Business Process Outsourcing is designed to help businesses control costs and improve operational efficiencies. BPO can be extremely useful for companies that need to save time, costs and resourcing, but only if the BPO provider has the right experience and offerings for your business needs. Choosing the wrong external BPO provider could cause irreversible damage.
That's why you need to be confident that your potential BPO provider will represent your business properly and has the adequate experience to improve your processes along the way.
So how can make sure you are choosing the right BPO provider? Ask yourself these 5 questions when selecting a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) provider to ensure you make an informed decision.
1. Am I getting value for my money?
It's common for businesses to outsource tasks that aren't related to the core of their business offerings but are still essential, such as call centres, recruitment, order processing or administrative services.
These tend to be outsourced as they can be costly to perfect and manage in-house. BPO can potentially provide these services more efficiently and at a cheaper rate.
If the price you've been quoted to outsource these services is too good to be true, it almost always is. Picking the cheapest BPO provider could mean sacrificing some quality along the way. At the same time, in a lot of instances, hidden costs could arise and accelerate costs unexpectedly.
Your BPO provider should always be transparent about every single cost element of the project, and if they're unclear about these details take this as a warning sign.
To ensure that you're getting the most out of your budget, don't be afraid to dig deep and ask as many questions as possible before committing.
2. Do they have the necessary experience for my business?
Every business and industry has a unique set of requirements; there is no one-size-fits-all approach for Business Process Outsourcing and it is not a straight-forward task to manage.
If you're shopping for a BPO provider, it's essential that they understand your unique business requirements. For example if you are a technology company, has the BPO provider worked within that space before?
Make sure that your BPO provider can demonstrate previous experience and the necessary skillsets you need to move forward. Ask for case studies, or better yet, speak to the outsourcing manager and quiz them on some industry-specific needs that relate to you specifically.
If you have goals that you'd like to achieve from hiring a BPO provider and you're investing budget into outsourcing these processes, it's important that your BPO provider can meet those demands. The more relevant experience they have, the higher the likelihood of them reaching those goals are.
Lastly, if you're looking to expand your services in different countries always check that your BPO provider has multilingual resources.
3. Do they have the right technology?
Having the right technology is essential to delivering the service you are outsourcing correctly and impacts efficiency, which in turn affects your budget and the quality of that work.
For example, if you're looking to outsource or expand your customer service duties, does the BPO provider have the right technology which can:
- Resolve your customer queries as fast and efficiently as possible
- Handle the volume of inquiries
- Effectively record and escalate all instances
Or if you're looking to outsource your manufacturing, does the BPO provider have the equipment and machinery required to create your product to the highest of standard?
Ask for a full spec of technology that will be used for the services you require to save you any potential disruption and disappointment down the line.
4. Can the provider fully secure all personal information and data?
In the age of GDPR, if you don't treat the data you hold with the strictest of confidence you could face heavy fines.
In the interest of the integrity of your business (and your bottom line) it's important to check that your BPO provider has the infrastructure and competence to protect your data.
For example, if you outsource your payroll functions, you need to be sure that they're storing and handling that sensitive information with the utmost care. If it's not up to scratch, it can have serious consequences.
Get a full brief of how all personal information is stored and handled to save your business a major breach or incident.
5. Do they have the expertise to recruit the right people?
Business Process Outsourcing and recruitment go hand-in-hand.
Should your business expand in the future your BPO provider should have the expertise to recruit some people for the project.
It's important that your provider has the necessary skills to screen and evaluate candidates who are right for the services you require and the right people to represent the values of your business.
Check that your BPO provider has the expertise to deliver a quality workforce for you and a candidate database available to gain new and quality hires quickly.
Interested in learning more about outsourcing?
Cpl's managed services and outsourcing division is focused on improving client's productivity by taking ownership of appropriate business functions. These carefully designed solutions enable the outsourcing of functions such as recruitment, HR, telesales, telemarketing, call centres, back office functions and specialised IT service desks.
Each of these solutions are designed to help you control business costs and transform your business through operational efficiencies.
Get in touch to discuss the best solution for your business.