does not require design experts to generate drawings for new version of the product
• No additional cost except for solution development and can be built on existing 3D modeling software

Design Validation & Optimization – Generally includes Finite Element Modeling and Finite Element Analysis to evaluate the soundness of the design and to determine the object’s response to an operational environment.

• Finite Element Modeling
• Finite Element Analysis
  • Static Analysis
    • Linear & Non-Linear Analysis
  • Dynamic Analysis
    • Modal Analysis
    • Frequency Response Analysis
    • Transient Dynamic Analysis
• Crash & Impact Analysis
• Fatigue Analysis
• NVH Analysis
• Thermal Analysis
• Buckling analysis
• Composite Analysis
• Bolted / welded Joint Analysis

2D Drafting Services – KPGS offers a significant cost advantage by offering:

• Paper to CAD conversion
• 2D manufacturing / fabrication drawings
• GA drawings
• Layout drawings
• Drawing / Sketch updating
• Orthographic and perspective projections from 3D models
• 2D assembly representation
• Exploded views of an assembly
• Creation of Bill of Material
• 2D to 3D conversion

Manufacturing Support & Sourcing

Manufacturing Support Services includes activities such as

• CNC programming
• Program validation and verification
• Fixture design and tooling
• Process planning
• Tool path generation and tool selection

Our experience places us in a unique position to organize and associate with sophisticated manufacturers to produce world class products at minimum cost. Services offered through vertical integration with trusted partners include:

• CNC machining, grinding, turning, milling, broaching, gear cutting, etc.
• Complex assembly
• Forging
• Casting & Fabrication – Ferrous, Aluminum Patterns, Sand Casting, Shell Molding, Machine Molding, Gravity, Plastic Mould, Investment Casting, Rubber Mould, Blow Mould, etc

Please, contact us today to set up your free initial consultation so you can begin to leverage low cost, global talent to improve your engineering processes.

When I started Knowledge Passport in the winter of 2007, my goal was to help offshore Business Process  Outsourcing (BPO) and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) providers improve their reputation and stake in the US market. My reason was simple enough: I had seen the value these providers offered while I managed the global tech support and telesales channels for a Fortune 50 media company.

Unlike some folks, I recognized a value in the intelligence these providers offered over and above the lower dollar cost. Having MBA level agents on the phones provides a conversation for the business owner far and above the high school equivalency level agent so often found in the US. NOTE: this is not a comment on the quality of the individual, just on the level of conversation one agent gives you over the other. There were important process improvement, call flow tweaks and general marketing messages we missed in bunches because we too often focused on, “getting rid of their accents.”

Anyway, back to the beginning of Knowledge Passport….

I approached my new venture with the self-righteous indignation only a seasoned former executive and somewhat serial entrepreneur can display. In other words, I was arrogant to a fault and spent a lot of time helping the wrong people with the right problem with an idea whose time had not yet come.

I learned a lot from that experience and relearned some previously experienced lessons. I’m happy to share a few of those here and welcome your feedback.

One, everyone looks good on paper. I must have flipped through 100 different provider presentations and listened to almost as many conference calls, webinars and desk-side briefings. The sum total difference in what they all said was captured on less than 10% of their messaging and often times came from someone buried deep in the organization, i.e., probably not someone you will interact with on a day-to-day basis.

Two, most clients really do make decisions based on cost and trends. This was the toughest one for me personally because I always prided myself on choosing providers based on, (1) well researched questions by functional area, (2) a thorough site visit, and (3) a good reference check. Most of my discussions with my former peers when proposing a provider went like this, “that’s great, but what do they cost per hour?” and, “everyone else is going to the Philippines or [fill in the blank with any emerging market].”

Three, the concept of risk management and diversification of providers got killed by the lawyers – the very same people most corporations pay to HELPwith those areas. I watched major corporations tank sales, ruin relationships and in general sour vendor management all for the sake of consolidating contracts, eliminating boutique shops (some of which were the top performers) and you guessed it, lower costs by bundling everything together under one provider roof. My still unproven assumption is it was a way to eliminate reviewing so many contracts and statements-of-work (SOWs).

Finally, don’t be afraid to get down to the tactical level when making strategic level decisions on choosing providers. I would always ask for a resume or CV for the front line managers in our shops. You will be surprised, shocked, amazed and curious at what you find. During one such vendor review for what would become our largest offshore sales campaign, I found a senior delivery manager who 2 months prior was the night manager at a fast food restaurant. She had the years of management experience, but no sales, no contact center experience and very little client interaction skills.

Part of what makes outsourcing effective is the discipline of only outsourcing the process, not the responsibility for making it work. While Knowledge Passport, or KPGS as we’re known today no longer focuses on improving offshore providers, I still believe in the power of placing work in the best possible providers with the tools and resources to make everyone successful – and profitable.

Like most of the country, Alabama is currently sweating underneath a hot blanket of political primaries. I heard an ad the other day on the radio for a state senate seat that began with a roll call of sorts asking if the senator who had, “outsourced our jobs to Mexico,” was in attendance.

