I recently attended the WNS influencer conference in New Orleans, the theme of which was 'Co-create to Outperform’. WNS believes that the marketplace understands what transformation means for their businesses, but the challenge is how to achieve this vision. WNS’ view is that, for transformation to be effective, it needs to be customized for the client with their full participation in the co-creation process. The conference presented many examples of how a ‘two-in-a-box’ engagement was able to identify and implement an effective solution to a challenge which delivered both very high savings and high satisfaction.

Client feedback

WNS presented seven clients who outlined their engagements and why they chose WNS, with several key themes emerging.

All clients referenced:

• WNS enjoys very high client retention. Each client presenter had worked with WNS for multiple years and several were clients for over 10 years
• Culture fit is very important and a key to WNS’ success
• WNS is a vendor who works with clients across a wide range of sizes including middle market enterprises. In the banking industry WNS focuses its services on financial institutions with assets from $50 Bn to $200 Bn. Banking industry clients present stated they preferred WNS because they were important to WNS at their size.

Most clients referenced:

• A focus of WNS’ work with clients is SCM/F&A
• Delivery model included WNS as manager of multiple third parties (‘one throat to choke’)
• Many engagements required the move from ‘tribal knowledge’ to standard operation procedures, without antagonizing the client’s people or culture
• WNS was introduced to them by word of mouth from satisfied clients. For example, two clients  had not initially included WNS in their RFPs because they reached out to ‘the usual suspects’ for proposals. When the proposal process was not progressing satisfactorily, WNS was drawn in at a late date to bid due to a referral based on a successful engagement of the same scope and focus. During the bidding process, WNS turned out to be an exact fit for their needs.

Client example: regional bank

A northeast U.S. regional bank provided an example of WNS’ engagement style and benefits delivered. The bank began its relationship 12 years ago, when it was looking to improve its operational efficiency by moving some processes offshore. Over time, the relationship has grown due to:

• Cultural alignment: the bank places a high value on interpersonal relationships. It operates in close-knit communities where the standard of interaction is high support for the customers and communities. WNS is comfortable working without reference to a contract, once it has been signed, and without change orders, unlike other vendors. It has also enabled WNS and the bank to co-create solutions to improve processing efficiency   
• Flexible staffing model: WNS has been willing and effective at flexing staffing levels as volumes swing, including when there have been unanticipated volume swings
• Periodic process reengineering: WNS has identified process reengineering opportunities and fulfilled the technical work to implement those changes. The bank is a frequent acquirer of other banks, which provides a steady flow of these opportunities   
• Robotics: RPA is difficult to implement effectively. WNS has been effective at co-creating with the client to build and implement RPA solutions which meet and continue to deliver the business objectives the initial business case envisioned.

The example the bank presented was of an RPA implementation to capture information from legal documents. The bank had hired a consultant who identified the opportunity and built the business case. The consultant intended to implement the RPA solution, but the project failed to move forward. The bank called in WNS who took over the project and, working with the client, co-created the final automation solution, including implementation. The department previously processed these documents manually, with an annual budget of $750k. Currently, the department is processing these documents for $329k per year, a cost reduction of 56%. When the system has fully matured, the anticipated cost reduction will be 67% of the annual budget. The bank summarized the relationship benefits as: their investments into the relationship, the quality of work delivered, and the cultural fit.

The WNS approach

WNS’ approach to digital transformation for the banking space targets an underserved market, medium-sized financial institutions, to transform manual-intensive processes into automated processes. WNS works with these clients to create solutions customized to support the client’s differentiated value proposition in the market. Few vendors are willing or able to apply resources to middle market or regional engagements that create customized outputs. This allows WNS to apply its domain knowledge, which is embodied in its employees based on their industry experience, to solve operations challenges to drive outcomes relevant to industry and market-specific requirements.

WNS has been wise to maintain a narrow process focus in each industry. Execution is critical to a project’s success, especially so with RPA engagements (where, post-deployment, most RPA deployments increasingly lose effectiveness due to poor bot oversight). In addition to clients in the audience, there were prospects who are considering RPA engagements with WNS because of poorly performing RPA engagements with existing vendors.