About Business Processing Outsourcing

“Do what you do best, outsource the rest” - Peter Drucker, Management Guru

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a business practice in which an organisation contracts with an external service provider to perform an essential business function or task.

Who is a BPO Operator?

An organisation typically contracts with another business for the services after it has identified a process that, although necessary for its operations, is not part of its core value proposition.

The people who are a part of the ‘another’ business, they are Business Process Outsourcing Professionals.

What is BPO Used For?

Organisations contract with BPO vendors for two main areas:

  • Back office operations: They include payment processing, information technology services, quality assurance, etc.
  • Front office operations: They include marketing, sales, customer relations, and grievance redressal.

What are the different types of BPO?

  • Onshore outsourcing: When an organisation hires a service provider that is located in the same country. It is also called domestic outsourcing.
  • Nearshore outsourcing: When an organisation hires a service provider in a neighbouring country.

Offshore outsourcing: When an organisation hires a service provider in a different country. It is also called offshoring.

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Top Colleges

Generally, BPO companies hire freshers, predominantly graduates. Hence, one can work in a BPO company with a graduation degree in any stream.

Domestic call centres recruit students who have completed 12th grade or are undergraduates. On the other hand, international call centres insist on graduation or work experience in the relevant field.

However, there are a number of certificate, graduate and Master’s courses that are available if you wish to be a part of the BPO industry as a career.

  • BPAP Certificate Course on BPO Management
  • BPO Training Certificate Course
  • Introduction to BPO/Call Centre Career Program
  • Diploma Course in Finance and Accounting
  • Diploma Degree in BPO Management
  • ACPG-Call Centre Specialisation
  • Graduate Degree in Business Process Outsourcing
  • MBA in BPO Management.

Career Prospects

Customer care specialist

We all have interacted with customer care specialists atleast once!

As a customer care specialist, you will be processing customer complaints related to a particular product or service.

Companies usually outsource this role to third-party companies to ensure customer satisfaction. When working in the BPO industry, you may work in education, retail, medical, manufacturing or different service providing companies

Customer success manager

When you are a customer success manager, you manage the customers and their requirements after they purchase from a company.

From helping a customer understand the product and services, to answering their phone calls and providing support, a success manager ensures the customers are happy.

They also focus on creating an exceptional customer experience that helps in customer retention and increases brand loyalty.

Data collector

From ensuring data is sourced correctly to making sure that it is entered correctly, a data collector is ‘all about that data’.

These professionals examine the data and use different statistical software to create a data model for analysis. Once the analysis is done, these models help companies service their customers better.

Account payable clerk

Account payable clerks are responsible for completing payment transactions. These professionals receive, process, retrieve, verify, track and record purchases and orders.

Customer service representative

A customer service representative addresses a customer's problem and provides an instant solution in an efficient manner.

They interact with customers on the phone through calls, chats or emails and resolve customer concerns. What makes their job interesting is that, while helping customers to increase satisfaction, they also help generate new sales leads that develop into new customers.

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Jobs & Salary

BPOs and the jobs related to it have been in demand since 2010 with a larger number of multinational companies starting operations in India.

Even though the hype around it has decreased to a great extent compared to before, the scope is still strong and is said to grow in the years to come.

As a fresher, one will get a salary ranging between Rs.7,000 and Rs.10,000 per month in a domestic call centre.

In an international call centre, however, one will be able to start one’s career with a higher salary range in between Rs.15,000 and Rs.25,000 per month. The salary is even higher when one is promoted to the position of a team leader within a call centre.

Some of the top companies hiring BPO professionals are -

  • Amazon
  • Wipro
  • Dell
  • Accenture

Pros & Cons

Pros
  • More opportunities
  • Quick growth in the career
  • No experience required to enter the field
Cons
  • No fixed work timings
  • High work pressure

Timeline

1980 American Express moved its JAPAC (Japan and Asia Pacific) support office operations into Gurgaon.

1990 Voice operations debuts in India with General Electric.

1997 Sykes became the first multinational call centre to operate in Manila

2020 The global offshore BPO is estimated to be some US$11.4 billion.

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