IAOP rankings shows outsourcing still mission critical

Things are often what we perceive them to be. Unfortunately, the perception of “outsourcing” is often a negative one. Especially when it comes to outsourcing in the federal government and its agencies.

During the George W. Bush administration, there was a move to outsource tasks from government agencies to private companies. Then the Obama administration came into power and worked to “insource” governmental tasks back to the federal agencies as a way to decrease government spending, increase federal hiring and increase efficiency.

So, who’s right? Well, both administrations were right. Governmental tasks should be done by government employees at government agencies. But non-governmental operations are often best left to the private enterprises that specialize in them.

When it comes to the federal government, outsourcing remains mission-critical across all agencies and for many tasks. In many cases, outsourcing is capable of increasing efficiency, cutting costs and providing advanced capabilities and private-sector best practices to the federal government.

Take document management as an example.

As we’ve discussed previously, the federal government continues to utilize traditional mail and paper forms for communication with constituents. Although electronic forms of communication are becoming increasingly common in the federal government, some constituents simply prefer traditional mail, or are uncomfortable with new communications technologies.

As a result, the federal government receives mountains of forms, applications and other paperwork that needs to be processed and managed. By outsourcing these processes, the federal government can expedite the processing of these forms and cut through backlogs. They can also gain access to capabilities that the agency may not be equipped to provide themselves, such as digitization and scanning of documents for electronic delivery, storage and management.

In addition, outsourcing certain operations can lead to significant operational efficiencies. For many government entities, disparate offices handle their own document printing, mailing and other processes. When outsourced to a central location, these things can be aggregated and done in bulk at a significant savings to the agency.

According to the recent rankings by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP), the global standard-setting organization and advocate for the outsourcing profession, government agencies have gotten the memo about outsourcing document management.

Pitney Bowes Management Services (PBMS) placed 42^nd in the IAOP's Global Outsourcing 100, a list of the top outsourcing companies. PBMS also ranked among the top ten companies in document management services and top 20 companies providing services to all levels of the government. We don’t bring this up to brag, simply to show that all levels of government are turning to private enterprise to make their document processing more effective, efficient and economical.

Outsourced document management services are capable of cutting costs in the federal government while helping drive important initiatives, such as big data analysis, mobility and mail security. How could outsourcing your agencies document management services help your agency?