Midterm

Business Process Outsourcing

Fundamentals in Business Outsourcing
Lesson 1: The Emerging Market
Introduction
In today’s connected world, a successful business is often an efficient one,
and the difference can come down to smart, innovative processes, with suitably
adept management to match. Novel, modern process management techniques can
take your business from good to great. One outgrowth of business process
outsourcing BPO, can enable just such a change if enacted in a careful,
conscientious manner and with a quality vendor.
This subject has everything you need to know about business process
outsourcing: what it is, what types of processes and functions BPO vendors
support, the current state and future outlook of the industry, and how to choose a
vendor that is right for your company. Along the way, BPO experts weigh in, and
we even provide a vendor scorecard template to make that decision easier for
you.
What is Emerging Market?
An emerging market economy is the economy of a developing nation that is
becoming more engaged with global markets as it grows. Countries classified as
emerging market economies are those with some, but not all, of the
characteristics of a developed market. As an emerging market economy
progresses it typically becomes more integrated with the global economy, as
shown by increased liquidity in local debt and equity markets, increased trade
volume and foreign direct investment, and the domestic development of modern
financial and regulatory institutions.
Critically, an emerging market economy is transitioning from a low
income, less developed, often pre-industrial economy towards a modern,
industrial economy with a higher standard of living.
Investors seek out emerging markets for the prospect of high returns, as they
often experience faster economic growth as measured by GDP. However, along
with higher returns usually comes much greater risk. Investors’ risk in emerging
market economies can include political instability, domestic infrastructure
problems, currency volatility, and illiquid equity, as many large companies may
still be "state-run" or private. Also, local stock exchanges may not offer liquid
markets to outside investors.
Factors to Identify Emerging Markets
Business leaders find top-performing and cost-effective solutions to deliver high-
value business services. While it still depends on the business needs, these are the
guiding principles before you consider working in an emerging outsourcing
market.
1. GEOGRAPHY
The COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to travel and led to more restrictions.
However, access to high-demand locales is often taken into account.
Additionally, areas of high volatility, political or geographical, can present future
challenges to consider.
2. TALENT POOL
The performance of agents largely impacts the effectiveness of your
outsourced call center. It is a fact that call centers will perform better when their
employees are educated, fluent in the desired language like English, well-versed
in technology, and highly skilled.
3. INFRASTRUCTURE
This plays a vital role to ensure service delivery is smooth and can cater to
any business requirements. Thus areas that are actively improving sectors across
education, utilities, IT, and public transportation are a top priority.
4. ECONOMY
The top reasons to consider are the ability of a location to offer lower
operational costs and lower overall cost of entry. However, business leaders also
consider healthy economies that can provide highly-skilled workers. This is in
addition to quality of life standards to promote retention.

In conclusion, you can use this as a guidepost in order to identify if

working with emerging markets is a good decision for you.
What is Business Process Outsourcing?
Business Process Outsourcing, or BPO, refers to the process of contracting
standard business functions to be handled by a party outside of the company.
Companies can often benefit from implementing the practice of BPO, meaning
more flexibility and cost efficiency can be achieved. Third-party providers set up
for a dedicated task such as payroll perform more efficiently and are able to
transfer those cost savings to their clients.
Call centers are a type of BPO. For example, a manufacturer may outsource their
customer service to a call center. But business process outsourcing isn’t limited
to customer service, or to call centers. The same manufacturer might use BPO to
outsource payroll, accounting, and similar administrative tasks.
Benefits
Increase operational efficiency
Streamline accounting processes while delivering an excellent customer
experience with timely invoices, payments and reports.

Make finance more predictive and proactive

Unleash real-time insights and intelligence to make more informed
decisions, using dynamic real-time scenario planning. continuous close and on-
demand reporting.

Improve liquidity management

Better bank account management, cash management, cash forecasting, cash
positioning, hedge accounting and treasury reporting.

Mitigate risk and improve compliance

Advanced controls and compliance by automating transactions reducing
manual touchpoints and fully tapping into the capabilities of the ERP system

Create a future-ready culture

Bring together digital technologies, proven processes and top industry
talent to create a less risk-averse culture that excels at seizing value.
BPO Categories
General Categories – established to facilitate the discussion of the general type
of business. Typically fall with one of the seven categories.
1. Finance and accounting 5. Logistics
2. Investment and Asset Management 6. Real Estate Management
3. Human Resources/Recruitment 7. Miscellaneous
4. Procurement
1. Finance and accounting
- BPO financial accounts refer to finance shared service center
- process of finance outsourced from one organization to other organization
or own organization set up shared service center in different countries or
locations
- simply says process of finance activities outsourced.
 - transform your finance operations from a transactional service to a strategic
asset with a data-driven, intelligent operating model.
2. Investment and asset management
- financial services organizations particularly hedge funds and mutual funds,
are considering for outsourcing in investment and asset management.

