Value Health Check Survey (VHCS) – A New IAOP Corporate Member Benefit!

IAOP’s Value Health Check Survey (VHCS) is an exciting new diagnostic tool designed to assist outsourcing customers and service providers in rapidly identifying opportunities to enhance the business value obtained from their outsourcing contracts/relationships. By using VHCS, IAOP members and non-members can obtain a snapshot of the overall health of an existing outsourcing relationship. The results from the Value Health Check Survey will provide outsourcing customers, service providers and IAOP membership with critical insights concerning the key drivers and dominant trends influencing the realization of business value from outsourcing. VHCS users will be able to gain insight on how their contract/relationship is performing relative to their peer group(s), as well.

VHCS is available  through the IAOP website to IAOP members and non-members. IAOP Corporate Customer and Provider Members will now be able to perform a VHCS on two of their existing outsourcing contracts/relationships per year as an added benefit of their annual Corporate Membership. Additional Value Health Check Surveys may be obtained at a discounted VHCS administration fee. IAOP Professional Members and non-members may obtain Value Health Check Surveys for a nominal VHCS administration fee.

What is the IAOP Value Health Check Survey

Given current global economic realities and IAOP membership interest in continually seeking new ways to optimize business value through outsourcing, IAOP is making an innovative new tool available to the outsourcing industry to assist customers and providers in rapidly understanding the opportunities in optimizing business value through outsourcing. Based on the experiences of IAOP and its worldwide membership, we’ve learned that if the five key areas of outsourcing business value are optimized there is a much greater likelihood of a high performing and sustainable outsourcing contract/relationship. The five key areas of value are referred to as the Framework for Outsourcing Value:

●      Financial Performance

●      Service Quality

●      Capabilities

●      Risk and Compliance

●      Governance

Across each of the five areas, key stakeholders from the outsourcing customer’s organization and their service provider (optional) are asked to prioritize a comprehensive set of statements concerning outsourcing business value. Once prioritized, each stakeholder then scores the statements based on their level of agreement. VHCS is designed to take a snapshot of the relative health of an outsourcing contract/relationship and can be completed in approximately one hour. Depending on the number of stakeholders (customers and service provider personnel) participating in the survey, your organization will have valuable insights in a matter of a few days – not weeks or months.

Why should my organization take the Value Health Check Survey?

If you’re a customer or buyer of outsourcing services:

Conservative estimates by IAOP indicate that there are over $6 trillion dollars of outsourcing contracts currently in force worldwide. How many of these existing outsourcing contracts/relationships were constructed with today’s global economic crisis in mind? None! Therefore, what’s the likelihood that your existing outsourcing contract/relationship has the opportunity or exposure that could impact the business value you obtain from outsourcing? IAOP’s Value Health Check Survey is designed to enable your organization to rapidly review your existing portfolio of outsourcing contracts/relationships to identify opportunities for value improvement. Like an ordinary medical health check, VHCS provides a fast, affordable, consistent and effective approach to identifying opportunities to optimize the health of your outsourcing relationships.

Following are just a few of the key questions addressed for outsourcing customers during a Value Health Check Survey:

n     Are our internal stakeholders responsible for the contract/relationship aligned concerning the relative priority of the key value drivers of our outsourcing contracts/relationships today?

n     Do our internal stakeholders have a consistent perception of the value we’re getting from our existing contracts/relationships?

n     Where are the opportunities or exposures to value that we should explore further?

n     Is our outsourcing service provider aligned with our priorities and our perception of the value we’re getting from the contract/relationship? 

n     Based on the demographics (i.e., industry, scope, size and scale) of our outsourcing contract/relationship, how does our contract/relationship compare relative to our peer group?

These questions and many more may be answered through IAOP’s Value Health Check Survey. An executive familiar with VHCS was recently quoted as saying:

Today more than ever it’s imperative to periodically step back from the day-to-day operations of managing your outsourcing service providers and assess whether you’re really optimizing the total business value from your existing outsourcing relationships. IAOP’s Value Health Check Survey is an effective tool to help you accomplish this important aspect of outsourcing governance.

—Chris Long, Senior Vice President and Chief Delivery Officer, LifeMaster Support SelfCare, Inc.

If you’re a provider of outsourcing services:

Have you ever had a client relationship where your service delivery team was meeting all of its service level agreements (SLAs) and your client still wasn’t satisfied? Do you have an existing contract with a client that is approaching expiration and you’re unsure of your relationship and whether the contract will be renewed? Have you or your client had significant turnover in key personnel, or have uncertainty over the direction the relationship is headed? These are just a few of the drivers for considering a rapid health check of your outsourcing relationship with your client using IAOP’s Value Health Check Survey. Research confirms that proactive actions by service providers to improve their relationships not only can lead to enhanced client relationships but also additional opportunities for work scope and revenue growth with the client in the future. 

The following are just a few of the key questions addressed for service providers during a Value Health Check Survey:

n     Are the client and our service delivery team aligned concerning the key priorities of the relationship as it relates to the five key areas of outsourcing value?

n     Does our service delivery team really understand how the client perceives the value we deliver to their organization? Where are the gaps, if any?

n     Is our service delivery team aligned concerning client priorities and their value perceptions?

n     How do our organization and our outsourcing contracts/relationships perform compared to our peer group in the outsourcing industry?

How do we learn more about the IAOP’s Value Health Check Survey?

IAOP Corporate Customer & Provider Members:

Effective June 1, 2009, your organization receives two complimentary Value Health Check Surveys as part of your annual IAOP Corporate Membership. Purchased Value Health Check Surveys are valid for 18 months from the date of purchase. For additional information, please contact IAOP’s U.S. ambassador, Matt Shocklee, at matt.shocklee@outsourcingprofessional.org.

IAOP Professional Members and Non-Members:

Effective immediately, IAOP Professional Members and non-members of IAOP may acquire Value Health Check Surveys for a nominal VHCS administration fee per survey. Special VHCS promotional pricing is also available for IAOP Professional Members and non-members. IAOP Professional Members receive a 10 percent discount off the VHCS administration fee. Purchased Value Health Check Surveys are valid for 18 months from the date of purchase. For additional information, please contact the IAOP’s U.S. ambassador, Matt Shocklee, at matt.shocklee@outsourcingprofessional.org.