New Client Implementation
Having spent a majority of my career implementing and supporting newspaper systems, after joining Affinity Express, I had to get up-to-speed quickly on the outsourcing aspect of our partnerships. And this was no small task! Understanding change management is very important to our success. Our clients rely on our expertise to start saving money in their organizations and they want this result quickly!
There are three areas that we improved upon in the last two years that I believe contribute to our great track record at Affinity Express.
The first area is project consistency. This is a difficult task because relationships vary, yet it is very important because consistency allows us to be efficient. We know what works and using the same methodology each time has allowed us to reduce the project timelines and issues.
The other area we have enhanced, which plays a big role in our successes, is the review of lessons learned from each engagement. At the close of every implementation, we conduct two meetings--one internally and one with the client. Regardless of the partnership, we learn something new each time. These sessions are extremely valuable in contributing to the successful implementation of plans for other projects.
We have focused a lot in the last six months on building our team and our skills. The New Client Implementation (NCI) department is made up of employees from the U.S., India and the Philippines. We have been training for all roles in our group, including production, system and transition managers. On top of adding new members, we are focusing on cross-training. Our ultimate goal is to provide our clients with skilled, experienced and qualified team members.
In closing, the Affinity Express NCI team is evolving. We learn new things each day and we work to provide our clients with a valuable service at a reasonable price. If you are an outsourcing provider, how have you improved on new client implementation over time?
If you are an outsourcing client, what do you wish your outsourcing provider would do differently?
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