3. Real estate management

- the management of property or real estate typically involves responsibility
for such non-core functions as physical security, maintenance, customer
service, leasing, rent collection and disaster recovery.

4. Human Resources/ Recruitment

- Until now, companies have mainly used the support provided by
Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO). Here, a service company
strengthens the recruitment department of a customer and takes over the
recruitment processes. HR BPO, on the other hand, is a holistic form of
cooperation that also supports the customer in other areas of their HR
department.
- - The need for holistic HR BPO solutions is also reinforced by the changes
in human resources. The increased competition for skilled personnel,
fluctuation and changing job profiles demand a reinterpretation of the role
of Recruitment. In addition to administrative tasks, the role of HR as a
manager of change processes and as a strategic consultant at management
level is becoming increasingly important. In the course of concentrating on
core functions, companies are becoming more willing to entrust a service
provider with additional HR tasks.

5. Procurement
- an area that is receiving significant attention, particularly in the vendor
community, is procurement outsourcing. Procurement outsourcing covers
some aspects of non-core purchasing and supplies management, including:
• Product selection • Installation
• Acquisition • Moves, Adds, and changes
• Delivery • Refreshes
• Inventory • Maintenance
• Packing • Help desk service
• Warehouse management
6. Logistics
- Logistics outsourcing is when a company hires a third-party provider to
manage various parts of their supply chain operations. These providers, also
known as 3PLs, can handle warehousing, inventory management,
fulfillment services, shipping and freight forwarding, and even reverse
logistics. More businesses are outsourcing logistics as supply chains
become more complicated, physical assets and technology become more
expensive, and talent grows scarcer. Outsourcing can streamline day-to-day
operations—allowing staff to focus on core business functions and
customer satisfaction. In turn, your business can flourish.
- Logistics outsourcing offers plenty of functions to choose from. It could be
the right choice for you if you want to outsource logistics in any or all of
the following areas:
- Warehousing and Distribution
- Transportation Management
- Supplementary Services (includes customer and fulfillment support,
which might mean taking customer service calls, processing and
packaging orders, and managing warranties)
7. Miscellaneous
- In addition to the business process categories already discussed, companies
are beginning to consider a number of other, less easily categorize process
for outsourcing. Such business process include energy services, mail and
copying services, and food services.
Lesson 2: Business Process Outsourcing
Abbreviations
VoIP - Voice over Internet Protocol (Telephone Services)
IVR - Interactive Voice Response
FCR - First Call Resolution
KPI - Key Performance Indicators
AHT - Average Handling Time (10 minutes)
ACW - After Call work (30 seconds.)
Hold Time – (1 minute)
ECM - Enterprise Content Management
OCR - Optical Character Recognition
GIS - Geographic Information System
GBOPS - Global Back Office Professional Services
HMO - Health Maintenance organization
FMC - Facilitate Management Compliance
QA - Quality Assurance

Phonetic Alphabet
A - Alpha H - Hotel O - Oscar V - Victor
B - Bravo I - India P - Papa W - Whiskey
C - Charlie J - Juliet Q - Quebec X - X-ray
D - Delta K - Kilo R - Romeo Y - Yankee
E - Echo L - Lima S - Sierra Z - Zulu
F - Foxtrot M - Mike T - Tango
G - Golf N - November U - Uniform
Introduction
As markets become increasingly globalized and regionalized, change
becomes ever more pervasive. Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a form of
outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of
a specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is outsourcing of business functions
generally performed by white collar and clerical employees to achieve various
benefits such as cost savings, better quality and ability to focus on core
competence.
One of the fastest-growing industries in the Philippines is the business process
outsourcing (BPO) industry which comprise enterprises providing call center
services, customer contact services, legal and medical transcriptions, finance and
accounting services and any other work that can be outsourced by companies in
the US, Europe and other parts of Asia.

