What is What is business process outsourcing??
What is business process outsourcing (BPO)?Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the practice of contracting a third-party provider to run a defined business function such as customer support, payroll, accounting, or IT helpdesk. The provider takes ownership of the people, process, and technology, and bills you on a per-seat, per-transaction, or fixed-fee basis.
BPO sits at the intersection of labour arbitrage and operational focus. You hand off a non-core function to a specialist that can run it cheaper, faster, or better, and your in-house team gets to concentrate on what actually moves the business.
The category covers everything from a 4-seat phone team in Cebu answering after-hours calls for a US plumbing firm, to a 5,000-seat captive in Manila handling global claims processing for a Fortune 500 insurer. Same idea, very different scale.
If you've used Apple support, ordered from Amazon, or paid with Wells Fargo, you've talked to a BPO provider — you just didn't know it.
How it worksA BPO engagement runs in three layers: contract, transition, and steady state. You scope the function, sign a service level agreement that locks in response times, quality thresholds, and pricing, then transition the work through documented playbooks and parallel runs before the provider takes the keys.
Pricing usually falls into one of four shapes:
Model
How you pay
Best for Per FTE (seat)
Fixed monthly rate per agent
Steady-volume work like inbound support Per transaction
Set fee per call, ticket, or invoice
Variable-volume back-office tasks Outcome-based
Tied to a KPI like CSAT or collections
Mature processes with clean metrics Hybrid
Base FTE rate plus variable bonus
Long-term partnershipsLocation choice drives most of the savings. Sending work to the Philippines or India (offshoring) typically cuts loaded labour cost by 50–70% versus a US in-house team. Sending it to Mexico or Colombia (nearshoring) trims 30–50% while keeping you in roughly the same timezone. Keeping it domestic (onshoring) protects timezone and language fit but barely moves the cost needle.
The provider absorbs the recruiting, training, real estate, tech stack, and compliance burden. You absorb the vendor-management overhead and the risk that comes with handing a function to an outsider.
ExamplesThe global BPO market hit roughly USD 347.95 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at a 10.05% CAGR through 2035, according to Precedence Research. That growth is concentrated in a handful of hubs and a handful of named buyers.
Google has used Philippine and Indian BPO partners since 2016 for content moderation, ads review, and customer support — a quiet workforce that scales with each product launch. Meta contracts Accenture and TaskUs in Manila for content moderation; the work pulled enough scrutiny in the early 2020s that Meta eventually broadened its provider base across multiple regions. Wells Fargo has operated a Manila back-office hub since 2011, handling mortgage processing, AML checks, and treasury operations for the US parent. JPMorgan Chase runs large captive and outsourced operations in India and the Philippines for KYC, trade settlement, and analytics.The Philippines remains the standout English-language hub. According to the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines, the country's IT-BPM sector generates roughly USD 40 billion in revenue and employs about 1.9 million people, with growth targets pushing past 2.5 million by 2028.
Related terms Outsourcing: the umbrella term; BPO is the back-office and front-office slice that runs whole processes rather than one-off projects. Offshoring: moving work to a distant country (e.g. US to Philippines). A location choice, not a contracting choice. Nearshoring: moving work to a nearby country (e.g. US to Mexico) to keep timezone and culture closer. Knowledge process outsourcing: KPO handles judgment-heavy work like legal research or equity analysis, not transactional tasks. Call center: one delivery format inside BPO, focused on inbound or outbound voice. Back office: the non-customer-facing operations layer that BPO most commonly absorbs. Service level agreement: the contract clause that defines what "good" looks like in a BPO deal. FAQ What is business process outsourcing in simple terms?BPO is paying another company to run a piece of your business for you, usually a repeatable function like answering support calls, processing invoices, or managing payroll. You keep the brand and the strategy; they run the operation.
What is the difference between BPO and outsourcing?Outsourcing is the broad category — anything you contract out, including one-off projects. BPO is the subset where a provider runs an ongoing, defined business process end-to-end, typically with its own staff, systems, and SLAs.
Is BPO only about cost savings?No. Cost is the entry argument, but mature buyers cite access to specialist talent, 24/7 coverage, faster scaling, and freeing in-house leaders to focus on growth as bigger long-term wins. See the directory of vetted providers on Clutch for how the market positions itself today.
What functions do companies outsource most often?Customer support, IT helpdesk, finance and accounting, payroll, HR administration, content moderation, and data entry top the list. Higher-judgment work like legal research, equity analysis, and medical coding has shifted to KPO providers over the last decade.
Which countries dominate the BPO industry?The Philippines leads voice and customer experience, India leads IT and analytics, and Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica) leads nearshore work for North American buyers. Eastern Europe serves Western European clients on similar terms.
How do I choose a BPO provider?Match scale to your volume, check for relevant compliance (ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2), ask for two reference clients in your industry, and pilot a small scope before committing to a multi-year contract. Walk away from any provider that won't share agent attrition data.
