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Harnessing operate center efficiency

Efficiency & the four walls

Traditional operate services typically combine an outsourced vendor workforce with leading practice processes and technology to manage and optimize a business's operations. Today’s landscape of operate centers is rapidly evolving. Delve in for a strategic look at the key elements revolving around operate center efficiency.

Efficiency in an operate center
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The modern operate center landscape

At Deloitte, we envision the modern operate center as an adaptive and continuously improving model for business operations—driven by specialized, service-focused talent and enhanced by advanced automation and real-time data intelligence. Operating efficiency in this context is multidimensional, playing a critical role in the success of the model. It extends beyond process optimization and cost cutting, encompassing a comprehensive approach to achieving operational excellence across an entire business. Discover how organizations today can start gauging operate center efficiency.

A strategic overview of operating efficiency

Efficiency can be framed in terms of what is inside and outside of the “four walls” of a business's operate center. This helps distinguish between changes within or inside the center’s control and those outside of it. Explore the elements inside—and outside—the operate center:

Primarily significant changes early in the life cycle of the center to maximize savings over time. These changes may require more specialization, longer execution time and/or involve higher risk than continuous improvement efforts. They are typically driven by the organization's center leadership and a specialized team that's contracted from outside and embedded in operations. These initiatives may require more participation from the organization to help minimize any potential risk on upstream or downstream activities.

Scope

  • Inside the four walls (within the center's control)

Operational impacts

  • Smaller savings, typically 3%–5%
  • More capacity created for activities
  • Lower risk
  • Quick implementations
  • Steady progress, incremental

Operational characteristics

  • Operates with little to no input or support from stakeholders
  • Processors and process leads
  • Leadership fostering a culture of improvement
  • Leadership encouraging submission of ideas

Scope of communication

  • Within the center's team

Examples

  • Macros
  • Attended bots for robotic process automation (RPA)
  • Small, internal process changes
  • Generative AI for communications

This primarily involves smaller, day-to-day improvements which compound over time and are critical to maintaining efficient operations. The changes are often driven and implemented by the main operations team, ensuring seamless and efficient service delivery to the client without requiring its direct involvement.

Scope

  • Inside the four walls

Operational impacts

  • More complex changes, higher savings (15%–30%)
  • Focuses on early implementation to drive more savings
  • May entail some risk
  • Requires more specialized skills

Operational characteristics

  • Operates somewhat autonomously but may require some input or support from stakeholders
  • Requires higher and broader levels of leadership than continuous improvement
  • Leadership involvement
  • Specialized skills
  • Small, specialized team is contracted and embedded to drive change

Scope of communication

  • May require going outside the center itself

Examples

  • Complex macros
  • Complex and/or unattended bots (RPA)
  • Process redesigns
  • Enterprise tools
  • GenAI for onboarding and reference materials
  • GenAI for chatbots

Transformation involves significantly changing processes and often impacts a larger group of the business's stakeholders. In relevant jobs with Deloitte teams, for example, the changes are driven and jointly approved by leadership of our client organization and Deloitte; the changes approved may require an additional project team to execute.

Scope

  • Outside the four walls

Operational impacts

  • Significant changes impacting a larger group of the business's stakeholders
  • Client alignment and approval required
  • Longer time horizon
  • Change management strategies may be required
  • Higher costs and risks

Operational characteristics

  • Joint committee established as part of governance
  • Broad range of stakeholders and alignment required
  • Effective stakeholder management
  • Careful planning

Scope of communication

  • Full change management

Examples

  • Technology upgrades
  • Innovative automations
  • System enhancements
  • Process redesigns with upstream/downstream impacts
  • GenAI for processing enterprise resource planning (ERP) data (AIOPS.D™)

By breaking down an enterprise's operating efficiency into specific dimensions, an organization can better identify opportunities, allocate resources effectively and establish accountability. This approach can help ensure that efficiency initiatives are being pursued at all levels of the organization, requiring each business group or area to understand its role and the tools available to it while aligning with the overall objectives of the organization.

Here are some of our client examples of interactions with this model.

  • Continuous improvement: A processor on one of our finance and accounting teams developed spreadsheet macros that allowed files to be formatted quickly for efficient operations. The processor also worked with the other members of our team to automate similar tasks. The macros were demonstrated to the client in a working meeting / workshop. The resulting time savings each month has allowed them to take additional work.
  • Ops innovation: A processor on one of our receivables teams brought an opportunity for the center to create an unattended bot to log into multiple websites, download data based on criteria from the user, process the data into a spreadsheet and upload the results into the ERP. The automation was created by the center's ops innovation team with the input of the processor. The resulting time savings generated enough capacity to take on new work from the client without an increase in full-time employees (FTEs).
  • Transformation: A client's innovation council identified an opportunity to implement Deloitte’s AIOPS.D to process invoices. The system can read the invoices, extract the data, process into account coding and process through the ERP. The timeline to implement was six months and impacted those who submit invoices as well as the teams processing. Comprehensive change management was utilized to inform and coordinate across stakeholders. The savings generated were the result of a reduction to FTEs.

Unlock operating efficiency with Deloitte

Today’s businesses are looking for more than just one-time labor arbitrage savings. They seek an organization able to enhance their transformation journey toward sustained savings and operational excellence. What should organizations aiming to transform their operations and achieve sustained efficiency look for in an external service provider? They need an experienced provider that can offer a holistic approach, outcome-based solutions, sustained efficiency and effective risk management. Deloitte can help. Download our full report for insights on governance and impact, digital and operational excellence, and a collaborative and adaptive workforce.

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