Contact Center Services

Contact centers are a relatively new solution. They don’t have the negative
reputation from which call centers often suffer. First, let’s define the terms, and
explore their potential advantages and drawbacks for your business.
People tend to use the two terms interchangeably, but they aren’t identical. The
two are similar, but the main difference of contact center vs. call center is that the
former provides additional services such as :
• VoIP( voice over internet protocol ) Telephone Services
• Email
• Text Chat
• Fax services
• Direct Website Interface
A contact center caters to the growing importance of providing
omnichannel customer support. Increasingly, consumers expect the businesses
they patron to be present on several channels, and to offer consistent, qualified
service on all of them.
Contact centers are also operated by outside companies, and are used to
handle customer service but also to take on other activities such as telemarketing,
debt collection, and billing services.
Contact centers have been supported by mathematical models such as queuing
theory and operations research, which consider them to be a way to solve a wide
variety of optimization problems.

Key features of a contact Center

1. Advanced call distribution
Contact centers are equipped with features designed to distribute calls
efficiently, in order to maximize the number of fielded calls while keeping
customer satisfaction high. A good example of such a feature is Interactive Voice
Response, which boosts first call resolution by directing a call to the most
competent agent. This allows your staff’s diverse skill-sets to be useful to your
clients.
2. Modularity
Contact center managers can toggle their team members’ access and
priorities for maximum efficiency in real time. Shared contacts and objectives
mean that the contact center agents can work as a team, even though they are all
manning individual stations (different channels, inbound or outbound calls, etc).
This also allows for tighter security measures, and secure data. The structure of a
contact center is necessarily flexible, in order to adapt to fluctuating call volumes
and objectives.
3. Scripts (Spiel)
Contact centers often work using customized scripts for every customer
interaction. This gives agents a framework for sales and support, and can help
with confidence when tackling tricky situations. Scripts work over the phone, of
course, but also for any channel covered by a particular contact center.
Nevertheless, part of being a good contact center agent is being able to deviate
from a script when the situation calls for improvisation.
4. Real-time reporting
Contact centers monitor agent performance and customer satisfaction over
several channels. These analytics are complex and multi-faceted, and the volume
of data is so enormous that it can be difficult to draw meaningful conclusions.
Therefore, choosing to focus on certain Key Performance Indicators is the way to
making data-driven decisions for your contact center.
What is Back Office?
The back office is the portion of a company made up of administration and
support personnel who are not client-facing. Back-office functions include
settlements, clearances, record maintenance, regulatory compliance, accounting,
and IT services. For example, a financial services firm is segmented into three
parts: the front office (e.g., sales, marketing, and customer support), the middle
office (risk management), and the back office (administrative and support
services).
How the back office works?
The back office can be thought of as the part of a company responsible for
providing all business functions related to its operations. Despite their seemingly
invisible presence, back-office personnel provide essential functions to the
business. The back office is an essential part of any firm and associated job titles
are often classified under "Operations." Their roles enable and equip front-office
personnel to perform their client-facing duties. The back office is sometimes used
to describe all jobs that do not directly generate revenue.
Special consideration
Although back-office staff members do not interact with customers, they
tend to actively interact with front-office staff. For example, a manufacturing
equipment salesperson may enlist the help of back-office staff to provide
accurate information on inventory and pricing structures. Real estate marketing
professionals frequently interact with sales agents to create attractive and relevant
marketing materials, and IT professionals regularly interact with all divisions
within the company to ensure proper functioning systems.
Digitization services
Do you have a building full of paper records? Are your data capture
procedures compliant with data protection laws? Are you tired of your financial
records taking up office or warehouse space? Bright Key’s Document
Digitization Services are here to help! From paper document scanning to
reprography services, we can help manage and digitize your data for a more
streamlined storage system.
Offering scalable paper-to-digital solutions
BrightKey will take your analog records and integrate them into an
Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system, fully supported by Optical
Character Recognition (OCR) and secured to meet regulatory compliance
standards. Our Document Digitization Services are an affordable and secure way
to store your company’s documents.
BrightKey works with organizations of all sizes, and we scale our services
to exceed their needs.
We’re working with a major financial institution with multiple locations
around the country. We process and sort all their incoming mail including critical
financial loan documents. We then scan the necessary files with leading OCR
devices to turn the physical documents into searchable digital formats. BrightKey
then securely stores these digital documents in a fully-encrypted cloud-based
solution the financial institution employees can access around the world.
BrightKey regularly digitizes and reproduces:
• Archival records • Reprography services
• Financial records • Paper document scanning
• Board/Meeting Minutes • Court transcripts
• Medical records scanning

