Submitted by: Richard “Kent” Schnacker, group president ACS, A Xerox Company
I recently had the privilege of speaking with a number of leading banking and financial analysts and advisors at the 2010 Xerox Analyst Day in New York. Despite optimism surrounding the economic recovery, the consensus among these industry thought leaders was that capital requirements and ongoing regulatory constraints will continue to affect the progress and profitability in the consumer lending sector. But I also heard a great deal of enthusiasm around innovation, and how it can help clients overcome these challenges.
In its many forms – technology, data management, process improvement – innovation will be what differentiates BPO providers as they help clients drive growth and stay competitive. This is where we intend to have a powerful impact on financial services clients – when we combine Xerox’s history of innovation and current practices of “dreaming with clients,” with the theory that innovation is often as much about our people as the processes or technologies that they improve.
Clients today want more than a technology vendor or supplier, they need strategic partners who understand their business and continuously, proactively improve it. Lowering costs and accelerating back-office transaction processing will continue to be a valuable way to manage the bottom line. But becoming a strategic BPO partner means that after you help your client squeeze cost from processes and mitigate risk, you have the answer before they even ask “what’s next.”
For example, several clients, including Georgia-Pacific, required a facility dedicated to professional accounting services. As a result, we recently opened a Center of Excellence in Atlanta to meet their needs. ACS’ more than 14 Centers help businesses achieve immediate savings and maintain quality with broader spans of control, process standardization and centralization.
The analysts agree that advancements in data storage and management, smart document technology, credit application processing, underwriting, and default management represent only part of the value we’ll add to our portfolio this year. Our real strengths lie in our dedication to strong people relationships, and our commitment to infusing new ideas into our clients’ business strategy to position their businesses for the recovery, and traverse the market complexities that continue to challenge the credit and lending sectors of this industry.
— Richard “Kent” Schnacker, group president ACS, A Xerox Company
While I agree with the basics in Strategic Business Process Outsourcing: Getting Your Business Ready for Growth and Profitability | Real Business at Xerox , I think the positive sentiment around at the moment is a concequence of a false set of circumstances. The demand for consumer finance is still weak and there is no significant improvement in the housing market. The developed nations are surviving on their governments ability to just borrow and spend into their countries which is unsustainable. Regards, Eulah Reil.