A 90-day process outsourcing plan

Key takeaways

This process outsourcing plan takes 90 days from listing your processes to a stable first handover. Days 1 to 30: map, score and choose. Days 31 to 60: prepare, protect and pilot. Days 61 to 90: go live, review weekly and decide what comes next. Expect 3 to 4 hours a week of owner time in month one, falling to 1 to 2 by month three.

• Days 1 to 30: map, score and choose.
• Days 31 to 60: prepare, protect and pilot.
• Days 61 to 90: go live and stabilise.
• Owner time: 3 to 4 hours a week, falling to 1 to 2.

Days 1 to 30: map, score and choose

Build a process register with trigger, output, owner and weekly hours for each process. Run a two-hour workshop to score the top ten. Give each a verdict and choose one process, or two tightly linked ones, to move first. Name the internal owner for the outsourcing relationship.

• Week 1: draft the process register.
• Week 2: confirm hours with the team.
• Week 3: score and give verdicts.
• Week 4: choose the first process and owner.

• Which business processes should you outsource?
• A business process register: map every process once
• Run a process selection workshop in two hours

Days 31 to 60: prepare, protect and pilot

Write the method and the split, agree measures and escalation rules, set up system access, and sign the processor contract and any transfer mechanism. Tell the team what is changing. Run a pilot or parallel run on real work for the last two weeks, checking every item at first.

• Weeks 5 and 6: method, split and measures.
• Week 7: contracts, access and team briefing.
• Weeks 8 and 9: pilot or parallel run.

• Document your processes before you outsource
• Parallel running: test an outsourced task safely
• How to tell your team you are outsourcing

Days 61 to 90: go live and stabilise

Go live with weekly reviews against the agreed measures. Sample heavily in the first two weeks, then reduce as accuracy holds. Fix escalation hotspots by adjusting rules or the split. At day 90, decide whether the process is stable and choose the next one from your roadmap.

• Week 10: go live with daily check-ins.
• Weeks 11 and 12: weekly reviews, reduce sampling.
• Week 13: day-90 review and next process.

• Quality sampling: how many outsourced items to check
• An outsourcing roadmap: which process comes next

What does the plan cost in time and money?

As GBL rules of thumb, owner time runs 3 to 4 hours a week in month one, falling to 1 to 2 by month three. Provider cost depends on hours: indicative managed offshore rates are about £9–£18 an hour. Across our client work, steady processes have reached a 42% lower back-office cost per task and returned 31 hours a week to in-house teams. Results vary by process.

• BPO cost per hour in the UK
• The outsourcing break-even point: when it pays

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: plans slip in days 31 to 60, usually waiting for contracts or access. Starting the paperwork in week four, alongside choosing the process, keeps the plan on time.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

90-day plan checklist

Tick these off by the day shown.

• Day 30: register built, process chosen, owner named.
• Day 45: method, split and measures agreed.
• Day 50: contracts and access in place.
• Day 60: pilot complete.
• Day 75: measures on target.
• Day 90: review held, next process chosen.

• Process outsourcing checklist: 20 checks before you choose
• The process selection score: outsource, split or keep?

Next step

Tell us when you want your first process live. We will work back from that date and give you a plan with each step dated.