ReSourcePro

Cale Stultz · March 06, 2012, 02:05:25 PM

Anybody have any experience with this company? Are any of you using their services?

Kenny Cruzan · March 06, 2012, 02:40:24 PM

We have been using them for over three years. We also tried PATRA too but let them go. We have had good success with RSP for processing.

Robin Deatherage · March 06, 2012, 04:51:33 PM

Kenny how do they connect? Do you set them up with terminal server access and a special TAM user id? What about email, do they need an email address with your domain name? Aren't the processing people located in China and does that create any issues for you?

GeorgeW · March 07, 2012, 07:56:39 AM

We have used them for a few years now too. They connect into Terminal Server and the systems administrator has them locked down to only have access to what they need. We have them set up as TAM users like everyone else. We setup a security group just for them and limited access in TAM. We did give them an email address because they sometimes request loss runs from our companies. Being in China means they are working while we are sleeping! It does present some issues because TAM is pretty much in use 24 hours a day except for Night Utilities. So limits time to run utilities that require people to be out of TAM. We have a monthly TAM scheduled maintenance window where most of that is completed or I stay up late and work weekends when I have to!

Kenny Cruzan · March 07, 2012, 10:48:33 AM

Robin, we have pretty much same setup that George described. Basically they are just like another employee in your office. We use citrix and can lock down what we need. We map several office printers to them so they run letters, proposals, etc to specific printers in specific offices for our CSR's to grab in the morning and mail out. We use an excellent backup system that requires zero down time during the day or night. As for Night Utilities and close day, Resource Pro does that at the end of their day which is about 5am CST so when we get to the office the NU reports and accounting reports are waiting on the printers for us to pick up. They even do some accounting for us. I know you can pay a little more and get them to work during our normal business hours. We have been thinking about that for live rating for PL and small CL. As of now they rate but its a 24hr return to customer and we would like 20 minutes

With RSP you get individuals that have own email address, own duties, own responsibilities. With PATRA, you get a team but the people making up the team could be here today gone tomorrow so no accountability. We really like Resource Pro better. As for avoiding customers thinking everything is outsourced overseas, we do have generic email addresses like policies@domain.com, customerservice@domain.com that they can send emails from. Our team of six in China consist of our original 3 that have been with us the entire time. The other 3 have been with us for about 2 years. They don't turn over much so its way better than what we can find locally.

So the bad part..........Yes, there is. Resource Pro will tell you that you need nothing to get started. They will even try to use LogMeIn if you dont have TS or Citrix. That is not a good idea as it is much slower and less stable so of course they will not get as much work done.
Best way to think of them is like robots so they will do everything you tell them to do but don't expect them to think outside the box. At least for not first year. This means your procedures and workflows must be perfect. This was an eye opener for us as we really had no procedures so it took months to plan and turn our operations upsidedown internal before letting them get involved. Of course it was something needed for us but it was time consuming. You must have a good backup and not use tapes or anything that takes hours to complete. Your window of maintenance will decrease to almost nothing because you become a 24hr shop. This again is good because it forces you to step up and get a quality backup and disaster plan. We use www.agencytechsolutions.com for backup. Such a great fan

Let me know if you need more info. I'm starting to feel like a poster child for outsourcing. I really am not but our agency is not in a huge city so finding local people with good work habits is very hard.

Steven Strauss · March 07, 2012, 04:13:06 PM

We also use them, and our setup is similar to those described by George and Kenny. Overall the experiences are pleasant but a few additional things to consider:

-Absent time for lunch, breaks and meetings, they only work about a six hour day.
-They get lots of days off, all US holidays as well as national holdiays in China.
-The wage inflation in China has been robust over the last few years, and the cost of a RSP FTE has increased dramatically. Our contingent is fairly large (28 FTEs currently) and despite the economies of scale we have been able to negotiate we're pretty close to the tipping point where we can hire a full time person (or long-term temp) here for about what they charge us for a FTE.