Geographical information services

A geographic information system (GIS) is a framework for gathering,
managing, and analyzing data. Rooted in the science of geography, GIS
integrates many types of data. It analyzes spatial location and organizes layers of
information into visualizations using maps and 3D scenes. With this unique
capability, GIS reveals deeper insights into data, such as patterns, relationships,
and situations—helping users make smarter decisions.
There are two aspects to Geographical Information Systems(GIS) work -
obtaining the data and measurements and then going on to build the access and
processes on which the services that are to be provided are based.
GBOPS has focused on building, managing and deploying teams of specialists
in:
• Spatial Databases • Engineering Analysis
• Enhanced Mapping • Project Management
• Database Solutions
With our partners we have also created specialized systems for database
development, addressing, mapping, maintenance, and discrepancy
capture/maintenance. The design and integration of our Geographical
Information System (GIS) and methodology, have, along with our people skills,
established Global Back Office Professional Services (GBOPS) as a proven
leader in back-office support and in data development, data population and
maintenance.
We support and work in close alliance with the premier providers of
mapping software and data maintenance technologies and solutions. We know
mapping back office support like no other company.
Our commitment to quality and accurate databases have helped us to build
software solutions that are user-friendly, eliminates errors, removes unnecessary
keystrokes resulting in a completely integrated mapping solution.
LESSON 3: Business Operations Integration / BPO services
Reasons to outsource processes:
American businesses choose to outsource for many reasons. Some people
believe that businesses are only after the tax break associated with outsourcing
jobs, or “shipping jobs overseas” as some political ads claim. According to
PolitiFact, this is a flawed notion. PolitiFact concedes that there are tax breaks
for a company when it relocates, whether out of country or to a different state,
but there is no specific tax break or loophole in the U.S. tax code related to
outsourcing.
What is relevant to this argument, however, is that the U.S. corporate
income tax is one of the highest in the developed world (39.1 percent). Therefore,
U.S. companies benefit from outsourcing operations to countries with a lower
income tax because businesses pay the rate of their host country. In addition,
businesses cite many other reasons to engage in outsourcing:
1. To decrease costs:
Outsourcing cuts down on costs for in-house labor, particularly for staffing
and training, and for the work space to accommodate local employees. An
outsourcing company physically located in a developing country leverages
lower-cost labor markets. Finally, outsourcing enables businesses to use variable-
cost models, like fee-for-service plans, instead of fixed-cost models that are
required when retaining local employees.
2. To concentrate on key functions:
Outsourcing allows businesses to hone in on their main offerings instead of
company functions that aren’t directly tied to their core processes. For example,
when outsourcing, the company won’t have to monitor the payroll accountant’s
performance. Rather, it can focus its energies on highlighting its business
differentiators and maximizing overall growth. In turn, these actions can boost a
company’s competitive advantage and enhance its interactions with the value
chain. Ultimately, the company can enjoy improved customer satisfaction and
increased profits.
3. To achieve better results in noncore functions:
Outsourcing companies specialize in what are considered noncore functions
of other businesses, delivering world-class capabilities for its clients. In fact, an
outsourcing company that invests in specialized processes and technologies can
deliver cutting-edge breakthroughs to its clients. For example, a gaming design
company may not want to pay for the latest payroll program on the market, but
an outsourcing business that offers payroll services would likely make that
investment to benefit its own performance, as well as that of its clients.
4. To expand their global presence:
Some outsourcing companies can serve customers in multiple languages,
around the clock, thus relieving the local company of the responsibility.
Outsourcing companies can leverage their presence in multiple countries and
keep the local company’s redundant divisions to a minimum. For example, WNS
Global has 37 “delivery centers” across the world and specializes in business
process management.
5. To enable flexibility:
Companies that outsource their noncritical functions can act more quickly
and more efficiently when managing the risks associated with introducing new
products or services. They can also reassign their internal resources to more
critical functions to help ensure better coverage and allocate responsibility.
6. To improve speed and efficiency:
Companies that outsource processes are opting to let specialists handle
those tasks, thus saving time, improving accuracy, and increasing their capacity.
For example, a BPO that specializes in records management can automatically
index documents, making them available for retrieval and keeping a company in
compliance with legal requirements. This replaces manual data entry and storage.

