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The advantages of business process outsourcing discussed in this series of articles have hereto been restricted to its efficacy in the private sector. Naturally, though, business process outsourcing can be applied to a range of organizational spheres beyond the successful maintenance of an independent business. The benefits of BPO to the public sector are finally being realized as a smart solution to the cost/efficiency problems of the public sector, and of evaluating the effectiveness of certain public services.
Due to the availability of publicly-available information on tax spending, we are already beginning to see the potential of BPO integration in assuming control of public sector processes, to optimize and justify the spending of taxpayers’ money and to evaluate the continued productivity of these areas.
Essentially, the problems in managing public services and in managing company performance depend on a similar duality. There is an ideal level of productivity and citizen/customer service that must be intelligently apply funds to the services affordable. Though an incredibly simple concept, this allows us to entertain the way in which BPO solutions can optimize the management of public processes as comprehensively as in the private.
There are several debates currently active about the implementation of BPO in the public sector, though most are concerned with a less-than-pragmatic evaluation of the lasting benefits. There is, however, enough evidence from 2009 to suggest the negligence of spending and efficiency in public sector organization, especially concerning IT processes.
As far as saving is concerned, serious savings in middle and back office processes are current hot topics in government strategy. The optimization of local and central authorities’ processes would serve not only to reduce waste in the upkeep of administration, but would allow for the freeing up of key players to focus on betterment and continued vigilance over the performance of individual public services.
As BPO vendors have been building their public sector acumen and solutions for several years now, the outsourcing option could even serve as a neutral alternative in maintaining the performance of certain public service areas. Think of the lack of accountability in the debate between OFSTED and the educational services – each is in constant criticism over the conduct of the other, as there is no formal agreement on what ‘performance’ is when rhetoric is removed. A BPO solution here would allow for accountability where there is currently only this type of rhetorical fingerpointing from the ‘opposing sides’.
Traditionally a difficult area of industry to crack, BPO for the public sector is currently expanding to compete with in-built solutions, and to challenge the validity of costly in-house administration, when the recipient of the quality of service is the very public whose tax serves to fund it.
In light of the June 2010 election and the focus on improved public service as a whole, BPO is likely to be one of the most discussed strategies to changing the face of the continued upkeep of governmental processes, and the distribution and organization of key governmental administration as a whole.