Olga Makhnach

Some experts offer to divide all BPO companies into two main groups: back office BPO companies and front office BPO companies, depending on the nature of work and the necessity to be or not to be in contact with customers. Further, the BPO companies are divided into offshore outsourcing, nearshore outsourcing and onshore outsourcing businesses, depending on the country, where the outsourcer is situated.

Some of the most widely spread BPO companies are represented by call centers, data entry specialists, offshore bookkeepers, tax preparation specialists, accountants, email answering specialists, online customer support, image processing specialists, form processing specialists, hr help, translators, copywriters, transcription specialists, billing services , database marketers, telemarketers, web sales and marketing professionals, and many other specialists. This list is constantly expanding.

In most cases, BPO companies are located overseas. Despite the seeming inconvenience of hiring an overseas specialist, and not being able to fully control the work of such an employee, BPO companies remain one of the fastest growing industries in today’s so much globalised offshore IT market. What are the reasons for such a phenomenon? There are actually many of them, the most important of which is the reducing of production costs, while getting the work done by professional specialists. Sounds like a dream? Not any more. BPO companies are a logical consequence of the globalizing IT market.

Hiring a BPO company usually implies that several of your business risks are shared with the outsourcing firm, which purchases and installs the necessary equipment, software, manages the work force at its own costs. This allows the hiring companies plan long-term projects and set long-term goals, which are not exposed to high risks of failure.

It is estimated that the main competitors on the BPO market are BPO companies arising from India, South Africa, the Philippines, Eastern Europe and China. These countries and India in particular, largely assist small- and medium-sized companies which seek to boost their business profits with the help of cost-effective techniques.

India is by far a country of the greatest number of IT specialists, many of whom work for BPO companies. Taking into consideration the low average-sized salaries on the Indian market, and the huge potential and high level of IT education in the country, one can consider India and its BPO companies a great way to reduce the costs of the business, allocating more funds to the other important sectors of the firm.

The experts predict that businesses will be outsourcing more and more in the future, taking into consideration the constantly growing number of BPO companies and the cheapening of services offered. Therefore, it is a good chance for many to try outsourcing, when they haven’t started yet.

By Yuan Yudistira

By the time you decide to outsource, the first step you do is choosing the right outsourcing provider. There is hundreds of outsourcing provider around the globe. But the number decrease if you search for a very specific keyword that match your industry.

Choosing the right outsourcing service provider is not easy. If you fail to get the best one, it may hurt your business - no kidding!

So here I compile a check list that you can use as a reference to see if the outsourcing provider is the right one for your business.

But before you go any further, I want to remind you that The Most Popular Outsourcing Provider out there may not be the best or the right one for you. You have to consider many aspects.

Ok, here we go with the check list:

1.Communication. Can you easily communicate with the service provider?

Communication is very important aspect. The many communication media they have the better. Can you contact them by phone, email, chatting and web based application? Do they speak your language? Do you understand their message? And do they understand yours? How responsive they are to your inquiry?

2.Quality. Do they offer a quality assurance?

You want to get the best for your money, right? So you have to make sure that the outsourcing service provider the quality you need. If they do have the expertise, then it is easy for them to offer a Quality assurance. And then you can be sure that you get the best for your money

3.Reference. Check for their reference!

References can be bad reference or good reference. You have to check and find out if their customer is happy with their service or not. And if you found an unhappy customer, find out why? You have to be aware that unhappy customer does not mean they are bad. It may be because of other things that both parties have a responsibility for.

4.Cost or price.

You are right! It is all about money. You have to make sure that the price of their service is making sense. You would not hire outsourcing company if they are offering 100$ for making software like Microsoft word, would you? Beware of company who offer a very low price. It may have a relation to quality. But please, do not misunderstand me. Not all high price service delivers high quality. Compare the price; make a matrix table if you have to! Payment terms, is also one thing you should not forget to consider.

By Taitelul Verde

Small businesses can benefit from business outsourcing. Rather than focusing exclusively on the costs of outsourcing certain activities of your business, you should also consider the benefits such a change would bring.

Cost Reduction

Business outsourcing can help lower your business's expenses. Let's say you have ai clothing business. The equipment you're using is not the best in the line, and it contributes to increasing your production costs. But what if you simply outsource your equipment needs instead? Would you be able to lower your production costs?

Labor costs can be reduced as well. Rather than hiring temporary or project-based employees, why not simply outsource your human resource needs to BPO vendors who know exactly what they're doing? Working with an experienced frm will ensure that you don't have to waste time going through dozens of applicants just to find a perfect fit.

