Yes, we have a new “as a service” acronym and it is extremely relevant to businesses of all sizes, but in particular Small to Medium Size Businesses or Enterprises. The ability to perform advanced business processes with no upfront capital investment literally enables all businesses to add to their scope of service and capabilities and grow beyond their current boundaries.
According to Judith Hurwitz, co-author of “Hybrid Cloud for Dummies”; Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is any type of horizontal or vertical business process that’s delivered as a service, based on the cloud services model. These cloud services — which are similar to Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). Increasingly, companies are looking at a more service-oriented and integrated – simpler approach to business services.
BPaaS has the potential to dramatically change the speed of growth and profitability for SMEs; for many businesses it can be easier to utilize BPaaS then it is to re-train or on-board new staff. However, organizations need to establish clear objectives, open collaboration, processes, systems and governance to ensure that all parties are completely aligned and working in a transparent environment. This alignment and integration can be achieved with a BPaaS Center of Excellence (COE).
Let’s explore how these principles apply to scaling social media.
Hootsuite’s Shannon Miller recently posted a very interesting article, “Scaling Social: Establishing Your Center of Excellence”. She points out that most social media marketing professionals believe the main roadblock to social media success relates in some way to organizational challenges. She writes, “Siloed teams, unwieldy and inflexible processes / workflows, plus a lack of resources (budget, staff, skill levels) can undermine the best intentions and put a stop to your progress.” Hootsuite and Forrester present how establishing a Social Media Center of Excellence can arm organizations with the education and training needed to more effectively implement social media. Their approach focuses on three core practices:
- Developing organizational models that accommodate rapid social growth.
- Creating a Center of Excellence that establishes social media policies and processes.
- Enabling and educating employees so that they have the skills needed to leverage social media in their roles.
In the scaling social media illustration, the COE is designed around the specific challenges of Social Media Managers. The organization, policies, processes, and education works when implemented by employees, but we argue that the same is true when using an outside service provider that is seamlessly integrated to function as though working inside the organization by utilizing a cloud platform. When businesses partner with service providers that are certified to international standards of customer experience, follow stringent quality control procedures, implement thorough governance, and collaborate in an open / totally transparent platform the client has every bit the control they would have with employees working in multiple offices. Plus, and this is a very big plus, the service provider can add knowledge and expertise that does not currently exist within the client’s human resources.
The time for Small and Medium Size Businesses and Enterprises to enjoy the same benefits of outsourcing and shared services that leading global enterprises have leveraged since the turn of this century is now. To achieve this, two critical factors must be addressed:
- Service Providers must become more customer-centric and learn to deliver the right mix of services and technology to solve the key challenges facing their target markets
- Small to medium size businesses and enterprises must be made aware and educated about the ease and benefits of Business Process Outsourcing and Shared Services.
We will explore how Service Providers can become more aligned with the needs to SMBs & SMEs and how the growth of digital marketing and social media can effectively connect Services with Buyers in our upcoming articles.
By Tom Zbaren, from: http://www.ssonetwork.com/business-process-outsourcing/columns/bpaas-and-centers-of-excellence/?utm_source=1-5990877975&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=SSON+IQ+-+Newsletter+-+March+3+2015+Americas&utm_term=Middle&utm_content=News&mac=SSON1-391T2TR&disc=