A Complete Guide to Business Process Outsourcing!

Business Process Outsourcing

In the current digital world, a successful business isn’t necessarily an efficient business. The difference between these two businesses often comes down to deploying smart and innovative processes, like business process outsourcing, that match customer expectations.

Employing modern management techniques can elevate your business to great levels.

Apart from changing company structures, business process outsourcing is another excellent business process management technique that assures success. However, success with BPO requires careful and conscientious integration and working with quality vendors, such as this website.

This guide highlights important things businesses should understand on business process outsourcing.

What Is Business Process Outsourcing?

As the name suggests, this form of outsourcing involves delegating one or more business processes to a third-party service provider. Commonly outsourced services include accounting, payroll, data recording, customer support, social media marketing, telemarketing, logistics, quality assurance and more. BPO focuses on filling supplementary and not core business functions by providing either technical or non-technical services.

Startups and established fortune 500 companies should consider outsourcing various processes to meet the ever-changing customer demands while staying ahead of the competition. Typically, business process outsourcing substitutes labor migration, as it allows your labor force to remain in their country while importing their skills.

Business process outsourcing services are broadly categorized into two groups. They include back-office services, which constitute all internal processes, such as purchasing, billing, and order fulfillment, and front-office services, which involve interactions with customers through marketing or providing tech support.

Depending on the location of the BPO vendor, business process outsourcing is divided into three classes. Businesses can combine these three groups to achieve complete business process optimization. They include;

1.      Offshore outsourcing – Involves outsourcing business processes to third-party companies outside your country. For instance, an Australian business outsourcing to a U.S vendor.

2.      Nearshore outsourcing – Involves contracting vendors based in countries that neighbor your operational country. For instance, a collaboration between U.S and Mexico firms.

3.      Onshore outsourcing – Working with vendors within your home country. The service provider may be within your city or in different cities.

What Business Processes Can Be Outsourced?  

Running a business involves handling several tasks, including compiling reports, filing due taxes, payroll, updating your website, and more. While having on-site employees may seem viable, this may not be a prudent option, especially for repetitive business processes.

Entrepreneurs should outsource various services to focus on business growth and meet the demand and challenges associated with company growth. You should consider outsourcing the following business processes:

1.      Sales and Marketing

Outsourcing your sales and marketing tasks to reputable third-party service providers can improve your performance in the tough and competitive market. Note that business growth requires that you attract new customers while retaining old clients. Outsourced teams have years of experience in customer acquisition. They can create effective marketing campaigns for prospect generation, lead nurturing, and conversions.

2.      Administrative Tasks

Business administration involves overseeing the daily activities of your business and formulating long-term strategies. While not all administrative tasks can be outsourced, data collection, compiling reports, document management, calendar management, and scheduling appointments can be outsourced.

This explains why virtual assistance and related service providers have increased in popularity in recent years. In fact, companies like SuperSaaS can help you by providing top-notch appointment scheduling software and reservation systems that enable you to connect the availability of people, spaces and equipment for complex scheduling scenarios. No other system can do this!

Note that you should outsource your administrative tasks to companies with multipurpose teams. They should be adept with communication, organizational, technical, and prioritization skills. They should also be ready to collaborate with various teams to ensure that various company processes flow seamlessly.

3.      Web Design and Development

Designing websites and eCommerce stores is a skill that requires extensive knowledge. A functional website requires various tools, ranging from premium plugins, Adobe Photoshop, landing page software, technical audit tools, and more. Fortunately, you can outsource these tasks to reputable service providers.

Working with experts assure of excellent UX/UI design, great front/back-end development, and QA testing. These integral features come in handy in making your website visible and reliable. Apart from web design and development, you should also outsource website support and maintenance.

4.      Customer Service

Outsourcing customer service tasks to experts ensures that minor and major issues are sorted with ease. A team of experts handles high call volumes, social media engagements, and emails seamlessly. All these improve customer experience and help in retaining your customer base.

5.      Finance and Accounting

Outsourcing your finance and accounting tasks is beneficial for most businesses, especially since you should adhere to various financial regulations, accounting rules, and compliance policies. Working with experts mitigates potential errors in filing payroll and income tax returns, attracting heavy penalties.

6.      IT Management

Most businesses currently rely on computers backed up by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and machine learning. This increases the demand for IT management, as it simplifies various company processes. Businesses can outsource various IT management tasks, including website hosting, hardware and software infrastructure, backup/disaster recovery, and more to third-party service providers.

7.      Human Resources

Human resource tasks play a crucial role in businesses. However, these tasks require properly trained personnel and additional office space, increasing overall overhead costs. Outsourcing your human resource tasks is an excellent way of cutting on business costs as you transfer various HR functions.

Reasons Why Businesses Outsource

You should consider business process outsourcing for the following reasons;

·         Decrease costs – Outsourcing significantly reduces operational costs, especially staffing, training, and providing workspace to in-house employees.

·         To focus on key business functions – Delegating some of your business tasks frees business owners to hone main processes that promote business growth.

·         Improved non-core functions – Outsourcing delegates business tasks to a team of experts who specialize in these business functions. Third-party firms invest in technologies and experienced personnel who deliver great results.

·         Expand global presence – Outsourcing, especially to offshore companies, allows businesses to reach customers speaking multiple languages. You also get to serve your customer around the clock.

Endnote

Business process outsourcing has enabled several businesses to focus on core business tasks, lower operational costs, and achieve agile operations. Generally, outsourcing is a growing industry that won’t see the horizon soon. The concept also suits many industries, making it a significant trend to latch onto.

However, success in business process outsourcing highly depends on your contracted vendor.

Business process outsourcing article and permission to publish here provided by Catherine Park. Originally written for Supply Chain Game Changer and published on December 2, 2021.

2 thoughts on “A Complete Guide to Business Process Outsourcing!”

  1. Great Article. Thank you for this guide. You shared useful contain with us which is very important nowadays everyone should know about what is outsourcing and how it is helpful.

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