Although most agency owners agree that talent managementis important, few are able to execute it right because they of timeissues related to human resources, training, routine administrativeduties, and monitoring tasks. Similarly, employees don't have timeto focus on their highest-value activities due to the plethora ofroutine and mundane processing tasks that fill their days.

Talent management is tied to revenue production, which meansproducers must be free to produce revenue and CSRs free to servecustomers and cross-sell accounts. To accomplish those goals,agencies must find a way to eliminate tasks that do not maximizethe value of each employee's talents and core competencies;otherwise, you are managing task performance rather thantalent.

Although it helps to increase automation use to improveefficiency and reduce errors, this involves costs related tohardware, software, program updates, continual training, and themanpower assigned to input the data. And while process improvementprograms can help, few Lean Six Sigma workflow analysts and consultantsspecialize in insurance agency operations.

Business process outsourcing (BPO), a trend that isgrowing among U.S. agencies, also helps companies achieve thisbalance. Because the BPO provider assumes processing tasks,employees have time to focus on the client relationship, andmanagement has time to focus on talent management. Additionally, aquality BPO provider already has process efficiencies in place toincrease productivity, accomplishing more work in less time.

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

o Dedicated workers individually assigned to the specificclients
o Utilization of Lean Six Sigma management processes for highproductivity 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 tofocus on the core aspects of their jobs without the time-consumingdistractions of menial tasks that are necessary to the business,but do not generate revenue.

Outsourcing processing tasks provides managers with the time tomanage the talent. The management team is not consumed withensuring timely, error-free data to prevent backlog back-ups, orforced to use valuable time to recruit, hire and train newemployees. All of that is handled by the provider. Most companiesmerely need one management person to devote a portion of his dailytime to coordinate activities with the outsource processor.

There are some management challenges to introducing a BPO. Thefirst component is for management to reassure employees that theoutsource vendor is not a threat, but a tool to allow existingemployees to redirect their efforts toward revenue producingactivity. It's not about elimination, but reallocation ofassets.

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

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

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

Paul Hanson Partners (PHP) in Napa, Calif., manages anational market for the transportation industry and has been usingNew York-based ReSource Pro, a BPO with officesin China, for more than 4 years. The BPO initially assisted ineliminating backlogs and overtime expenses incurred due to growth.Although outsourcing resulted in no employee jobs lost, staffattrition in recent years has seen the Napa staff shrink from 23 to19 employees, while more than 40 staffers in China were assigned tothe account. During that same period, PHP's revenue per employeehas grown from $174,000 to $595,000, with a net income growth of135 percent. On a holistic basis, PHP has changed from anorganization of overworked, overstressed employees to a successfulcorporate culture with an emphasis on core business and work-lifebalance.

Delegating critical processing tasks to an outside provider canbe scary, so building confidence in the experience, skills andtrack record of a provider is fundamental to outsourcing for talentmanagement.

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

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

BPO firms can be a critical component in your campaign to managethe talent within your firm. Think of BPO as a time managementresource. After all, time is our most limited commodity. As youprepare to navigate the opportunities of 2010 and beyond, giveeveryone in your organization the gift of time to utilize theirtalents and create a successful future for your business andthemselves.