The Top Ten Certifications In Outsourcing

A Chillibreeze report

Outsourcing is here to stay and it is a great idea for the firms that outsource and the outsourcing industry. Having said this, it is also true that firms that opt for outsourcing need to choose their vendor with care. For every good service provider there are several that fail to deliver. Setting standards for service delivery and capability therefore, became imperative. Here are some certifications that play the guiding light to firms that outsource and reap its benefits.

1. COPC - 2000® CSP: is the world’s leading standard for the BPO and Customer Contact Center space. The COPC-2000® CSP certification is awarded to Customer Service Providers (CSPs) that meet comprehensive operations performance requirements in critical functional areas important to outsourcers and their customers. The COPC certification was developed in 1995-96 by individuals from Microsoft, Dell, Motorola, American Express and other companies and is recognized worldwide as the leading standard of excellence for customer contact and fulfillment centers. ICICI OneSource is the world’s first BPO company to achieve COPC-2000® certification for back office processing.

2. COP: Developed by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), the Certified Outsourcing Professional (COP) designation distinguishes individuals in the field of outsourcing. This designation is valuable to individuals working as customers, service providers or advisors. The IAOP, a member-based organization, was launched in 2005 and has 55,000 outsourcing professionals listed in its database. It has released the first-ever annual ranking of the world’s best outsourcing providers - The Global Outsourcing 100 of 2006.

3. Six Sigma: is both a management practice as well as a capability measure. Six Sigma as a management practice refers to the business initiative undertaken at an enterprise to systematically enhance the capability of its business processes to better meet or exceed customer specifications, resulting in a tangible business gain. QAI is a leading global consulting organization (Asia’s largest and world’s third largest organization) addressing operational excellence in IT, BPO and Knowledge intensive organizations. It provides customized interventions of training, consulting, mentoring for Six Sigma deployment in BPO and Customer Contact Centers.

4. Carnegie Mellon’s eSCM-SP: The e-Sourcing Capability Model for Service Providers (eSCM-SP) certification helps IT-enabled sourcing service providers appraise and improve their ability to provide high-quality sourcing services. It is a quality model specifically applicable to the entire lifecycle of a process outsourcing relationship. The BTO (Business Transformation Outsourcing) operations of IBM Daksh were awarded the certification at Capability Level 4 in March 2006.

5. NASSCOM + QAI’s certification program: NASSCOM has partnered with QAI to introduce certification programs for frontline management in ITES-BPO organizations. These programs are

Certified BPO Team Leader, Level 1 (CBTLSM-1)
Certified BPO Quality Analyst (CBQASM) and
Certified BPO Team Leader Level 2 (CBTLSM-2)

6. HIPAA: The HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) academy in the US has developed the HIPAA certification program for BPO employees in the health care industry. Certifications include

Certified HIPAA Administrator (CHA)
Certified HIPAA Professional (CHP) and
Certified HIPAA Security Specialist (CHSS).

7. VMO: The COPC-2000 VMO Standard provides Vendor Management Organizations (VMO) a framework for effectively managing their third party Customer Service Providers for high performance operations. The VMO Certification Process enables outsourcers to assess the performance of VMOs and third party Customer Service Providers (CSPs) globally, based on a single standard of performance.

8. NASSCOM’s NAC: NASSCOM pilot launched the NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC) program for the potential employees in the BPO industry in late 2005. 36 ITES-BPO companies and nearly 15,000 graduates participated in the pilot. The NAC will ensure a steady supply of quality ITES-BPO professionals to meet the present and future requirements of the industry. The national roll-out of the NAC report is expected in November 2006.

9. ISO – 27001: The IS0-27001 is the highest certification standard available from the International Standards Organization (ISO). The ISO-27001 is awarded for effective e-security and physical security measures. By going in for this certification, an organization can receive an independent assessment of their Information Security Management System (ISMS). At present, very few Indian IT and BPO firms are ISO-27001 compliant. Some of the certified ones are Satyam Computers, Keane India, Accenture, Cranes Software, Aztecsoft, Microland and PSI Data Systems.

10. BS 7799: Given the media attack on the reliability of the BPO industry in India, the BPO companies are taking strong security measures to prevent any misuse of the details of the customers and ensure that all the employees adhere to the rules. Most BPO companies have certifications such as BS 7799 and SAS 70 and undergo third party audits at regular intervals. BS 7799 (British Standards 7799) is set by the British Standards Institute (BSI) and is the most widely recognized security standard in the world.

Article published in December 2006.

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