There are many questions which comes in our mind when we heard about BPO.
Is BPO a Call Centre ?
A (BPO) organisation is responsible for performing a process or a part of a process of another business organisation; outsourcing is done to save on costs or gain in productivity. A call centre performs that part of a client's business which involves handling telephone calls.
The key difference is a BPO Company performs back office tasks of any business like customer support or accounting functions, whereas a Call Centre Company handles just telephone calls.
Is BPO Job good to make career ?
BPO jobs are a good way to upgrade your communication skill, computer operation skills and the likes. Taking a job in a BPO is a good way to gain experience and new skill sets that would definitely help you in the future.A job is only as good or bad as the person working on it. That's one thing for certain.
BPO meaning and Business structure
BPO stands for Business Process Outsourcing.These are companies that hire resources on their payroll and offer them work from their customers empanelled from different countries. To elaborate, a BPO is a company that hires people to offer services to its clients. BPO services include payroll, human resources (HR), accounting and customer/call center relations. BPO is also known as Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES).Technology is evolving so as outsourcing market. Many people are working into a BPO Company because of the various possible work, opportunities, and offers. In BPO industries you can continue to improve your skills and be productive. You can deal with different people having different skills and learn from them.
BPO is often divided into two main types of services: back office and front office. Back-office services include internal business processes, such as billing or purchasing.Front-office services pertain to the contracting company’s customers, such as marketing and tech support. BPOs can combine these services so that they work together, not independently.
The BPO industry is divided into three categories, based on the location of the vendor. A business can achieve total process optimization by combining the three categories:
Offshore vendors are located outside of the company’s own country. For example, a U.S. company may use an offshore BPO vendor in the Philippines.
- Nearshore vendors are located in countries that neighbor the contracting company’s country. For example, in the United States, a BPO in Mexico is considered a nearshore vendor.
- Onshore vendors operate within the same country as the contractor, although they may be located in a different city or state. For example, a company in Seattle, Washington, could use an onshore outsourcing vendor located in Seattle, Washington, or in Huntsville, Alabama.
Each BPO company will specialize in specific services.They may be grouped as follows :
Customer interaction services : The BPO company would cover a business’s voicemail services, appointment schedules, email services, marketing program, telemarketing, surveys, payment processing, order processing, quality assurance, customer support, warranty administration, and other customer feedback.
Back-office transactions : This includes check, credit, and debit card processing; collection; receivables; direct and indirect procurement; transportation administration; logistics and dispatch; and warehouse management.
IT and software operations: These technical support functions include application development and testing, implementation services, and IT helpdesk. For example, manual data entry can be replaced with automated data capture, increasing data intake and reducing cycle time.
Finance and accounting services: These functions include billing services, accounts payable, receivables, general accounting, auditing, and regulatory compliance.
Human resource services: BPOs can help address workforce challenges. They can also cover payroll services, healthcare administration, hiring and recruitment, workforce training, insurance processing, and retirement benefits.