Business Process Outsourcing

Only a decade ago, outsourcing firms that managed back office services outsourcing projects had to deal with voluminous amounts of data and information, most of it manually. Things however have changed dramatically over the years with the growing realization within the back office services outsourcing industry that a lot more can be achieved by replacing labor intensive tasks with advanced technology tools and systems. Almost all back office services outsourcing firms have now made way for newer technology implementations, something that is helping them improve their productivity. With technology on their side, back office services outsourcing firms are now able to offer more value-added services to their clients and that too in a cost-effective manner.

As of now, the presence of newer technology implementations can be seen in almost all spheres of back office functions that include everything from accounting to financial account preparation, market research, data entry, customer service, telemarketing and many more. The best part is that most of these technology implementations have turned out to be hugely successful. Some good examples would include IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems that are being used for customer service functions; OCR (Optical Character Recognition) tools for data entry functions; automated software tools for accounting & financial processes and VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) communication tools for call center and telemarketing functions.

Business needs and requirements and expectations of clients have evolved with time, something that implies that back offices services outsourcing firms cannot afford to rest on past laurels and will instead have to work harder in the years to come. Newer technology implementations are currently the best available alternative that back office services outsourcing firms can use for achieving high-end objectives such as cost savings, efficiency improvements and accuracy maximization. By passing on these benefits to their clients, back office services outsourcing firms can thus easily improve their brand image and increase their client retention rates.

Most businesses provide toll-free service numbers to make it easier for their customers to seek solutions for their problems and issues. In reality however, things do not work exactly as planned. Speaking in the context of customer service outsourcing, it would be worth mentioning that customer service numbers are often found inaccessible due to network congestion. With thousands of customers trying to access customer services, all at the same time, it’s not all that difficult to visualize the basic problem that affects customer service outsourcing. Call-wait times get extended as a result, something that starts affecting customer satisfaction levels.

So, what are the options? Well, if the primary objective is to reduce call-wait time, customer service outsourcing firms should start with making assessments about existing call support capabilities. If an increase in call-wait time is found to be a seasonal event, then outsourcing firms can choose to hire temporary staff, but if the same occurs all year round, then the customer service outsourcing firm may have to increase the number of support lines and customer service agents. In both cases, additional investments will be required.

However, due to the generally low cost-structure of customer service outsourcing projects, both businesses and customer service outsourcing firms prefer not to make additional investments. It’s also because other cost-effective alternatives are readily available, which can be used for reducing call-wait times. For example, automated systems such as IVR (Interactive Voice Response) can be used for diverting a significant percentage of the overall traffic, away from manually-operated customer service phone lines. Similar benefits are available through the use of self-service avenues like online knowledgebase, FAQs, forums, etc.

Using these, customer service outsourcing firms can significantly reduce call-wait times and pave the way for increased customer satisfaction. Thus helping to ensure the success of the ongoing customer service outsourcing project.

It may be akin to reverse engineering, but that is irrelevant because what ultimately matters is the proven ability of call center services outsourcing to provide that much-needed competitive edge to businesses. It works like this.

When customers are satisfied with offered customer support services, it greatly increases the probability that they will continue using the same product or service and will hardly ever think about alternatives that might be available. Over a period of time, this will help businesses build a huge network of loyal customers, basically a ready market that can always be used for promoting new product and services along with existing ones.

Having a loyal customer base also ensures that plenty of referral activity is generated, something that helps businesses capture an even bigger market share. Basically, it starts sort of a chain reaction that helps businesses improve their performance, year after year.

However, since the success of call center services outsourcing projects ultimately depends on the quality of services offered by the call center services outsourcing provider, it’s necessary that the right service provider be selected. The right call center services outsourcing firm will be the one that offers high-quality call center services at reasonable rates.

In relative terms, the insurance process outsourcing industry has always lagged behind other dominant players such as the call center services outsourcing industry and the telemarketing services outsourcing industry. However, if recent trends are any indication, it appears that the insurance process outsourcing industry is fast catching up and is set to outwit many of its contemporaries in the near future.

The D-day may come a lot sooner than expected because the insurance process outsourcing industry has already achieved the distinction of being the fastest growing outsourcing sector, commanding an CAGR of approximately 32.9%. Critics may argue that 90% percent of that growth is coming from onshore outsourcing and only 10% from offshore, but we can overlook that because what it really indicates is that there is plenty of scope for offshoring. The current 9 to 1 ratio is fast changing in favor of offshore insurance process outsourcing and it’s just a matter of time before the inevitable happens.

Expected to generate revenues worth a staggering $25 billion globally by the next financial year, the insurance process outsourcing industry is all set to become a leading player in the worldwide outsourcing market. However, for offshoring to grab a larger share of this pie, it will have to overcome some formidable challenges such as those brought about by cultural barriers, legal compliance issues, risk management etc. In the insurance sector, the majority of clients and customers still prefer onshore relationships and that’s something offshore insurance process outsourcing firms will have to work on if they are to sustain their existing double-digit growth rate.

However, there need not be any doubts about the competence of the offshore insurance process outsourcing industry because it is responding quite well to a constantly evolving business environment. Most offshore insurance process outsourcing firms now show increased involvement in critical issues such as infrastructure modernization, cross-culture training, process value additions, data security and many others.

All these efforts are helping build a better brand image and allowing offshore insurance process outsourcing firms to create a level playing field wherein they can compete successfully with onshore outsourcing firms. It would not be wrong to assume then that the offshore insurance process outsourcing industry will soon be able to add even more interesting chapters to its double-digit growth and success story.

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