BPOs that specialize in serving retail agencies and MGAs provide a model specifically designed to free up the time of agency employees for higher-value tasks. This model includes:

o Dedicated workers individually assigned to the specific clients
o Utilization of Lean Six Sigma management processes for high productivity and quality
o Experience in typical insurance tasks
o Client visitation programs to the BPO's offshore location
o Visits by remote workers to client offices
o Night shift and real-time service availability

Contracting with a BPO enables an organization's employees to focus on the core aspects of their jobs without the time-consuming distractions of menial tasks that are necessary to the business, but do not generate revenue.

Outsourcing processing tasks provides managers with the time to manage the talent. The management team is not consumed with ensuring timely, error-free data to prevent backlog back-ups, or forced to use valuable time to recruit, hire and train new employees. All of that is handled by the provider. Most companies merely need one management person to devote a portion of his daily time to coordinate activities with the outsource processor.

There are some management challenges to introducing a BPO. The first component is for management to reassure employees that the outsource vendor is not a threat, but a tool to allow existing employees to redirect their efforts toward revenue producing activity. It's not about elimination, but reallocation of assets.

The second factor is to help employees cope with the loss of certain duties and the expansion of other roles. Although they may have complained about required tasks, there is a level of discomfort when such tasks are removed. Management must help redirect their efforts to other activities. Identifying skill sets, retraining needs, and possibly even tweaking their incentive program are all on the table.

It may seem unlikely, but I've seen agency employees view BPO-provided employees as integral, collegial members of the team. They become force multipliers, a night shift working offshore which the day shift can leverage to write and manage significantly more business. This creates new talent development, career building and compensation, improving opportunities for the home office employees.

So what does all this mean to an organization's bottom line? After all, a solution is only as good as the results that it generates.

Paul Hanson Partners (PHP) in Napa, Calif., manages a national market for the transportation industry and has been using New York-based ReSource Pro, a BPO with offices in China, for more than 4 years. The BPO initially assisted in eliminating backlogs and overtime expenses incurred due to growth. Although outsourcing resulted in no employee jobs lost, staff attrition in recent years has seen the Napa staff shrink from 23 to 19 employees, while more than 40 staffers in China were assigned to the account. During that same period, PHP's revenue per employee has grown from $174,000 to $595,000, with a net income growth of 135 percent. On a holistic basis, PHP has changed from an organization of overworked, overstressed employees to a successful corporate culture with an emphasis on core business and work-life balance.

Delegating critical processing tasks to an outside provider can be scary, so building confidence in the experience, skills and track record of a provider is fundamental to outsourcing for talent management.

Richard Butwin of Butwin Insurance Group in Great Neck, N.Y., has used ReSource Pro for 5 months and recently visited the offices in Qingdao, China. He identified additional tasks for outsourcing and expanded outsource staffing from one to four. His agency uses the BPO to assist in personal lines tasks, bookkeeping, rating BOP policies, and assisting the small business department with processing and other tasks. "I was blown away by their infrastructure, training, management, and procedures," Butwin said. "Removing so many routine, time consuming tasks from our employees will enable them to better concentrate on driving more revenue by better serving our existing clients and generating new business."

The foremost icons in business are quick to acknowledge that their greatest asset is their employees. It only makes sense to maximize the value of that asset by cultivating a culture in which talents are recognized and nurtured. When you allow those talents to be subjugated to the routine and mundane, you are depreciating your assets.

BPO firms can be a critical component in your campaign to manage the talent within your firm. Think of BPO as a time management resource. After all, time is our most limited commodity. As you prepare to navigate the opportunities of 2010 and beyond, give everyone in your organization the gift of time to utilize their talents and create a successful future for your business and themselves.