BPO’s two main types of services

Back Office
Back-office services include internal business processes, such as billing or
purchasing
Front Office
Front-office services pertain to the contracting company’s customers, such as
marketing and tech support.
Types of services offered by bpo
BPO providers now support a number of services and help fill many gaps within
companies. Some of the participating industries include:Healthcare,
Pharmaceuticals, Business Services, Retail and E-commerce, Telecom,
Automotive, Utility companies, Banking, Supply Chain, Capacity Solutions,
Asset Management

BPO Subspecialties
In fact, the growth in BPOs has resulted in the emergence of
SUBSPECIALTIES, including the following:
1. Information technology-enabled services (ITES) BPO
This form of BPO leverages information technology (IT) over the internet
or data network to deliver services. Some examples of ITES BPO jobs are
service desk analyst, production support analyst, and IT analyst.
2. Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO)
KPO has changed BPO a bit. Some KPO vendors support functions that are
considered core in business, although they may not be core functions in the
particular business that hires them. KPO firms offer more than process expertise;
they may also provide business and domain-based expertise. Some examples of
KPO services include research, analysis, or Microsoft Word and Excel work.
KPOs may be capable of making low-level business decisions if they do not
conflict with higher-level business policies, but those decisions may be undone
easily. KPO vendors are usually linked to the business’s value chain, and they
hire people who are competent in a specific field.
3. Legal process outsourcing (LPO)
LPO is a subset of KPO and encompasses a huge range of higher-level
legal work, not merely lower-level legal transcription. LPO firms can draft patent
applications and legal agreements, as well as perform legal research. Some LPO
firms even advise clients. In-house legal departments usually retain LPOs.
Experienced paralegals using industry-standard databases do the work.
4. Research process outsourcing (RPO)
A subset of KPO, RPO specializes in research and analysis functions. RPO
companies perform research and analysis work that supports business,
investment, biotech, and marketing firms.
5. Travel
This pertains to all the operations a business needs to support its travel
logistics, from reservations to hotel and vehicle bookings. Travel BPO saves
money for the company because it cuts costs while increasing customer
satisfaction. Airline and travel companies also engage in BPO for either front- or
back-office process streamlining. For example, an airline could outsource its
ticketing process.
Group of BPO according to specific services
Customer interaction services: The BPO company would cover a business’s
voicemail services, appointment schedules, email services, marketing program,
telemarketing, surveys, payment processing, order processing, quality assurance,
customer support, warranty administration, and other customer feedback.
Back-office transactions: This includes check, credit, and debit card
processing; collection; receivables; direct and indirect procurement;
transportation administration; logistics and dispatch; and warehouse
management.
IT and software operations: These technical support functions include
application development and testing, implementation services, and IT helpdesk.
For example, manual data entry can be replaced with automated data capture,
increasing data intake and reducing cycle time.
Finance and accounting services: These functions include billing services,
accounts payable, receivables, general accounting, auditing, and regulatory
compliance.
Human resource services: BPOs can help address workforce challenges.
They can also cover payroll services, healthcare administration, hiring and
recruitment, workforce training, insurance processing, and retirement benefits.
Knowledge services: These higher-level processes may include data
analytics, data mining, data and knowledge management, and internet and web
research, as well as developing an information governance program and
providing the voice of customer feedback.

