The Artha Shastra Framework is a structured set of processes, methodologies, and tools to map client needs to service provider capabilities.

While the Current State Review process of the Artha Shastra framework analyses the "as-is" state of the company and chalks out the future course of action with regard to process outsourcing, the Requirement Definition stage is where the vision is translated into a detailed roadmap with actionable and measurable parameters. Several parameters determine the future course of action:

Process (What to change?)

The first step is to identify processes that need to change or improve. This analysis help break down the high-level strategy into action items, and also helps uncover gaps in current processes that need to be addressed by putting new processes into place. Given that both parties to the outsourcing partnership will have unique operating styles, concerns with regard to process integration, quality control, and similar issues need to be addressed here.

Operating Model (How to change?)

The operating model spells out the details of how the identified processes must be changed. Issues such as hand-off points, quality check milestones, performance metrics, location of teams and their interactions are discussed and documented.

Roadmap (When to change?)

The roadmap specifies the time frame for making the changes - both for the project in its entirety as well as for individual processes. Incremental milestones are also identified to monitor and track progress.

Enablers (What to do?)

We look at what the two parties have to do to get started on the outsourcing journey. This could include setting up infrastructure, work arounds, workflow systems and applications, legal paperwork, and similar nuts and bolts issues.

Stakeholders (Who is affected?)

Communicating with stakeholders is crucial to change management. This encompasses activities such as addressing supervisory concerns, making a case for internal approvals, creating a control environment for auditors, and translating efforts into shareholder value.

Retained Organization (How are they affected)

Here we look at what the changes culminate into on the personnel front for the outsourcing organization in terms of the new organization structure. This in turn helps the service provider or BPO develop relevant training programs for the new team that is put in place and also identify the skill sets to look out for while recruiting people.

Business Value

We seek to leverage our customers' strengths by bringing their processes in line with industry best practices and effectively outsourcing non-core activities to third party experts. The Artha Shastra framework is based on our vast experience in the banking and financial services domain and in-depth knowledge of industry best practices. We believe that good planning is critical to efficient implementation. The Requirement Definition stage address all key parameters that have a potential impact on the success of the outsourcing partnership.