Most businesses find themselves locked in a never-ending race to thrive in competitive marketplaces and outshine their rivals. For this purpose, they need to increase their productivity and adopt a strategic approach to carry out business processes. However, many businesses grapple with the challenges of resource constraints, overhead expenses, and workflow inefficiencies that clog the gears of progress. To address this issue, businesses worldwide are turning their focus to outsourcing supplementary and even core business processes.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) has not only gained traction but also reshaped corporate ecosystems due to the numerous benefits it brings to the table. That’s why we’ve witnessed considerable growth in the global BPO market recently. In fact, it has reached a staggering $261.9 billion in 2022 (Grand View Research). The Philippines, in particular, has emerged as a prominent player, taking a 15% share in the total global outsourcing market, as published on Medium.
BPO appeals to both large and small enterprises worldwide as it reduces costs, increases efficiency, and improves a business’s competitiveness. Continue reading to discover more about BPO and how it helps your business achieve operational excellence.
Business process outsourcing (BPO) refers to acquiring services from third-party service providers to carry out various operational tasks within an organization or enterprise. Organizations take services from BPO companies for both front and back-office processes. This can include IT services, payment processing, customer services, bookkeeping, financial analysis, sales, marketing, and more.
Through their specialized expertise and resources, BPO companies in the Philippines help businesses address operational challenges. Furthermore, they increase throughput and concentrate on core competencies. Today, over 1.3 million Filipinos provide BPO services to leading organizations around the world. With more and more businesses outsourcing business functions to Filipino BPO companies, the future of the BPO industry in the Philippines is brimming with exciting opportunities. The country’s BPO market revenues have already surpassed targets and are expected to grow at an impressive rate of 9.14%.
BPO is a potential solution to common business challenges like workflow inefficiency, limited resources, and overall productivity. Here’s how BPO benefits businesses of all types and sizes:
One of the most notable benefits of outsourcing business processes is its cost-effectiveness. BPO allows businesses to achieve operational efficiency without exhausting their resources or making high upfront investments in infrastructural development, employee recruitment, and maintenance obligations.
Moreover, BPO companies that operate in the Phillippines often have lower labor charges. This helps businesses save on operational expenses. Businesses that outsource IT services, payment processing, customer services, and front desk services circumvent the need to acquire costly hardware and software or spend a portion of their revenues to maintain expansive setups. This ultimately translates into increased operational efficiency and a notable reduction in operational expenses. Consequently, businesses can stay on top of their finances, allocate their precious resources more strategically, and funnel their investments into business expansion and diversification.
Another important benefit of business process outsourcing is the substantial time it opens up for your staff. Employees typically dedicate nearly half of their work hours to carry out repetitive tasks.
However, when these monotonous tasks are outsourced to third-party service providers, businesses can free up their vital human resources and redirect them toward core business functions. This way, employees can focus on tasks that provide more value to the business and use their knowledge, skills, and expertise in the best interest of the business. When employees can see the importance their organization attributes to their skills and abilities, they feel more satisfied and motivated.
Every business has its unique strengths and core competencies that set it apart. Whether you’re running a startup or among Fortune 500 companies, any inefficiencies in back-office processes hamper your ability to focus on your core competencies. Additionally, they can result in a substantial loss in terms of missed opportunities.
Thanks to business process outsourcing, you can acquire expert services from professionals around the world for secondary tasks. Thus, diligently focus on your core business processes that bring value to the business.
Imagine having access to a pool of professionals who have years of experience in their specialized field and are ready to contribute positively to your business’s long-term success. Whether it’s IT services, customer support, digital marketing, or accounting, outsourcing provides access to specialized skills that might be difficult or expensive to cultivate in-house.
BPO companies have highly skilled professionals who have extensive experience in dealing with different types of businesses and firms. They’re well aware of the market trends as well as the ins and outs of their area of expertise. You can trust their capabilities to carry out the supplementary business functions. Meanwhile your employees can take care of the core functions of your business. This expertise infusion enhances the overall quality of work and drives results beyond expectations.
Businesses that operate globally often face the challenge of time zone disparities in various regions. For example, a US-based company might struggle to offer excellent customer service to its Asian or European customers. This is simply due to the time lag between these regions. Moreover, since many customers now engage with businesses 24/7 through digital channels, they expect faster responses to their queries. A business that provides exceptional round-the-clock customer services not only experiences substantial growth but also increases its consumer base across physical boundaries. And this is precisely where BPO outshines in-house business processes.
When you outsource your services to a third-party BPO company, you gain the advantage of operating across diverse time zones. Thus, you keep your business available to customers round the clock. This 24/7 work cycle ensures uninterrupted progress, a constant flow of productivity, and faster response times. Moreover, businesses set themselves free from the concerns of staff shortages during holidays, weekends, or days with higher customer influx.
The benefits of BPO extend far beyond the financial sphere and seep into every aspect of running a successful business. With more businesses recognizing the importance of outsourcing business functions, we can anticipate a paradigm shift in BPO from outsourcing secondary business operations to embracing even core business functions like business planning, legal support, and product development and management in the future.
