Case Studies: Performance Management

The Challenge

A multinational telecommunications giant contacted Canon Business Process Services because it was facing challenges common to many large organizations with outsourcing providers. The company's issues had escalated to the point that it no longer had control over its outsourced operations.

The client has 46 corporate locations nationwide with the country split into four major regions. Only one of the regions fostered communication between locations. Most regions were out of touch. Because there were no national performance management standards, most locations had separate processes, procedures and measurements which made it very difficult to compare and improve performance. Even the performance information that was available, primarily in spreadsheet format, was not accessible to management. Consequently, management reviews were often centered on data that was 30-45 days old, leaving managers without realtime information.

As a result of these challenges, a number of mail management costs were increasing inexplicably. One area of great concern to the company was its rising courier costs. Consequently, although our client wanted to expand, the company was reluctant to offer new services at other locations until it got a handle on performance.

The Solution

Canon Business Process Services took control of the mail, shipping and receiving operation and immediately implemented 32 sites in 30 days without any interruptions in service. We have recently expanded to 46 sites.

MAX, the first performance management system specifically designed for clients to manage outsourcing providers, helped our client track the performance of its outsourced operations against service level agreements (SLA) and key performance indicators. Ultimately, MAX drove standardization and continuous improvement in locations across the country.

The MAX tools and methodology allowed us to help our client reduce its courier costs. Using MAX to analyze three years of historical data enabled us to clarify critical patterns of expenditures across months and geographies. Our national account manager then launched an initiative to streamline operations and reduce costs utilizing Six Sigma principles.

The project team discovered that a number of non-urgent materials — including merchandise, marketing materials and employee expense reports — were being delivered by overnight mail. The team worked with end-users to develop a new process that guided employees in reducing costs by selecting the most cost-effective shipping method for each item depending on urgency. The process was documented and posted at all locations along with FAQs, comparisons of different courier options, step-by-step manuals and color shipping maps tailored for each location.

The Result

Control & Standardization: Our client has gained control of its outsourced mail services through standardization of processes and procedures across all corporate locations. The company tightly manages the business with complete visibility across all 46 sites through our near real-time interactive tool. Currently, managers across the nation communicate weekly to review their executive scorecard, which includes measures such as cost per piece, cost per customer and cost per square foot. This communication forum is used to compare performance and quickly identify locations that need help in implementing best practices.

Savings: As a result of the courier project, our client saved almost $500,000 in the first year after implementation. On average, the company experienced savings of over 10% per month across all sites.

CBPS implemented 32 sites in 30 days and helped the company save almost $500,000 in the first year.