Benefits of BPO
1. Focus On Core Competencies
While activities like payroll and data entry are important, they aren’t what
your business focuses on. If you outsource these administrative tasks to BPO
services, your company can shift their focus to your core business activities. For
example, if you’re a marketing agency, outsourcing your administrative tasks
will give you more time and resources to devise marketing strategies for clients!
This can give your company a major competitive advantage, as it can focus on
moving up the value chain.
2. Cost Savings
This is the main reason why businesses employ BPO services.
Around 59% of companies outsource to control costs. Why? When you hire
in-house employees, you need to spend a considerable amount on training,
equipment, tools, and salaries. You also need to rent an office or a work space.
However, when you outsource a part of your business, you cut down on all these
costs. Additionally, most BPO vendors are located in developing countries that
have lower costs of living. This way, you get quality talent for far less!
3. Access to Skilled Talent
When you outsource your business, you get access to the brightest minds
from all over the world! You’re no longer geographically limited when it comes
to talent! Additionally, as you’re only hiring them for specific tasks, they’re
going to cost less than hiring a full-time in-office employee. Also, as they’re only
hired for specific services, they’ll be completely focused on their tasks –
increasing their productivity!
Risks of BPO
1. Data Security Risks
When you outsource your work, you entrust a third-party vendor with your
data. As this data is shared outside your organization, it’s vulnerable to theft by
employees of the outsourced company as well as hackers. Maintaining security is
tricky when the service provider’s data center is in another country, as their
privacy laws may differ from yours. In case something goes wrong, it would be
difficult to take legal action. How can you protect your business from these
threats? If you’re dealing with patents, copyrights, or other private information,
have a lawyer draft contracts that protect your company and the BPO service.
You can even sign NDAs and other agreements to protect your privacy.
2. Communication Issues
Communicating with in-house employees is simple, as you can have face-
to-face conversations within minutes. However, providing feedback to third-party
employees can be a tedious process. Here’s what can slow down communication
with a BPO service company:
 Language barriers
 Time zone differences
 Different levels of feedback within the agency
These issues can hamper productivity and create problems in your business
operations. How do you bridge the communication gap? Consider creating
training manuals that address all the issues your vendors may face. You can also
use virtual communication systems like Slack and Zoom to communicate more
efficiently.
3. Monitoring Issues
Another issue with outsourcing is that it’s hard to monitor the performance
of your BPO staff. Think about it. Your BPO provider could be thousands of
miles away. How will you verify:
 If they’re working during work hours
 If they’re accessing unproductive websites at work
 If your projects actually took that long to complete
LESSON 4: BPO in the Philippines
How did it all began?
In 1995, the Special Economic Zone Act, thus establishing the Philippine
Economic Zone Authority, was passed by the Philippine Congress. This Act
provided lower area requirements for developments and tax incentives, which
consequently attracted foreign investors.
In 1997, SYKES opened its doors in the Philippines, becoming the first
multinational call center to operate in the country.
In November 2001 visit of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the US,
she addressed an Information Technology (IT) Forum in New York and Six (6)
Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were signed by the following:
 ICP Venture Partners, Inc. and Ambergis Solutions, Inc.
 Customer Contact Center, Inc.(C3) (Ph) and Source One Communications
(US)
 Corporate Information Solutions (CIS) and Information Builders 4.
Immequire (RP) and Tele Response Center, Inc. (US)
 ePLDT, Inc. and Echostar Communications Corporation
 ePLDT, Inc. and Teletech Holdings, Inc.
In 2003, the Convergys Corporation opened up two more call centers in the
Philippines. It was at that time when Jack Freker, the president of Convergys
Corporation, announced the incorporation of the Philippines in the revenue
generation plan and the global expansion of the company. In 2005, accounting
for 2.4% of the country's GDP, the Philippine acquired over 3% of the global
BPO market. A year after, with ePLDT Ventus leading in the BPO industry,
domestic economy increased by 5.4% and 11,000 more people were employed.
In 2010, the Philippines was then declared the world's BPO capital. From
this point, the BPO industry continued to grow and generate more revenue, with
the industry providing the most job opportunities in the private sector.
For the year 2016, The BPO industry of the Philippines is projected to
experience an overall positive growth rate. Activity in the industry appears to be
robust enough such that the industry's projected total income range would reach
$20 to $27 billion by 2016 and $40 to $55 billion by 2020. The Industry,
currently holding about 1 million directly employed employees, is also projected
to increase employment by providing a total of about 1.3 to 1.5 million new jobs,
which would consist of employees directly and indirectly employed.
Why outsource in the philippines?
“OUTSOURCING” turns out to be every foreigner's best resort in order for
their businesses to survive amidst global recession. It has also proven its huge
contribution to the improvement of the Philippine economy. The increasing
quality of foreign employers seeking services in the Philippines simply proves
how capable the Filipinos are in delivering high-quality services almost equal to
what employers get from their local employees, ONLY CHEAPER”.
