Communication Case

Communication is a critical component to successful outsourcing of an operations department. A structure must be in place to effectively and efficiently communicate information across country and cultural divides. Without a standardized process, communication gaps will occur in your organization resulting in productivity and sales opportunity losses.

SymphonyIRI should implement the following communication plan across the departments that will work with the outsourced operations team and with the outsourced company. This plan includes a training component and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for communication channels and timelines. This structure needs to be in place prior to outsourcing, then subsequently monitored and adjusted throughout the outsourcing process.

Training is a key component of the implementation plan. This needs to be done on both the US and Indian teams. Since email will be the primary method of communication, written communication skills and email etiquette should be the main focus of training.

The US team training focus is on writing clear and concise messages without jargon, abbreviations or slang. Email etiquette is also critical when communicating with people from different cultures. It is important to be clear and concise, pre-empt any potential questions and to maintain a level of professionalism in the email as not to offend the audience.

The training for the Indian team will also have a significant focus on written skills with some sessions on verbal communication. While the majority of your team will be fluent in English, it is important for the team to be clearly understood by SymphonyIRI clients and to ensure the meaning of their words matches their intention. The Indian team will also learn skills for clear, concise email writing with an additional focus on correct sentence structure. For candidates with limited written English experience, put a mentorship program in place. The mentor should review al outgoing client emails to ensure the client's question was clearly understood and answered in the email. Additionally the Indian team will have some verbal communication training focusing on pronunciation and pace of speech.

To ensure efficient communication, the following SOP should be in place.

1. Both teams acknowledge all email communication within two to four hours of email receipt.

2. In the email response, first recap the question, then answer the question. If there are questions on the email received, respond with a question that clearly identifies which points are unclear.

3. Upon email receipt, the original sender needs to close the loop by acknowledging the receipt of the email. Further, the sender should email clear feedback as to whether or not they understood the response and if the issue can be close.

4. If the email continues for more than