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22 | Magazine World | December 2007 fipp.com
feature
outsourcing
Better b2b practices
WHAT ARE THE PITFALLS OF OUTSOURCING? Like many other industries looking for Accountancy Services – accounts payable,
growth, the b2b publishing world has, over
purchase ledger, accounts receivable
There are always concerns about the loss of
the last decade, witnessed an evolution
& credit control
control and quality if tasks are outsourced. This is
through specialisation and merger. But
Payment Services – inbound customer calls,
because many outsource companies (especially
has this led to an increase in effectiveness
credit card or direct debit payments
those in offshore locations) pay little attention
for b2b publishing? Not necessarily. What
Clerical Services – data entry, customer
to detail and tend to treat each customer as
may be great for the balance sheet has
enquiries & back office administration
‘the same’. Furthermore, the quality and level
not necessarily been the best news for the
Shared Services – finance, HR, payroll
effectiveness of b2b publishing, which has
of training of outsourced staff tend to vary & purchasing
often been diminished through the use of
enormously and sometimes do not address the
low quality in-house data.
specific requirements of the client. THE ONSHORE VS OFFSHORE DEBATE
One of the key reasons relationships break
“As companies grow and expand, great
down with outsourcers is because they take on
pools of data can reside on numerous
Offshore outsourcers tend to lack knowledge of
too much. This dilutes attention to detail and,
systems and in different locations. This
the national business sector and this can only be
most importantly, quality.
makes the data difficult to manage and
resolved by having ‘expat’ managers on the ground
Publishers also need to be wary of outsourcing
use and, in some cases, out of date,”
at the offshore location to educate the team.
processes core to their business such as editorial,
observes Graham Carter, head of List
Onshore outsourcers tend to be strong in
portfolio management and strategic marketing.
Research at Incisive Media. “This can mean
their subscription management, telemarketing
The best approach is to outsource the most that some of the benefits of acquisition and fulfilment activities, but lack resources
simple processes first so the outsourcer can can be lost. To get full value, the data and pricing models to compete with offshore
build knowledge and expertise from solid needs to be integrated, cleaned and providers in the more mundane data and
foundations. This may take longer but the updated.” information management tasks or the BPO
future benefits are considerable. services listed above.
With more and more media companies
increasing revenues from conferences,
events and online publishing, there is a
“Savings can
growing opportunity for cross-fertilisation
“The best approach
of readership information within these
release funds
merged groups.
is to outsource
for investment in
“With a detailed briefing and regular
communication with the UK-based
the most simple
new media
management team and the ex-pat
management at the offshore facility,
processes first”
and events”
overseas outsourcing presents a good
route. My advice is not to devolve all
responsibility to the outsourcer, but to
view the relationship as a partnership. This
In publishing, every title or event is different
approach helped to ensure we both got
and demands fresh, individual knowledge. This
SO, WHAT CAN BE OUTSOURCED?
the most out of the process.”
means that it is important that the outsourcer’s
staff speak directly with the publisher or event
Simple tasks for a publisher’s marketing organiser to gain further information to get
department would be data capture, the cleaning a complete understanding of the necessary
of subscriber lists, web research and new sector business and product knowledge.
research. Any outsourcing arrangement does require a
An information provider could outsource voice sizeable investment of time and resources by the
verification of business listings in their online or client. However, the results do produce long-term
print directory, online content creation, content savings both in budget and management time.
management, voice verification of information These savings can be flowed back into the
and data management. publishers’ two key areas for future growth: better
Pre-press activities which can be outsourced information and data management.
include data conversion, XML solutions,
typesetting, graphic production, copy editing, Ian McGowan is head of sales and marketing
project management and advertisement design. at Merit Outsourcing. He can be reached at
There are also key corporate business imcgowan@meritoutsource.co.uk
processes that can be outsourced, now known as
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), including:
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