Keeping Supplier employees committed

It's a typical worry: how does an organization maintain it's responsiveness when they outsource? Can malaise and apathy be prevented? It's a valid concern, especially for high touch elements like help desk support, or call centers. While it can be challenging, there are ways to maintain (or even improve) service delivery and personal commitment to the end user.

While it always best to negotiate SLAs in a competitive environment, it's often possible to negotiate them mid-contract. Here's a good starting point for quality-of-service metrics:

1. Specific competency requirements. Could be language skills (Indian call center providers administer language fluency tests), or skills competency tests, with minimum requirements or tenure. Microsoft certifications are an excellent example.

2. Customer satisfaction surveys. Make sure they are generally trending in the right direction

3. Employee retention/turnover objectives; at least for key personnel

4. SLAs for response time, first-call resolution percentage, etc

5. Escalation procedures, perhaps with second-tier responses going to your in-sourced personnel.

6. Reference checks. Prior to signing the agreement, rigorous reference checks with similar clients and due diligence (including 'secret' calls as a customer) should be conducted.