BPO
(Business Process Outsourcing) refers to the handing over of work to another
company. A major part of the country outsources their non-strategic,
labour-intensive tasks to various other companies around the world.
BPO
can be broadly categorized as:
- Back Office – internal business affairs, such as billing/purchasing.
- Front Office – customer-related services, such as marketing/tech-support.
Using
a BPO as compared to an ASP (Application Service Provider) involves a certain
amount of risk to the company that is operating the processes on behalf of the
outsourcer. However, BPO only grants access to a company’s functionality and
features that are ‘served up’ via software, mostly through a web browser, to a
customer.
Types of BPO Companies
BPO
Companies are mainly of the following types:
- Offshore Companies
These
companies are located overseas and have offices mostly in India, China,
Philippines, Pakistan, etc. They comprise of the largest share of BPO companies and provide call centre services related to data
entry, mail answering and telemarketing as well.
- Onshore Companies
These
companies are based in the same country. An example would include a US-based
company outsourcing tech-support to a US-based call centre.
- Near Shore Companies
Such companies are based in close proximity to
the nation. An example of such a company would be a China-based firm extending
services to a company based in the US. Other examples of Near Shore call centre
companies include those in the Dominion Republic, Costa Rico, Mexico, etc.
Benefits of Outsourcing
Apart from the risks, there are various
benefits that come with outsourcing a company. These include:
- Reduction in Costs
Offshore outsourcing companies function at
minimal costs. Average call centre services in the US charges about
$15-$20 an hour for tech and customer support, whereas a call centre based in
India would charge $8-$12 an hour.
- Round the Clock Operations
BPO companies, especially onshore companies,
operate 24/7 and all year round.
- Quality of Service
BPO companies are efficiency-oriented. Parameters such as quality and
data security (ISO, BS 7799, 6 Sigma, COPC) are learned and implemented to
ensure productivity and sustainability.
BPO companies are among the largest growing
and grossing companies in today’s market. In India, major competitors such as GE, American Express, IBM, Convergys, Aegis,
Amicorp-BPO, Wipro and E4E operate round the clock and have more than 10,000 employees
providing various services to the industry.
Thus, investing in the BPO sector would not
be such a bad idea, especially after all the success it has seen. Experts
predict a further boom in BPO companies, and they strongly claim that this is
the future.
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