A New Impetus for Mid-Market HRO The Neeyamo Approach

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Positioning statement on HRO and Mid-Market approach

We sat down with Ashok Bildikar, CEO at Neeyamo, to get his perspective on what it takes to get on the road with a mid-market HRO program.

Faye Holland, Executive Director HROA (FH): Put things in the broader context for us: how has Neeyamo come about?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: Neeyamo was born to address the pressing need to provide efficient HRO solutions for mid-market companies (2,500 - 10,000 employees). While the bigger companies get HRO providers to customize extensively and the smaller companies adapt processes to match the standardized packages on offer, the mid-market players are sandwiched in between. They don't want to be "boxed into a one-size-solution" - they want the customization, but without the extra costs. Neeyamo was created to fulfill this need. Our extensive experience in HRO solutioning, and delivery expertise in low cost geographies allows us to build an interesting balance between flexibility and cost to meet the needs of the mid-market segment, efficiently.

FH: How do you define the HR outsourcing journey with your clients?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: Like all journeys, it begins with our desire to explore and understand our customers HRO goals. We work with them to first understand where they are in the HRO journey today and help them make decisions that enable them to take the best route to their desired end state. Our well defined discovery and transition model helps us gain an objective parameter based understanding of their HRO needs and then we build a solution. Working with our customers is always a learning and deeply fulfilling experience - when we experience firsthand the myriad problems that this segment faces and our experience stands us in good stead, as we work to solving it efficiently.

FH: Can you explain to me what each of the following have to offer?
Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo:

FH: How can your offerings increase the strategic value of HR to the business?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: Offerings today are generally still focused on improving the process rather than the strategic impact. By providing world-class transactional back office support through a combination of process improvement and best of breed technology solutions, we allow our customers' HR to focus on the bigger issues to add value to the business. We partner with the HR departments to relieve them of the grunt work and provide better analytical tools as part of the overall solution, to help them answer bigger questions around organizational design, overall employee cost management and business related HR metrics.

FH: What is your current number of customers and how many are multi-process vs. single process?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: Neeyamo was launched in February 2009 and has signed up 6 customers {by August 2009} all of whom are single process customers. We are currently in active discussions with a number of prospects in multi-process HRO deals. Given the typical deal cycle duration of 6-9 months, we expect to see strong traction mid 2010. The Neeyamo approach is to avoid over-engineered solutions whilst still using a single vendor. We have a broad network and have the ability to partner with technology, regional and specialist companies to meet regulatory and cultural needs as well as deliver the right solution for our clients.

FH: What innovative practices/tools/methods do you use with your clients?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: Our parameter based HR process analysis approach helps us build an objective heat map for our customers to help them understand where they can get maximum return for effort invested in HRO. Based on the as-is state analysis and strong understanding of the to-be model, we customize our world class transition model - NeoTrans, to deliver innovative solutions to effectively manage change from the old to the new.

FH: What specific performance indicators do you monitor for your clients?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: Our specific performance indicators vary by the actual process we deliver for that customer. Typically, across all engagements, we track Turnaround Time (TAT), productivity, Process Quality, Response Time, Customer Satisfaction Index - measuring each of these parameters will defined according to the process. For example, if we are doing background verification support -process quality is a function of how much we are able to reduce the Unable to Verify % (UTV) which is usually a bugaboo for most of our customers. Whereas if we were doing payroll, process quality would be measured by number of deviations that necessitate a catch-up payroll.

FH: How are you organized internally?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: We currently have each of the founding team members focusing on one of the business functions of the company.

FH: What are your delivery capabilities and your plans for expansion?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: We have a state-of-the-art global delivery center in Chennai with active plans to open our secondary delivery centers across India and Latin America. Our front office delivery centers are located in California.

Finding the right home for each of the HRO process is a critical component of our 3 tier solution model - front office, middle office and back office. In the medium term, our expansion plans for the front and back office are closely tied to our business pursuit and conversions. In the longer term, we expect to have middle office delivery locations across the globe to serve specific language and regulatory needs of our customers- For example China to support the APAC region, Brazil/Argentina to serve as near-shore locations for US continent and India to be the global back office hub.

FH: Last year was your first year in the HROA. What would you like to achieve from your membership, and what do you think you can bring to the Association?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: Having 9 years in the HRO market, networking and working with peers is really important and a large part of the HROA is providing the opportunities to do this. HROA is a pioneering platform that helps bring together diverse players in the HRO space and helps share best practices and take HRO to the next level. We are excited to be part of HROA and look to actively network and share our HRO experience in helping drive standardization.

FH: What's next?

Ashok Bildikar, Neeyamo: We have seen the start of momentum in first half of 2009. Our immediate focus is to ensure a smooth experience for our first set of customers, while looking for multi-process deals that will establish us in this space.