Back-office outsourcing: scope, costs and a measured pilot

Data entry, invoice preparation, contract tracking and complaint classification support the service your customers receive. Outsourcing some of this work can free up internal capacity. Start with actual volumes, exceptions, skills and the consequences of errors. Define a suitable scope, then test it in a pilot.

Define the scope

Document inputs, steps, outputs and acceptance criteria. Start with a well-described workflow and examples of edge cases. For accounting, identity checks and contractual decisions, identify required qualifications and approvals that remain with your team. Repetitive work may still require business judgement: assign someone to resolve exceptions.

Compare the total cost

Compare equivalent volumes and quality levels. Include management, tools, training and rework in the internal cost. For a provider, include transition, integration, coordination, checks, minimum charges and exit costs. Calculate cost per accepted case rather than hourly rates alone. Location or a junior job title does not establish lower costs or higher productivity.

Run a measured pilot

Agree a representative sample, including straightforward cases and exceptions, and a bounded duration and volume. Track turnaround time, cases accepted without rework, errors by severity, correction time and cost per accepted case. Compare with the baseline. Set continue, adjust and stop criteria before starting; scale when results and supervision capacity support it.

Assign responsibility and verify quality

Name the people responsible for instructions, acceptance and incidents. Agree working hours, capacity, deadlines and escalation paths. Ask to see proposed sampling, second checks for sensitive cases and correction records. Assess them on pilot cases. Set service levels and the rollout schedule using measured results and available resources.

Plan data handling and the exit

Identify necessary data, processing locations and authorised users before sharing anything. Use named accounts with limited permissions and revoke them at the end. Document instructions, confidentiality, incidents, other providers and any transfers requiring assessment. Agree return or deletion under the applicable obligations, including export format, deadlines, backups, agreed evidence and transition support. Test recovery of a sample before expanding.

Prepare a discussion with Altavista360

Bring an anonymised example, volumes, expected turnaround, relevant tools and access constraints. This helps define the scope to explore and the terms of a possible pilot. Services, checks, timing and prices should be specified in a proposal suited to your needs.