Driving business strategy by outsourcing

Hero Honda Motors Limited outsources a few IT infrastructure needs, and SR Balasubramanian, Vice President — Information Systems, believes outsourcing can help improve efficiency or give strategic benefit to the organization, depending on the extent of tasks outsourced.

Why outsource?

The company decided to outsource all its routine tasks to an external service provider organization. This would help the personnel concentrate on the main business issues.

The company also felt that an external agency could handle the day-to-day management tasks much better than its own team.

Outsourcing at the company

The company has outsourced helpdesk, facilities management, and basic first-level management of the network and data centre. Server performance management and network management are performed by the internal staff.

Outsourcing of helpdesk services began four years ago, and the services were extended to new business areas over the next two years. The outsourcing service provider reports to an internal manager who takes care of the infrastructure. A special SLA has been drawn for this relationship.

Specially designed workflow software logs all incoming calls and the system generates performance reports, which helps Hero Honda measure performance as specified by the SLA.

The benefits of the deal

• No increase in number of IT personnel in spite of increased business activity.
• IT staff need not come to work in shifts since the outsourcing solution provider manages the data centre round the clock.
• The staff can focus on user requirements and deliver services to users on time, since they no longer have to handle routine complaints.
• Internal users receive prompt attention through the outsourced helpdesk. A recent survey of users showed a high degree of satisfaction.