Lance Bateman · March 07, 2012, 05:18:14 PM

Wouldn't it be a good thing to hire US instead of paying China?

Kenny Cruzan · March 07, 2012, 05:32:27 PM

Lance, were actually paying a New York based company. I know, I know. It for sure is getting back to China. As Steven stated, the price has got higher and higher over the years but we kind of look at it as giving raises to employees that stay with us. On flip side, there is no insurance to pay, no bonus, no training period for new employees. If we could find employees in US that did the same thing for same price, we would jump on it. No doubt!

Jeff Zylstra · March 08, 2012, 11:01:10 AM

Quote from: Kenny Cruzan on March 07, 2012, 05:32:27 PM
Lance, were actually paying a New York based company. I know, I know. It for sure is getting back to China. As Steven stated, the price has got higher and higher over the years but we kind of look at it as giving raises to employees that stay with us. On flip side, there is no insurance to pay, no bonus, no training period for new employees. If we could find employees in US that did the same thing for same price, we would jump on it. No doubt!

It makes me both sad and angry that we can't field a consistently competent workforce. If you've ever tried to hire people lately, you've seen some resume' nightmares and know exactly what I'm talking about. Apparently China has an abundance of capable employees so that's where companies have had to go. Very sad.

Lance Bateman · March 08, 2012, 12:02:31 PM

The good part - seems we find the ones with experience and work ethic in the "older crowd" - over 50 (I know, I'm definitely way past that even). The bad part - for both CSR and Producer, getting difficult to bring in younger group, which will be the perpetuation.

Jeff Zylstra · March 08, 2012, 12:42:00 PM

Quote from: Lance Bateman on March 08, 2012, 12:02:31 PM
The good part - seems we find the ones with experience and work ethic in the "older crowd" - over 50 (I know, I'm definitely way past that even). The bad part - for both CSR and Producer, getting difficult to bring in younger group, which will be the perpetuation.

Exactly right. I've found that folks raised on a farm know how to work, are responsible and seem to be resourceful. And although I don't have any ex-military folks employed currently, they also possess these traits. Many other countries require a 2 year stint in their military. That would be extremely helpful in fixing some of the attitudes and behaviors that I see in young people.

brinkerdana · March 08, 2012, 11:38:51 PM

Have you looked into WAHVE? It's a program for retired insurance folks who want some part time or full time remote work. Experienced people!

Jeff Zylstra · March 09, 2012, 09:43:39 AM

Quote from: brinkerdana on March 08, 2012, 11:38:51 PM
Have you looked into WAHVE? It's a program for retired insurance folks who want some part time or full time remote work. Experienced people!

I have not, but I would if we needed a "tech" type of position filled. I wouldn't use this type of service for a "customer facing" type of position like a CSR.

Hans Manhave · March 09, 2012, 10:00:33 AM

Quote from: Jeff Zylstra on March 08, 2012, 12:42:00 PM

Exactly right. I've found that folks raised on a farm know how to work, are responsible and seem to be resourceful. And although I don't have any ex-military folks employed currently, they also possess these traits. Many other countries require a 2 year stint in their military. That would be extremely helpful in fixing some of the attitudes and behaviors that I see in young people.

The Dutch military is unionized. Nothing bad necessarily, just an interesting fact.

Jeff Zylstra · March 09, 2012, 10:05:25 AM

Quote from: StubbleBeard on March 09, 2012, 10:00:33 AM
Quote from: Jeff Zylstra on March 08, 2012, 12:42:00 PM

Exactly right. I've found that folks raised on a farm know how to work, are responsible and seem to be resourceful. And although I don't have any ex-military folks employed currently, they also possess these traits. Many other countries require a 2 year stint in their military. That would be extremely helpful in fixing some of the attitudes and behaviors that I see in young people.

The Dutch military is unionized. Nothing bad necessarily, just an interesting fact.

What happens if they're on strike when they're needed? Who gets priority, their chain of command, or the union?