Table of Contents

1.      Introduction. 1

2.      Organization’s Overview.. 1

3.      Mumbai Proposal 2

4.      Analysis of Proposal 2

4.1.     Total Cost Analysis. 2

4.2.     Criteria’s for evaluating the sourcing Decision. 3

4.3.     Relative weighting for each criteria. 4

4.4.     Weighted Matrix Model 4

5.      Final Recommendation. 5

6.      Performance Metrics for Support Desk. 5

7.      Conclusion. 6

8.      References. 6

1.Introduction of the Brice Customer Services

The aim of this report is to provide deep insights regarding Brice Customer Services Support Desk operations and whether outsourcing the support desk operations is a good decision for the organization or not. BCS is an internet service providing corporation which meets the needs of small organizations and individual customers. A corporation that is situated in Mumbai India has contacted BCS and give a proposal that BCS should outsource its online support desk services. As the organization is located in Mumbai India the labor cost will be quite lower as compared to Ontario Canada. It means that BCS has the option to save significant amount of labor cost which will boost the profitability of the business. For evaluating the outsourcing decision, the total cost analysis has been performed along with Weighted Matrix model.

2.Organization’s Overview of the Brice Customer Services

BCS (BRICE Customer Services) provides internet services to its customers. BCS is an internet service providing corporation which meets the needs of small organizations and individual customers. The corporation target such customers who require high-quality services and can pay premium price for it. The organization provides high-quality applications and software to many small organizations. Along with office applications & software BCS also provides storage services as well because BCS has high-speed servers from which the business can get fast access. The corporation is located in Ontario, Canada, and serves the territory of Ontario & East. BCS services are provided in both French & English languages.

The corporation pays special attention to customer services. For ensuring high-quality customer services the organization has online support desk. The customers who face any problem regarding the internet can contact the online support desk so that their problem can be addressed. The experts are available online who respond to the request of the customers. Usually the problem of the customers is resolved in less than 8 minutes. Many customers of BCS have stated that due to the support desk services they have chosen this corporation. In other words the organization has achieved customer loyalty because of its online support desk.

3.     Mumbai Proposal of the Brice Customer Services

The online support desk facility has the capacity to handle  1000000 requests each year. However, the organization does not assume that the requests will change in near future. A corporation that is situated in Mumbai India has contacted BCS and give a proposal that BCS should outsource its online support desk services. Currently the outsourcing proposal sounds quite attractive. The corporation that is situated in Mumbai India has individuals who are fluent in English language and also have limited knowledge of French language as well. Not only these individuals are from technical backgrounds, but they also have relevant qualifications as well.

As the organization is located in Mumbai India the labor cost will be quite lower as compared to Ontario Canada. It means that BCS has the option to save significant amount of labor cost which will boost the profitability of the business. Another benefit of this proposal is that the online support desk exists online which means that the customers will not know about this switch. Before making any decision regarding the outsourcing of its online support desk many things are going to be analyzed critically. There are many factors as cost and employee capabilities before making this decision. Because of the proposal is not analyzed critically than the corporation might make a wrong decision.

4.     Analysis of Proposal of the Brice Customer Services

4.1.Total Cost Analysis of the Brice Customer Services

Table 1: Total Cost Analysis

The total fixed cost of the current online support desk is $2682300 which is higher than the fixed cost of Mumbai proposal that is $2500000. The variable cost of current support center is also higher than the proposal. The total cost of current support desk is $3492300 which is higher than Mumbai proposal. It can be said that if BCS can accept the Mumbai proposal than it can save $302300. It means that in terms of cost outsourcing decisions will be beneficial; because the corporation can save significant amount of money, which is not possible with current online support desk option (Crosson & Needles, 2010).