Ready to scope a BPO partner? Outsource Accelerator lists 4,000+ vetted providers across the top global hubs — use the directory to shortlist, compare pricing, and book intro calls without paying a referral fee.
What is Full-time Equivalent (FTE)?
Full-time equivalent (FTE) definitionIn human resources, full-time equivalent (FTE) refers to the unit of measurement that each business owner uses to indicate the working hours of a call center agent. The employer uses FTE to track the agent’s full-time or part-time involvement in a project or organization.
FTE can standardize wages by demonstrating the equivalent salary of part-time agents based on working full-time. For part-time workers, determining the pro-rata is by changing their working hours with the help of FTE.
Importance of full-time equivalentCalculating FTE is crucial mainly for accounting purposes in the business. It determines the wages and the calculation of the company expenses needed to pay the employees.
FTE helps the employer develop an understanding of the performance and effectiveness of the part-time employee. It is a useful measurement because it helps budget analysts, project managers, and business owners estimate labor costs.
By determining the complete FTE headcount of full-time employees that a business needs, team leaders, budget analysts, or employers can better forecast the funds they will need to continue the operations of the company or finish a given project.
The FTE count also plays a vital role in determining which positions — whether in a large corporation or a small business — should be full-time and which should only be part-time. The management usually works with human resources on this decision.
One FTE is usually equal to one job vacancy. When it comes to part-timers who are sharing one job, they can be considered equal to one FTE. Meanwhile, some jobs do not require "whole" FTE at all.
Moreover, FTEs play a vital role in monitoring the salaries of part-time employees since they are generally paid less and do not receive the same benefits as full-time workers.
How to calculate the full-time equivalent Many BPO companies are using the FTE calculation for various purposes. The calculated data is useful for benchmarking revenues or earnings per employee.
Converting the hourly wages of part-time employees into full-time equivalents may be beneficial in evaluating these metrics.
To calculate the full-time equivalent, determine the employee’s scheduled hours and then divide it by the employer’s hours for a full-time workweek.
FTE payrollFTEs are most widely used by companies to determine their employees’ workload and payroll. If the company has part-time employees, this helps determine if their working hours add up to the same number of a full-time staff's total weekly hours.
For payroll purposes and determining wages, the full-time equivalent assists in calculating salaries. The FTE of a full-time employee is the baseline of a part-time employee’s pay.
For example, if a full-time employee’s salary is US$100,000, a part-timer that works in the same role 20 hours per week with a 0.5 FTE value would make US$50,000 in their payroll. Another part-timer who works for 30 hours per week with a 0.75 FTE would earn US$75,000.
FTE in a nutshellWhen a company mainly has part-time employees, business owners can be keen to convert their total hours worked into an FTE basis to compare headcount needed between part-timers and full-time employees.
Project managers can then utilize these converted data for several analytical observations that could help the company's finances. This includes comparing the total number of employees to profit and revenues that are earned by the business on an annual basis.
Converting staff headcount to FTE also assists the business when it is comparing the company's total employee number to competitors within the industry.
What is Impact Sourcing?
What is impact sourcing?Impact sourcing, also known as socially responsible outsourcing, is a BPO model that aims to employ people at the base of the pyramid. These are people who were previously unemployed for a long time or are living below the national poverty line.
The main goal of impact sourcing is to improve the situation of people living in economically disadvantaged areas and at the same time provide high-quality services to both domestic and international clients. This model was originated by the Monitor Group and the Rockefeller Foundation back in 2010.
Impact sourcing companiesThere are associations that help companies in different countries, such as Accenture, Alorica, and Teleperformance. Associations like the Global Impact Source Coalition and ImpactHub provide resources and assistance to companies and match the companies to developing countries according to the latter’s needs and resources.
Outsource Accelerator provides you the best outsourcing companies in the Philippines, where you can save up to 70% on staffing costs. We have over 3,000 articles, 200+ podcast episodes, and a comprehensive directory with 700+ BPOs… all designed to make it easier for clients to learn about, and engage with, outsourcing.
What is a Freelancer?
What is a freelancer?A freelancer is often hired for a particular job or fixed project who has the freedom to work flexible hours on these projects. Being self-employed, it is common for freelancers to handle multiple clients at any given time.
A freelancer can specialize in various project-based jobs, such as writing, graphic designing, web developing, digital marketing, and a lot more. Freelancers work remotely with usually flexible working hours, as long as they are able to meet client deadlines. One disadvantage of being a freelancer is having no certain mandatory benefits shouldered by an employer.
Freelancers can be a great addition to an existing workforce for businesses who look for cost-effective service and high-quality work. Freelancers are perfect for small to medium business owners who are looking for excellent outsource partners who can work independently and can be productive under minimum supervision.
Freelancing and outsourcingOutsource Accelerator specializes in helping small & medium sized enterprises (SMEs), with 2-500 employees, typically based in the high-cost English-speaking world. We are the experts in transforming these businesses with outsourcing.
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