cross tab webinar gold standards in outsourcing
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome – About the Cross-Tab Webinar Series
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Cross-Tab Webinar Series is designed to update research professionals with trends and issues within the Market Research industry
Address a wide scope of topics from evolving the role of market research within corporations, to developing successful research engagements, to quality of research to making outsourcing engagements work
Will draw on the breadth of experience of our team as well as invite guest speakers and industry experts
Will always attempt to make the webinars engaging and stimulating
Today’s topic:
“Developing Gold Standards for Outsourced Relationships”
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
• Cross-Tab is the only market research company on the Fortune ranking of Global Top 100 Outsourcing Companies (3 years in a row)
• Cross-Tab is one of the fastest growing knowledge services company in India according to Deloitte (3 years in a row)
• Ranked as Number 1 Market Research Outsourcer
• Red Herring Asia winner
• Founded in 2000, Cross-Tab is an India-based pioneer offering market research solutionsto clients across the globe
• The first and most prominent online research company in India
• Deep global research operations knowledge
• A strong and seasoned global management team with world class research expertise (Seattle, New York, Bangalore, Mumbai)
• 350+ professionals in the team
• Deep and growing relationships with marquee clients
• High Customer Satisfaction leading to 95% repeat business
• Strong technology orientation towards capability in innovative research solutions/packagescustomized to client needs
An Overview of Cross-Tab
3© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Primary Market Research
Business Analysis and Secondary Research
Data Mining and Advanced Analytics
Research Innovations
§ Over 1.5 million surveys last year WW in over 40 countries and 18+ languages
§ Deep expertise and partnerships with global panels
§ Sample and tool agnostic
§ Strong experience in managing large MR process outsourcing engagements
§ Over 100 projects in the past year
§ Experienced 40 member team
§ Access to industry research and databases
§ Ability to productize BI/CI offerings
§ Over 150 projects in the past year
§ Deep expertise and experience in mining survey and transactional data
§ Ability to gain business meaning from data
§ Experienced 50 member team of analysts
§ Café Cross-Tab§ Panel solutions (BRIC and custom panels)§ Blog-mining§ Mobile survey platform§ Mobile metering
Cross-Tab’s Core Service Offering
4© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Recent Trends in Market Research Outsourcing
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Disaggregation of Market Research Services
Corporations are increasingly pulling in best-of-breed suppliers (design and insight, operations, sampling, reporting /visualization)
Multi-vendor engagements are becoming more common
Material Benefits Lead to Increasing Commitment Towards Outsourcing
Research companies are increasing the quantity and scope of work being outsourced
Benefits in terms of cost savings, capacity increases and ability to offer new services
World Class Processes From Outsourced Suppliers
The focus on quality has led outsourcers to develop world class practices to ensure consistency and quality, many are not present anywhere else in the world
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Key Drivers for Outsourcing in 2010
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Taking out costs from the system
Providing increasing value to clients through consistent high-quality services
Ability to deploy scarce resources in critical (client-facing) areas
Substantially decrease turnaround time, become more nimble, agile and a better partner to the business
Reduction in management burden, while still holding decision making power
Continue to benefit from the latest advances in technology
Build the capability to experiment and try out ideas with a very low cost of failure
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
…what does it take to deliver on these strategic drivers
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There are many factors which come into play but some a critical to establishing a successful outsourcing engagement,
Desire to Make it Work
Developing a Robust Approach
Operational Excellence; and
Trust to Overcome Hurdles
Essentially build and deploy the “Gold Standards of Outsourcing”
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Building the Gold Standard Relationship
8© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Shared Goals
Ramping Up
Playbooks
Operational Excellence
Conditions of Success
Impact to Client’s business§ End-client satisfaction
§ Increased capacity to handle work; ability to focus on executing core growth strategy
§ Cost Savings
Jointly Defining the Goals
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Customer Satisfaction (Build long-lasting relationships)§ Project feedback from client teams