4.2.Criteria’s for evaluating the sourcing Decision

When the corporation considers different options for selecting the cost is not the only criterion for taking the decision, there are many other criteria on the basis of which the decision is evaluated. Here cost is only the first criteria for evaluating the sourcing decision there are four other criteria as well on the basis of which the sourcing decision will be evaluated. The following are the five criteria which evaluate the sourcing decision:

·         Cost

·         Language Skills

·         Technical Skills

·         Relevant Qualification

·         Employee Accent

The language skills are highly essential for the online support desk because the customers who are going to be entertained live in Ontario Canada, who speak French & English language. The employees who live in India will definitely have speak fluently in English & French otherwise the customers will unable to understand what the employees are saying. As BCS provides internet services the employees must know the technicalities of the internet and what kind of issues can arise regarding the internet service. Without technical knowledge the employees might unable to provide the right solution to the problem (Mahadevan, 2009).

A relevant qualification is very important in any corporation, and in BCS it is important that the employees must be qualified so that they can understand the problem of the customers and can provide them the right solution. The customers of BCS should not know that BCS has outsourced its online support desk to another country. For this it is necessary that employees must have French or Canadian accents so that customers won’t find out the difference.

4.3.Relative weighting for each criterion

After choosing the relevant criteria for the outsourcing decision the weights are assigned tom each criterion on the basis of importance of each criterion. Cost and Language skills are highly essential in online support desk. Therefore, both are given the highest weight of 30%. After Cost and Language skills the technical skills are important in each employee, so technical skills have given the weight of 20%. The relevant qualification and employee accents are considered less important than other criteria. Therefore, these are given the lowest weight of 10%. The weight to each criterion is assigned on the basis of importance and its need in the online support desk. When the weight is assigned to the criteria the next thing which is done is giving ranking to the criteria (Kerzner, 2009).

4.4.Weighted Matrix Model of the Brice Customer Services

Table 3: Ranking Scale

In the above table, the ranking scale is presented. Rank 5 indicates high satisfactory level, whereas rank 1 indicates least satisfaction. The 5 criteria which are discussed above are given ranking from 5 to 1 on the basis of satisfactory level. For instance satisfactory level of language skills is higher in current support desk rather than proposed support desk. Therefore rank 5 is given to language skills of insourcing support desk and rank 4 is given to the language skills of outsourcing support desk option (Brown & Bessant, 2013).

Table 4: Weighted Matrix Model

In the above table score of the Insource option and Outsource option are provided. It can be seen that the score of the outsourcing option is higher than the score of insourcing option. It means that the best decision is to outsource the support desk so that the profitability and efficiency of the business can be enhanced.

5.     Final Recommendation of the Brice Customer Services

It is recommended to the BCS to outsource its support desk operations because, through this opportunity the organization will able to reduce its expenses up to lot of extents. Not only the corporation can expand its business, but also the efficiency and profitability of the decision will increase with this decision.

6.     Performance Metrics for Support Desk of the Brice Customer Services

There are many performance metrics from which the performance of the support desk can be measured. The following are the key 4 matrices from which the performance of the employees can be measured:

·         First Response Time

·         Best Support Agent

·         Promoter Score

·         Customer Feedback

The first response time is the time in which the customer complaint has been received, and initial communication is made with the customers. The lower the FRT, the higher will be customer satisfaction. The best support agent will allow the business to know which agent’s performance is higher. The promotor score will tell the business how much customers are promoting the services of this business. In the last the feedback from customers can also tell the performance of the support desk (Spender, 2014).

7.     Conclusion of the Brice Customer Services

It is concluded that the score of the outsourcing option is higher than the score of insourcing option. It means that the best decision is to outsource the support desk so that the profitability and efficiency of the business can be enhanced. It is recommended to the BCS to outsource its support desk operations because, through this opportunity the organization will able to reduce its expenses up to lot of extents. Not only the corporation can expand its business, but also the efficiency and profitability of the decision will increase with this decision.

References of the Brice Customer Services

Brown, S., & Bessant, J. (2013). Strategic Operations Management. Routledge.

Campbell, D., Edgar, D., & Stonehouse, G. (2011). Business Strategy: An Introduction (3 ed.). Macmillan International Higher Education.

Crosson, S. V., & Needles, B. E. (2010). Managerial Accounting. Cengage Learning.

Kerzner, H. (2009). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling (10 ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

Mahadevan, B. (2009). Operation Management: Theory and Practice. Pearson Education, India.

Spender, J.-C. (2014). Business Strategy: Managing Uncertainty, Opportunity, and Enterprise. OUP Oxford.