Did you know there is a new BPOer in town? Well, not so new but Oracle did just formalize their Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) program and has officially named it i??BPO Powered by Oraclei??. It is a i??sell throughi?? partner program that's goal is to place Oracle applications, technology and services such as On Demand, i??under the hoodi?? of BPO provider service offerings. By partnering with leading BPO providers, Oracle gives customers more choice when it comes to leveraging Oracle software. Just to confirmi??Oracle does not want to be a BPO provider.
So, here are the top 10 things I have learned about BPO Powered by Oracle:
1) Why is Oracle doing this NOW?
The BPO market is growing twice as fast as the enterprise applications market. There is a growing demand for BPO services. BPO providers are facing a challenge of growing their business aggressively while retaining margins and mitigating the risk of service delivery failure. Legacy platforms of the established providers do not work well in the BPO world. New BPO entrants need robust and scalable platforms to grow fast.
2) Has Oracle had any notable BPO successes to date?
Yes. For example, of the top thirty 2005 HR & Payroll outsourcing deals, Oracle applications were under the covers in half of them. In addition to HRO, Oracle has also had success in Procurement Outsourcing with large enterprises across the Financial Services, Hospitality, and Consumer Products industries.
3) How do Oracle customers benefit from BPO Powered by Oracle?
For customers, BPO Powered by Oracle represents a new choice for how to leverage their application and technology investment, ensuring process continuity while lowering the risk of business process transition. In addition to on-premise and hosted instances, customers can now choose to go BPO and leverage a service provideri??s best practices in managing non-core, back office processes.
4) How do Partners benefit from BPO Powered by Oracle?
In delivering a service, time-to-revenue is in direct relation to time-to-deployment - which in turn is linked to the service delivery platform. Oraclei??s best-in-class applications and technology insures that partners will not only be able to bring customers on line faster, but that partners will be able to upgrade customers seamlessly to new releases when they become available. Relative to other ERP platforms, Oracle has an outstanding record for getting customers and partners up to current releases.
5) What processes are likely candidates to be outsourced?
Payroll, benefits administration, call centers, and accounts payable are commonly outsourced today. Some of the more aggressive companies are also outsourcing indirect spend though procurement BPO and/or accounts payable and receivables via FAO.
6) What BPO service providers have signed up as partners?
Because the official program is new, Oracle is in negotiations with several tier one providers as well as many tier two providers. In the coming months - stay tuned - provider agreements are being finalized.
7) How does the Oracle On Demand offering fit into the BPO program?
Oraclei??s On Demand offering compliments BPO Powered by Oracle. For those service providers who doni??t have core competencies in running datacenters or the associated IT infrastructure, On Demand makes perfect sense. It allows service providers to focus on what they do best i?? deliver differentiating services. Who understands how to manage Oracle applications better than Oracle after all?
8) What is unique about BPO Powered by Oracle?
A formal BPO program makes it easier to do business with Oracle. While perpetual licensing is still an option, BPO Powered by Oracle allows BPO providers access to subscription-based pricing, which addresses a key expectation i?? that our licensing model match the way they price services. This is as important as the quality and the functional richness of our products.
9) Any final advice to existing Oracle customers?
First, understand that integration between the retained processes and the outsourced processes is a key driver to reducing TCO. If youi??ve already made an investment in Oracle, look for a BPO provider that has done the same. Second, end-user training and change management will be significantly lower in cases where both the retained processes and outsourced processes are run on the same platform.
10) How can I find out more?
Readers can go to www.oracle.com/bpo
Partners should go to the Oracle Partner Network (OPN) for detailed information on how to take advantage of BPO Powered by Oracle.
Or, check out this AppCast (application podcast) about the unique attributes of Oracle's BPO strategy. The Benefits of BPO Powered by Oracle