No Waste of Time

Business outsourcing let you take on projects right away and start on them immediately. Rather than spending time amassing your resources, you can simply approach a BPO vendor and they'll provide you with all the resources you need for a fixed cost. The BPO vendor will take care of everything, from screening applicants to training them for their new job. All you need to do is simply give the BPO vendor an idea of what your needs are.

Improved Efficiency

Consider how your business operates. Is marketing research and development or product distribution slowing you down? If none of them make up your company's core competencies then nothing is stopping you from outsourcing them. By contracting such functions to a trusted third party, your company's efficiency is improved two-fold: you have more time to focus on more important activities while contracted activities are performed at an even more efficient rate since they have greater resources and expertise than you do in those fields.

Act Big

Small businesses are David and the big scary corporations are Goliath. But David managed to beat Goliath, didn't he? And all he had was a sling. In the world of business, BPO vendors are the ones that could provide you with the exact kind of sling you need to defeat your competitors. With the help of business outsourcing, you'll be able to level the playing field and maybe even face down the competition in time.

Lower Risk

Almost everything in business comes with a certain degree of risk. Of course, the lower the risk, the better your position is. Business outsourcing can reduce the risk you're taking in various ways. When you're entering a new market, you can let a local BPO firm handle marketing research and development for you and you'll be privy to insider's knowledge.

Building Your Reputation

You've graduated from a culinary school with flying honors and you bake the best brownies in town. You want to go into business but you don't know how to package and distribute your product effectively. Rather than force your customers to tolerate your bungling efforts, why not outsource your needs to a firm with the kind of expertise that will impress your customers?

By outsourcing your needs to experts, you're able to quickly build a name for yourself and be known not just for having the best brownies but ones that come in an excellent package, too!

These are not the only benefits of business outsourcing, but they'll more than do for a start, don't they?

By Dian Herdiana

Business process outsourcing used to be exclusively implemented by manufacturing firms but today, even service-oriented firms have been benefiting from them.

Business process outsourcing or BPO refers to activities or functions that are contracted to a third party to reduce costs, improve productivity and efficiency, and achieve greater innovation.

Types of Business Process Outsourcing Various functions of a business can be outsourced. What they are will depend on your company's strengths and weaknesses and its projected benefits.

Customer Relations Management
This is arguably the activity that's most commonly outsourced by both manufacturing and service-oriented firms. Indeed, a huge majority of the BPO industry is composed of call centers specifically tasked to handle customer relation needs of client firms.

Equipment
Rather than invest in equipment that they will only occasionally use, companies prefer to outsource their need for expensive equipment by renting them instead. Whereas outsourcing agreements are commonly long-term for customer relation activities, outsourcing equipment needs are commonly done on a per-project basis.

Finance and Accounting
In dynamic and highly competitive industries, companies need to focus more on product development and whatever aspect of their business that serves as their core competency. Because of this, the company has lesser time to concentrate on administrative functions like finance and accounting.

Most companies choose to outsource finance and accounting functions to continue devoting most of their attention in improving organizational strengths.

Human Resources
One of the best examples of outsourcing human resources activities is the Bank of America. For quite some time now, the well-known banking company has relied on Exult, a BPO human resource vendor, for all its HR needs.

HR management is not something that just about any manager can handle as it deals directly with people and all related issues. Recruitment, compensation, and performance evaluation are just some of the many key activities in HR that have direct impact on an organization's ability to achieve its goals.

Logistics refer to the management process of all materials and goods used and produced by the business. Typical functions making up a company's logistics include but aren't limited to product allocation, scheduling, and forecasting, inventory control, and order entry.

A small fashion designing business may choose to focus on designing products and then outsourcing its entire logistics needs to a BPO vendor that's well-versed and more experienced in handling such activities.

Supply Chain Management
Also known as SCM, this process involves the planning, implementation, and control of supply chain functions. Logistics is a part of supply chain management. Common problems in SCM include distribution network configuration, inventory management, integration of information, distribution strategizing, and cash flow management. For companies to enjoy success in outsourcing their SCM functions, they must be prepared to involve their partners in local and central activities to a certain extent.

Security
Finally, most companies nowadays choose to completely outsource their security needs, regardless of their preference for automated or human-managed security. Security is a highly specialized field. An advertisement firm would hardly know, for instance, what the best security measures are in cases of break-ins.

By outsourcing security needs to the appropriate BPO vendors, companies are rest assured that their assets are under strict protection of professionals. No longer having to worry about security concerns, companies may then concentrate more on other and pressing activities.

Business process outsourcing is not exclusive to big businesses and corporations. Your small business can benefit from BPO, too, if you know the right activities to outsource.