Connecting ambition to results
Turning strategic ambitions into results that are felt throughout an organisation means operational delivery needs to be included when strategy is being set. That’s why a rethink of the role of managed services — one that connects industry expertise, leading technology and skills with operational know-how on delivering change — is helping businesses be more agile, more efficient and move ahead of their peers. Here’s how.
Planning a business model transformation strategy is the first step. Executing it — and seeing tangible results at the pace we now expect — is an entirely different challenge. Business leaders are increasingly turning to managed services as a fast and effective way to turn strategy into results and move ahead of their competitors, whether the goal is migrating to a cloud platform, adopting digital-first engagement, or overhauling finance, tax or HR functions to boost efficiencies.
“Organisations need to align strategic ambitions with operational capabilities — especially in the context of pursuing transformational objectives. Working with clients — we realised the value that comes from using a managed services model when it comes to accelerating tangible outcomes. The flexibility, agility and speed at which we can bring in expertise, underpinned with a commitment to operational excellence, standing side-by-side with client teams, helps remove the friction that can limit potential.”
Shared commitment, shared outcomes
So how does the right approach to managed services bring together these capabilities — the people, technology and operational delivery excellence — in a way that accelerates your business objectives? A closer look at our model helps illustrate the difference from the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) model.
Our business consultants have built up years of expertise in your industry and your markets. By tuning into your conversations, they can help you to identify the strategic openings and potential within your business. Our managed services experts then bring those opportunities to life by designing solutions in partnership with you. Keeping focus on your business outcomes, they work with you to translate the strategy into implementation plans that are seamlessly delivered by our operational delivery experts. We share the commitment to success for the long-term. This is where the value is.
This value differential is backed up by recent research into the factors that sit behind top-performing companies. A recent PwC survey of 2,000 companies across the US, UK, Germany and Australia found the highest performing 20% were more than four times more likely to use managed service partnership (MSP) models for strategic advantage, while being faster to market and more innovative than those who were focused solely on bridging talent gaps and cutting costs. In other words, the MSP model significantly outperforms standard BPO by accelerating the delivery of your strategic goals and allowing you to move quickly and decisively as opportunities arise.
Collaboratively clearing the path to success
With the goal defined and the path set, our implementation teams can then hit the ground running.
And that seamless delivery is the second key advantage this approach to managed services offers. Nothing gets lost in the handover, because there is no handover. Our business consultants, managed services experts and operational delivery experts are part of one team that quickly feels like an extension of yours. The managed service solution and the capabilities that underpin this are customised around your business, your strategic goals and the business outcomes we want to achieve together.
We draw on more than 2,000 onshore managed service and operational delivery professionals and offshore support teams worldwide. Because we have the project managers, technologists and operational delivery teams to execute, run and transform your functions and processes while developing and embedding new capabilities within your organisation, we factor that capability in from day one.
“Our team of operational professionals work alongside our advisory colleagues to offer a winning combination of skills and experience to our managed services clients. We constantly invest in keeping our teams’ operational skill sets relevant alongside offering market leading career paths. Working in partnership longer term with our clients, taking time to get to know them makes our teams proud. Being able to actually deliver transformational value while running an activity for a client and at the same time supporting them to build capabilities and options for the long-term, offers a great sense of fulfilment.”
Flexibility to keep you agile
Of course, the pace of transformation, technology developments and innovation means that no managed service solution is static. Priorities and opportunities shift, new developments and opportunities arise and top-performing organisations need the freedom and flexibility to change focus when needed — sometimes very quickly. And that’s the third key aspect for effectively using managed services to accelerate your ambitions: the flexibility and control you have as a client.
“We find our clients really value how they can activate, reshape or even end a contract at any time they choose. They can also dial capacity up and down as they need it. In turn, our commercial arrangements reward the value and outcomes we deliver as part of our client’s team. They feel that shared sense of commitment to success, of skin in the game, and that we’ve got their backs. It helps them make bolder decisions and really lean into their own potential and ambition — all of which fuels that growth and lasting success.”
Our teams can step in during the implementation process or delivery pinch points to free up time, sharing best practice and ways to run the processes and technology more efficiently with the existing team. Or they can run the operation in the long-term, seeking out continuous improvement opportunities and updating the ways they work as technology, regulations and customer expectations change. And it’s not just the people we bring. It’s also continually modernised technology, saving you the capital outlay and making sure that capabilities are always optimised.
We are here to help you
With PwC’s Managed Services, you can recognise and realise the potential within your business from strategy to execution and on to lasting value. Contact us today to discuss how our Managed Services could help you, or visit one of our onshore managed service centres where you will be immersed in how we work with clients, use technology and run our operations to deliver real outcomes.
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