| Outsourcing | | | | between the client and the provider is not much though |
| A company is said to be outsourcing when it lets | | | | they are based in different countries. |
| some external service provider to execute and | | | | 3. Offshore - when the geographical distance between |
| manage a business process. This is also known as the | | | | the client and the provider is massive and both are |
| Business Process Outsourcing or BPO. | | | | based in different countries with huge time differences |
| In such an arrangement there are mainly two parties - | | | | between them. |
| the client who engages an external party to take care | | | | Reasons for outsourcing |
| of some of its business process, and the BPO service | | | | Companies resort to outsourcing for various reasons; |
| provider which is the external party hired by the client | | | | the most common of them are...o Certain processes |
| to execute the desired business process. | | | | can be performed economically from some remote |
| In case of large and complex BPO projects, brokers | | | | location because of certain local factors such as less |
| are also involved whose task is to hunt for and | | | | expensive but highly skilled workforce.o For an MNC, |
| arrange the right BPO company for the client. Large | | | | customers are scattered all over the world, so to |
| and respected broker firms are also responsible for | | | | serve them better, local talent is required.o Because of |
| the BPO operational management to some extent. | | | | budgetary or legal or some other constraint it is not |
| Types of outsourcing | | | | possible to build up the necessary capacity for |
| Outsourcing can be classified on the basis of type of | | | | expansion in house.o Certain non core processes |
| work being outsourced and the basis of geographical | | | | which consume significant resources and time can be |
| divide between the BPO services provider and the | | | | gainfully run from outside, thus employing precious |
| client. | | | | resources and manpower to sharpen the core |
| There are three main categories of work which is | | | | business areas. |
| usually outsourced: | | | | Benefits of outsourcing |
| IT - where affordable design, development, | | | | Outsourcing has considerable benefits for the client |
| implementation, management of IT products and | | | | companies and some of them are: |
| processes and web services is outsourced to the | | | | Cost cutting |
| BPO services provider. | | | | This is one of the main reasons for outsourcing. |
| Customer servicing and management - this is usually | | | | Certain nations such as India, China etc. are abundant |
| called voice outsourcing as the major work involves | | | | with natural resources, cheap labor, favorable policies |
| interaction with the existing/prospective customers | | | | for foreign investors etc. All these factors result in |
| through voice or web media for the purpose of | | | | considerable savings for client companies particularly in |
| providing customer support or to handle telemarketing | | | | operations such as affordable customer service, IT |
| on behalf of the client | | | | development, web services, etc. |
| Other functions - large companies also prefer to | | | | Bigger pool of talent at a fraction of cost |
| outsource the non-core administrative and backend | | | | Countries such as India have made great strides in IT |
| work such as accounting, HR, marketing etc. to the | | | | expertise and have become hubs for affordable |
| BPO service providers so as to allow themselves to | | | | IT-enabled services and BPO services thanks to their |
| focus on strengthening their core business areas. | | | | large pools of cheap but highly skilled |
| On the basis of the geographical difference between | | | | English-conversant manpower. |
| the BPO services provider and the client, outsourcing | | | | Time Zone Coverage |
| can again be classified into three categories: | | | | The time zone differences BPO clients and BPO |
| 1. Inshore/onshore - outsourcing within the same | | | | services providers actually works out to be a blessing |
| country | | | | in disguise, since the BPO companies can serve their |
| 2. Nearshore - when the geographical distance | | | | clients 24/7 all round the year. |