§ Customer Satisfaction scores at overall relationship level
Quality (Service execution quality)§ Establish and monitor quality goals – survey
programming, sample management, etc.§ Monitor feedback from client§ Identification and action on key pain points
Employee Satisfaction § Ability to attract and retain the best talent
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Building the Gold Standard Relationship
10© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Shared Goals
Playbooks
Operational Excellence
Conditions of Success
Ramping Up
Follow a Learn → Crawl → Walk → Run sequence to minimize transition risks in scaling up to steady state
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§ Learning about client business standards, requirements
§ Establishing standards & protocols (comm. shift hours, etc)
§ Monitoring responsiveness
§ Assessing data quality & QA checklists
§ Establish the Success Metrics
§ Consistency of output
§ Evaluating the team’s ability to deliver under pressure
§ Review the operations setup
§ Manage steady state operations
§ Reporting & Reviews at all levels
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Develop a Robust Roadmap With Clear Milestones
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Key ActivitiesAugust September October November
18 25 2 9 16 23 30 6 13 20 27 4 11 18 25 1 8 15 22 29
Kickoff, plan and form team
Negotiate and finalize contract
Vendor ramp-up/pilot planning with CT
Client change management
Conduct on-site training, build workflow process
Begin production support pilot
Pilot validation
Full scale-up – prep & Launch
Outsourcing Pilot Timeline – Go Live Sep 20Today
Steering Committee Meetings
Weekly Calls
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Building the Gold Standard Relationship
13© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Shared Goals
Operational Excellence
Conditions of Success
Ramping Up
Playbooks
Creating Custom ‘Playbook’
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This establishes clear standards, protocols and processes to be followed by all parties to ensure consistency, error free deliverables and success
The Playbook clearly details roles & responsibilities, timelines, process flows & quality control procedures
The Playbook ensures there are no grey areas and eliminates inconsistencies
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Building the Gold Standard Relationship
15© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Shared Goals
Conditions of Success
Ramping Up
Playbooks
Operational Excellence
Focus on COPS
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§ Staff all projects with the right set of skills and
experience
§ Maintain a bench strength
§ Staff with adequate number of senior members in the
team to mentor, troubleshoot and manage
§ Ensure key staff understands client objectives and
pain points
§ Create a strong governance and
communication matrix
ü Quarterly Steering Committee calls
ü Monthly Operations review
§ Ensure adequate use of management
portals and technology
COPS
§ Be transparent
§ Ensure no surprises
§ Nothing gets delivered without following the QC playbook
§ Kick-off meetings/briefing calls for all first-time projects
§ Get timely feedback and close the loop
§ Provide for adequate coverage across client time zones
§ Document communication; document feedback
§ Invest ahead of curve – resources, training, understanding of client business
§ Aim for ‘early wins’ to establish credibility
§ Ensure playbooks and metrics are approved
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Building the Gold Standard Relationship
17© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Shared Goals
Ramping Up
Playbooks
Operational Excellence
Conditions of Success
Conditions of Success
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CoS outlines key expectations of
the relationship, with the objective
to:
1. Define mutual obligation between
Cross-Tab and the client
2. Establish guidelines to develop
and strengthen the partnership
3. Develop A+ quality and
transparency
4. Establish a shared basis of
understanding of what is required
and how it is measured
The CoS document addresses various
relationship aspects such as,
§ Planning
§ Management of project brief/ RFPs
§ Proposals
§ Engagement
§ Commencement
§ Communication
§ Project Management
§ Resources
§ Service Levels and Performance
§ Deliverables
§ Completion
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Building the Gold Standard Relationship
19© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved
Shared Goals
Ramping Up
Playbooks
Operational Excellence
Conditions of Success
§ There are many more elements to building a “gold-standard” relationship, we have focused on the “Big 5”
§ Common theme around shared practices (playbooks, metrics, CoS). Both partners are responsible and accountable for success
§ Only the largest relationships may make the investment in documenting these approaches, however they are important for any size
of relationship.
Thank You
© 2013 Cross-Tab. All Rights Reserved