Aside from the further ridiculousness the ad presented, the opening salvo got me thinking. Just what message is this guy trying to convey? That he is going to miraculously bring back all these “jobs” that went to “Mexico”? What jobs is he even talking about?

Here is what he failed to mention in his ad though:

• There are 11 major manufacturing or operation centers in a 15 mile stretch of Interstate 85 South which provide virtually all of the steady employment in our area
• Of those 11, 10 are “foreign” corporations or businesses with headquarters overseas
• Of the 1 remaining, it is a company headquartered in the mid-west who OUTSOURCED its manufacturing to Alabama because of the non-union, lower wage environment

So, would someone please ask this senator, if elected if he plans to close those 11 operations down and send the jobs back to the country or state that spawned them?

Outsourcing is an easy term to toss about during election season. Mexico is a popular target these days given all the immigration rhetoric. Put the two together, or somehow imply that all of our unemployment woes are due to sending jobs overseas ignores one major counter argument: Alabama is the recipient of a major chuck of labor outsourcing. Your state may be in a similar position.

I would invite this candidate, or any candidate, to detail his plans for improving high school dropout rates, overall quality of education, broadband initiatives, infrastructure improvements and in general providing a new state constitution which altogether will help keep the jobs currently outsourced to Alabama and probably even attract some new ones.

In closing, here is my own roll call, “Will the elected officials who have a real plan to move this state forward please stand up? Anyone? Bueller?”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This first appeared in our blog, OutieLookingIn.com on Monday, Dec. 7, 2009. I have “migrated” it over as part of our online redesign.

With a nod to this Industry Week article on how offshoring by US companies doubled from 2005 to 2008, I’d like to point out the closing as what is truly worth reading and repeating.

The report found that companies with successful offshoring practices:

1. have a senior-level champion for offshoring efforts
2. se a service provider selection model
3. conduct on-site visits to providers
4. use a master service agreement
5. have internal stakeholder buy-in for offshoring
6. establish a global corporate offshoring resource center

What should NOT be surprising is point number one: senior-level champion. No matter the undertaking in any organization, if the boss doesn’t support the effort whole-heartedly, no one else will. Think about the last successful launch at your own company that wasn’t first moved to the top of your organizations priority list and included a kick-off ceremony by the leader? Chances are you don’t have one.

Next, let’s examine the use of a service provider selection model. Why an organization would have processes and checklists with clearly defined roles and responsibilities in place to order office supplies, purchase real estate, build out new facilities, etc., and NOT do the same when choosing a service provider is beyond me. But, it goes on every day in companies large and small. If you don’t have a need for a full time, dedicated strategic sourcing or vendor selection team, then utilize a third-party advisor to do so. Even better, have them develop a leave-behind process for you to use in the future. (Full Disclosure NOTE: KPGS is a third-party advisor. Guilty as charged.)

Along with this, conducting an on-site visit should be a no-brainer. And yet, many companies choose to skip this step after a 100 slide presentation on capabilities, extensive and exhaustive meetings and dinners with the provider business development team and a round of video teleconferencing with onsite management. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then when the provider places the work in a location other than where the teleconference originated. Or, they build out a new site to accommodate the work because their existing sites were too cramped. True, taking a senior executive or a small team out of pocket for at least a week for a site visit in Asia, Africa or South America is tough, but nonetheless, necessary. Once again, if you don’t have the resources to do this internally, hire a third party advisor to do this as well - along with the aforementioned tasks. (FD Note: KPGS provides this service. Also guilty.)

Master Service Agreements (MSAs) and the accompanying Statements of Work (SOW) are an absolute must, but please don’t turn them over to the attorneys alone to negotiate. What good does a Sr. level champion and a strong due-diligence model along with clear performance expectations do if you turn the negotiations over to folks who aren’t actively involved with the day to day operations and goals?

And this leads to having internal stakeholder buy-in. Assuming these folks aren’t,

(a) involved in the site visit,

(b) goal definition and timelines, and

(c) involved in the up-front planning on WHY you are offshoring,

then the best way to achieve their buy-in is to at least solicit their involvement for making the process work. Creating internal account and performance management teams is a technique to retain subject matter expertise, historical perspective and document your outsourced and offshored processes as you reduce internal headcount. Your providers can do a bang-up job all day every day, but if the internal resources assigned to liaison aren’t on-board it will come unraveled over time.

Finally, the point of establishing a global corporate offshoring resource center is probably one your organization may or may not find a need for. Although I can’t tell who was surveyed to collect these best practices, my experience says this would have to be a company in the $1+B range. Your organization may find the best resource center is nothing more than the internal stakeholders conducting quarterly business reviews, documented best practice sharing and “joint-ride” visits to the provider locations. If you want to get really creative (and who doesn’t?), solicit the stakeholders for what they want. Create internal “wiki’s”, social networking sites and employee blogs to discuss and mind-share offshoring.

In summary,  the best practices listed represent a quick checklist of more detailed and documented processes many organizations develop over time. The fact that the number of companies offshoring has doubled since 2002 doesn’t mean your organization has been left out or doesn’t have room to improve. In fact, it means there are just that many more lessons learned for you to capitalize upon and use to your advantage.