Primarily from handling back-office operations to equipping organizations with problem-solving capabilities, the BPO industry has come a long way. Today, it is impractical to imagine a successful corporate setup without having a reputed BPO providing requisite support.

Reducing trade barriers and liberating economic policies are fuelling BPO growth. In 2019, the BPO market size stood at $221.5 billion and it will continue to grow with a CAGR of 8% from 2020-2027. BPOs over time have added new offerings and are now catering to both core and non-core processes efficiently. From offering payroll services to assisting organizations with legal services, today BPOs do it all.

While the industry continues to grow with a CAGR of 8%, the hesitancy related to it continues to exist. Today, we will undertake the most popular BPO questions and answer them to ensure every disbelief and apprehension are unfastened forever.

How BPO is still helping Technology-Driven Businesses achieve Excellence?

A few decades ago, outsourcing agencies grew by completing repetitive tasks at a discounted price. The motive in the initial days was about helping organizations have enough time to focus on the core business goals but today, BPOs have established themselves as key stakeholders and arming corporates with muscles that work as an edge over the competitors.

Here are some examples of how BPOs are helping technology-driven businesses:

Content Moderation: With the changing modes of entertainment and shopping, new online portals have cropped up and they need content moderation services to keep abusers in check. Similarly, for NBFCs and Cab aggregators, BPOs are taking up the task of completing the KYC of customers through video calling. Such offerings are not only reducing strain on organizations but also assisting with cost-saving, time management, and faster onboarding of customers.

Catalog Management for E-commerce Players: Be it content writing or catalog quality checks, BPOs are assisting e-commerce players to get catalogs for thousands of products prepared within weeks. BPOs are developing capabilities to ensure they play a pivotal role in offering additional services like catalog quality checks.

 Customer Contact Care Management: Chatbot and AI are now the most popular form of customer support. Online portals are relying on AI-enabled chatbots for offering the best services to every customer. E-commerce players are using these chatbots for helping customers find the right product instantly. BPOs have taken up the task of making these chatbots efficient, from handling queries in real-time to optimizing these bots, agencies are doing it all.

Business Process Outsourcing Questions Answered for You!

1. Which is a better Destination for Outsourcing India or the Philippines?

Well, when governments were imposing nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of Novel Coronavirus, BPOs in the Philippines had a tough time keeping their operations running. In India, BPOs were quick to move their employees to a remote setup and reduce the disruption. Be it technology adoption, decision-making capability, or robust Business Continuity Plan, Indian BPOs showcased a better incident response, which has triggered a wave in the favour of India.

Here are some facts that will help you settle the India Vs Philippines debate:

• E-commerce giant prefers India over the Philippines for establishing its biggest center outside the US. Other e-commerce players are liking to follow Amazon and choose India over the Philippines.
• An ASSOCHAM study suggests that India is likely to lose 70% of voice business to foreign lands and the Philippines is likely to gain from India’s loss.
• India is leading when it comes to offering Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) whereas the Philippines is still struggling to build the required technologies in-house.
• India has 6 cities that are considered to be the hub of outsourcing whereas the Philippines has only 2, but in a recent development, cities from the latter have pushed Indian cities down to acclaim the top second position, which was previously held by Mumbai.

2. How to Select the Right BPO for Outsourcing?

When finalizing a BPO for reducing cost and achieving excellence in every process, organizations should look at the following:

• Experience of the agency
• The clientele will expose whether the agency has relevant experience
• If the agency has furnished required compliances like ISO and PCI or not
• If they have re-invented themselves over the years or not.
• If the agency has added new services and advanced with time or not.
• How well they treat their employee base
• If the employees are put through regular training or not

 3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the WFH model?

Well, the remote working model is now a fad among the agencies. BPOs from varied countries are now making requisite changes in their contracts to fit remote working in. While BPO employees can save themselves from daily travels and work from the comfort of home, organizations are benefiting too, here are some advantages:

• Hiring skilled individuals beyond geographic constraints
• Hire employees on pay per hour model and use them during peak hours is now a possibility
• Reduced stress on the administration team to facilitate 24X7 working at the same venue
• Attrition and absenteeism are touching an all-time low, which is adding flexibility to organizations.
• Boundary-free offices are guarantees business continuity like never before.

Disadvantages of the remote working model

• New hiring may never understand the underlying notions of the organization and fail to align with the end goals
• Challenges related to accountability management, which can hamper the organization’s credibility in the market
• Security concerns remain the biggest hurdle in making remote working the primary mode. Data safety is something that requires a technological breakthrough to make remote working a viable model.

4. How Outsourcing will Save Cost in the POST COVID Era?

Industrial leaders have devised technological advancements that are assisting them to ensure data safety even when agents are working remotely. In the coming times, such technologies will be adopted by every organization, which will boost BPOs’ growth incredibly.

Here’s how outsourcing is likely to save cost in post COVID era

• Remote working is assisting organizations with cost-saving, which is expected to bring down the cost of outsourcing.
• With video conferencing and webinars becoming the mainstream mode of training, agencies will be able to spend less and train more employees.
• Reduced reliance on physical workspaces will reduce the impact of disasters.
• Fewer businesses will be disrupted due to political movements in countries, which will reduce losses induced due to ill-movement of traffic and employees.
• Reduced bills of compliance, safety management will reflect positively on outsourcing bills.

5. Which Country Outsources maximum and what processes?

Going by the reports submitted by reputed agencies, Asia Pacific, Africa, and Europe are spending the most on outsourcing but over 40% of outsourcing jobs occur because of the US.

Along with the US, South Korea and UAE are contributing heavily to outsourcing jobs in India and the Philippines. For the cybersecurity domain, Africa is contributing heavily to outsourcing jobs and opportunities.

