What is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)?
What is Business Process Outsourcing BPO?Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the engagement of services from a third-party provider. BPO uses various technology-enabled services to hasten the delivery of services. The business activities could be back-office such as, but not limited to, payroll, accounting, human resources, or front office jobs like customer service, sales, and marketing, etc. In the case of content providers, these business activities could mean hiring writers, remote editors, or virtual assistants.
BPO speeds up processes and enhances efficiency. Companies that outsource some of their business activities use their time on core services and competencies. With this shift in focus, companies improve their current processes that may result in improved customer satisfaction. BPO helps companies divert their resources to more critical business strategies. Often, companies find it impractical to hire a full-time position in-house because of the cost associated with doing so.
How does Business Process Outsourcing work?When a business engages an external specialist to manage and operate some of its internal processes, it's referred to as business process outsourcing. Such ‘processes’ include customer service, accounting and finance, or sales. It is different from hiring an agency to do specific tasks, as the outsourcing provider (BPO) is more concerned with the ongoing production of labour-intensive tasks, instead of the higher-level strategy and guidance.
Now, business process outsourcing has broadened and is more akin to staff augmentation, or staff leasing.
What are the benefits of business process outsourcing?There are many benefits to outsourcing, as well as some downsides and risks. The common benefits include:
Cost savings: significant savings of up to 70%, leveraging the lower global salaries Global market: access to a bigger employment pool of talent Global presence: having operational across the globe increases trade opportunities Flexible workforce: reduces internal local labour and employment compliance obligations Leverage skill: leveraging the skills of other specialist companies Focus: enables the client company to focus on their core functions
Business process outsourcing examplesThe business process outsourcing sector is a vast industry, generating over $200bn annually, and employing many millions of people worldwide. Some examples include:
Big enterpriseFacebook and Uber outsource many of their operational functions, including content moderation for Facebook, and customer service for Uber
Medium-size businessesA medium business with 50-500 staff might outsource the labour-intensive accounting and finance functions to a team in the Philippines.
Small business and entrepreneurIt is common for small business owners to have a Virtual Assistant (VA) working for hem full time, remotely from the Philippines.
What are the different types of BPO?The type of business process outsourcing can be characterised by their specialisation, location, and size.
Generalist or specialist BPOsBusiness process outsourcing is in the human resources and professional services sector. However, their services extend across all industries. The majority of BPOs are generalist, in that they offer a full range of professional services, although some specialise in certain verticals (ie accounting, or animation).
LocationBusiness process outsourcing typically operates form developing nations such as the Philippines, India, and Colombia. They typically have cheaper cost-of-living and bigger populations. Different locations offer different advantages.
Size of BPOThe bigger BPOs employ more than 250,000 people. They are huge, global operations. Medium-sized BPOs range from 500-5,000 staff and offer a full range of services. The smaller BPOs might have 1-500 people.
Functions of business process outsourcingCollectively, business process outsourcing provides any kind of staffing solution. Common functions of BPO include:
Finance and accounting: operational, technical and specialist functions Healthcare: various functions of the backend of the healthcare and health-insurance industries Creative and content: everything from post-production of Hollywood movies to newspaper and website content Tech, IT and development: network management, web and app development and maintenance Sales & customer support: ongoing sales and customer operational support and delivery Marketing: ongoing marketing, communication and branding activities Talent and HR: externalising the management of company HR, recruitment and compliance Administration: general business administration and operational activities Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) servicesOutsource Accelerator is the most trusted source for independent information & advisory for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). We have over 4,000 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, business process outsourcing.
Full-time employee definition
Full-time employee definitionA full-time employee (FTE) is used to describe someone who is exclusively employed by a company. This employee may work for forty hours a week or more, which could be equivalent to day-time business hours. A full-time employee (FTE) is also privileged with statutory benefits that are provided by the employer.
The Philippines is one of the countries where the BPO industry flourished greatly. It has since opened many job opportunities for the people, employing about 1 million alone within the outsourcing industry. In the outsourcing industry, a full-time employee can have varying working shifts to accommodate the clients' timezone.
Outsourcing full-timeOutsource Accelerator provides you access to great full-time dedicated remote staff that you can outsource from the Philippines starting from $6 per hour, where you can save up to 70% on staffing cost. 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 Digital Marketing?
What is digital marketing?Digital marketing is the use of a management strategy that incorporates electronic products and services. Digital marketing may apply to the use of content marketing, social media marketing, or affiliate marketing to increase brand or business awareness.
Businesses use different marketing strategies to reach more customers and deliver the information they can use in decision making. At the heart of digital marketing is defining clear goals. Without these goals, digital marketing would be a waste of time, effort, and financial resources.
Types of digital marketingDigital marketing campaigns require both creative and technical aspects to work. These include:
Content marketing
Search engine optimization
Social media marketing
Email campaigns
Affiliate marketingA digital marketing campaign can either be paid or free. Paid marketing campaigns might have a better chance of being successful than with free marketing. However, one can’t rely on just paid marketing efforts. You still have to ensure you aren’t wasting valuable resources.
Outsource digital marketingOutsource Accelerator is the most trusted source for independent information & advisory for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). 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 digital marketing.
What is Distributed Workforce?
What is a distributed workforceA distributed workforce refers to a company’s framework where employees have different options and means of working. A company might have a small in-house core team, several remote teams, and some that can render in-house and remote work. Some companies also have mobile employees that go to different locations for their tasks.
Communication is an important aspect of a distributed workforce. They should be able to communicate with each other and collaborate with the use of different tools and software for file sharing, work chat, and screen monitoring.
Distributed workforce companiesSome companies operate in a distributed workforce. Most of them are Software as a Service (SaaS) companies such as Automattic, which operates 100% remotely. Whereas, some companies, have specific remote positions offered, mostly in engineering and software development.