Quality, Speed and Cost – Why choose two instead of all three?

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    "Quality, Speed and Cost – Choose any two!" is the classic refrain when it comes to business process or IT outsourcing!


    In both BPO and IT Outsourcing, these days it is possible for both Outsourcing buyers to demand all three and for the providers also to provide all three!


    The Toyota Production System(TPS) proved that in Manufacturing. That you can have speed of manufacturing at lower and lower costs at the same time increasing quality!


    The chase for all three is a never ending goal, not a destination! The same can be achieved in Software Development Outsourcing or Business Process Outsourcing.


    In Software Development, Agile Methodologies, Extreme Programming and other new ways are converging upon developing software faster with iterative software development, better quality by doing more releases more often and improving quality by faster feedback cycles. And of course, if you do something faster, it costs less!


    The same promise is there for Business Processes also! In many cases, online service providers are forcing older companies in the same business to shorten their processing cycles by an order of magnitude! Mortgage Loan Processing cycles in the U.S used to be about 30 to 45 days. Many online Mortgage Loan processors are promising a 14 day cycle! The older 30 to 45 day cycle may not work any more with the increased competition from online sellers of the same service. Quality, speed and cost may not be a nice-to-have any more!


    Luckily, approaches like TPS have led to Lean Six Sigma as a way to attempt the goal of having all three in business process outsourcing also!  Systematic elimination of waste, keeping processes in statistical process control and continuous process improvement are the ones that promise all three in BPO.


    The impossible – what nobody can do until somebody does – Anonymous