Some of the most frequently outsourced processes are

• Finance: Insurance and Invoicing
• Information: Data mining and management
• Research: Content creation and proofreading
• Customer Service: Customer Support and quality assurance

6. What are the necessary Compliances all BPOs should Comply with?

When BPOs furnish compliances, they let their potential clients know that they are serious about business, data protection, and customer satisfaction. There’s a list of compliances that BPOs need to adhere to. Not all of these compliances are applicable on every BPO but these are the most important compliances.

• ISO Family: applicable on BPOs that work on data sharing basis.
• PCI DSS Compliance: Any BPO that works on credit card details needs to abide by it.
• HIPAA: This compliance is necessary for BPOs working with Healthcare data.
• GDPR: Necessary for BPOs working on data of citizens from the European Union.
• CCPA: Applies for BPOs that store or process data of Citizens of California.

7. How will Robotic Process Automation (RPA) fare in 2021 and what does it mean for the BPO players?

 With BPOs catering to non-core as well as core processes, technologies that guarantee zero error and better accuracy will take the center stage. RPA is popular because of its streamlining capabilities that leave no gaps behind. While some organizations leverage Robotics Process Automation for optimization of functions, some use it to gain an advantage over their competitors.

In 2021, where BPO is likely to leverage AI, and Social Media for offering better support to organizations of all sizes, RPA is likely to be fit in perfectly in the bigger picture. A Forrester Study highlights “40% of organizations (BPOs) are creating smart worker base by combing AI and RPA”.  Another report by Deloitte suggests that RPA can improve efficiency in processes that are repetitive, needs very less optimization, and are mundane in nature.

The BPO industry has been a pioneer in adopting technological advancements, from fulfilling varied compliances to leverage new methodologies for offering better support, the industry has aced it all. With RPA, which guarantees efficiency improvement and cost-saving, BPOs will line up to adopt it. A report suggests, by 2025, 16% of repetitive jobs will be replaced by RPA.

 8. How BPO can bridge the gap between offline and online omnichannel?

Cloud, AI, Chatbots, and Social platforms have eased the customers by inducing an instantly gratifying experience. The personalized experience leveraged to customers online is now haunting retail players in the real world. Industry leaders have tried using electronic gadgets to improve the in-store experience but they have failed to offer an experience along the lines of the online experience.

BPOs are playing a pivotal role in bridging the gap between the offline and online experience and ensuring a seamless omnichannel experience. For example, varied online stores are assisting customers with the help of contact centers. Online stores are making it easier for customers to book a product at a local store and picking up it instantly without wasting time. BPO agents are playing a pivotal role in making it a success.

Retail players with both online as well as offline presence are using BPO employees to ensure customers keep coming back. They rely on the data available with them to alert consumers about their upcoming requirements like product refill or subscription renewal, ensuring a hundred percent omnichannel experience.

9. What are the most important KPIs every BPO should measure?

It is necessary to have a tab on contact center metrics because they put forward how well agents are performing and it also highlights the challenges faced at every juncture. During the lockdown imposed due to COVID-19, organizations are having a tough time in gauging every metric but there are specific metrics that must be measured and these are:

• Agent Utilization
• Average delay of delayed calls
• Net Promoter Score
• Customer Satisfaction
• Average Sales per Agent
• Call Completion Rate
• Call Center Shrinkage
• Call Abandon Rate

10. What is the difference between Offshoring and Outsourcing?

In layman language, offshoring is defined as the process, where the organization gets its work done by people from different countries whereas outsourcing is when organizations get work done through third-party companies.

Offshoring generally involves skilled freelances/companies from foreign land whereas outsourcing can have third-party companies established in the same country as the primary organization. Offshoring allows organizations to acquire the best talent from countries that are popular for a specific skill, for example, India has a huge English-speaking population whereas Sweden offers better app development services.

11. Which is a better KPI CSAT or NPS?

Both CSAT and NPS are important KPIs for organizations. While CSAT explains how satisfied a customer is, NPS showcases how many customers are likely to promote the business and vice versa.

While CSAT is calculated on basis of detailed answers submitted by customers, NPS is calculated on basis of single-digit answers by customers. Any customer that answers CSAT questions is likely to spend some serious time talking about the pros and cons of the service, whereas NPS questions are answered in hurry and are often based on recent experience and not based on the entire journey with the organization.

12. What are the Top BPO Companies in India?

India continues to be the favorite outsourcing destination for varied Fortune 500 companies. Indian organizations have acquired requisite capabilities that assist big corporate houses with:

• Cost management
• Skilled labor
• 24X7 availability
• English speaking population
• Faster technological adoption

Some of the biggest Indian BPO companies include names like

• Genpact
• EXL Services
• Wipro BPO
• MattsenKumar
• Infosys BPO
• Aditya Birla Minacs Worldwide Ltd
• WNS Global Services

Final Thoughts

 BPO industry was in its prime during 2008-2010, organizations from the US and Australia were having a great time getting their work done in India, China, and Africa but the joy didn’t last long.

Lack of compliances, data safety norms, and surveillance technologies allowed BPO managers to abuse the data of paramount importance. With social security numbers, and credit card details being sold on the dark web, organizations suffered heavily. Many organizations had a tough time explaining their data safety norms in the senate while a handful of them was coaxed to exit the market.

After the disaster that impacted the growth of the BPO industry during 2012-2015, the industry leaders came together to establish norms that ensure data protection, quality assurance, and surveillance. With the changes coming into effect, it got easier for bigger organizations to keep a tab on their outsourcing partner, which led to a grand reduction in cases of data fraud.