The rate per hour for a highly-qualified US employee is $10. So for an 8-
hour, 5-days a week work, you'd have to pay $400 a week just to get the weekly
job done. However, in outsourcing, instead of paying $10 minimum per hour,
companies can get an employee offshore with an equal amount of work quality at
a $5-6 per hour! THUS, the major reason why many foreigners invest
outsourcing in other countries, preferably Asian.
Specific Reasons to Outsource in the Philippines
 Filipinos have a very good English language background (large volume of
English-speaking workforce)
 Filipinos are equipped in the technical and back-office tasks
 Good work ethic, and low labor cost
 Possess passion and determination for learning & working
 Have an in depth understanding of U.S. key vertical markets and Internet
marketing
 The similarity of culture of the Americans with the Filipinos
Top BPO companies in the Philippines
These are the TOP 40 BPO Companies in the Philippines updated last January
15, 2024 by Outsource Accelerator.
Benefits of business process outsourcing in the philippines
 Philippines is the third largest English speaking country
 Labor is relatively cheaper compared to other nations
 Availability of well-educated computer savvy workforce
 Different government incentives to attract investments
 Strategic location that allows 24 hours work compliment with US and UK
 Quality software firms are available
BPO in the Phillipines: Good for both U.S. And Philippine economy
1. Employers can offer more competitive wages in the Filipino market.
The cost of recruiting, hiring and training a Filipino call virtual assistant is
significantly less than the resources needed to accomplish the task domestically.
A company that engages in a business process outsourcing relationship in the
Philippines can offer more competitive wages than other local industries. This
makes it easy to attract and retain top talent – while still saving on HR costs. It
also fortifies the Filipino economy and creates more new jobs in urban centers.
2. Opportunities for Filipino employees to get on a promising career track
abound.
Companies developing business process outsourcing relationships in the
Philippines are an attractive solution for new college graduates and individuals
looking for a career change. In addition, the BPO industry pays more than other
sectors.
3. Demand for business process outsourcing will continue to grow, thus
providing stability and promise for Filipinos.
The demand for qualified business process outsourcing firms is growing
and will continue to do so in the near future. Investing in this industry in terms of
finances, resources and employee development provides an exciting and lucrative
return.
Foreign investors can rest assured that they will receive quality service at
an affordable rate, while domestic companies in the Philippines can enjoy job
security and potential for growth. Call center agents and virtual assistants will
have the opportunity to explore a variety of career paths in different industries.
Overall, it is a win-win situation for foreign and domestic companies.
Working in a BPO environment: Pros
 BPOs are not just a source of income. They can actually contribute to your
personal and professional growth.
 BPO services are international entities. One is exposed to different situations
and people, giving the individual the chance to gain the experience
 Agents can get promoted in 2-3 months to team leaders if they are
hardworking
 Various fields in BPOs: 1) IT and Programming, 2) Accounting and Finance,
3) Business Development, 4) Human Resources, 5) Production and 6) Quality
Management.
 BPO offices offer a wide range of training programs for their employees.
Help individuals develop skills not only for the workplace but for everywhere
else.
Working in a BPO environment: Cons
 Schedules are not flexible. Most BPOs have to work “graveyard shifts”. Thus,
have to adjust whole lifestyle completely (less time with family & friends)
 Stressful environment leads to anxiety- work under pressure, meet certain # of
clients, calls, resolve cases, etc.
 One gets exposed to junk food and poor diet (24-hour stores, bars and QSR
restaurants are the only options when one craves for something to eat)
 Graveyard shifts lead to health problems in some cases (weight loss/gain due
to change in eating & sleeping habits)
 UTI cases (A 15 min. break allows an agent to do all the things he needs to do
like urinating. However, having this 15 min. job interval every few hours is
not enough for a typical employee)
 QUIZES
What does BPO stand for?
- Business process outsourcing
It is the economy of an economy of a developing nation that is becoming more
engaged with the global market like the Philippines
- Emerging market economy
BPO refers to the process of contracting standard business functions to be
handled by a party ____ of the company
- outside
It is an area that covers some aspect of non-core purchasing and supplies
management.
- Procurement
It is one of the general categories where a company hires a third party provider to
various parts of their supply chain operations
- logistics
Is one of the benefits of BPO increasing operational efficiency?
- true
What are the 4 factors in identifying emerging markets?
- geography, talent pool, infrastracture, economy
What is the difference between a call center and contact center
- call center handles customer services through calls while contact center offers
additional services aside from calls.
Give the additional services of a contact center
- VoIP Telephone Services, email, text chat, fax services, Direct website interface
This gives agents a framework for sales and support, and can help with
confidence when tackling tricky situations.
- scripts
This also allows for tighter security measures, and secure data. toggle their team
members’ access and priorities for maximum efficiency in real time.
-modularity
Monitor agent performance and customer satisfaction over several channels.
- real-time reporting
Are equipped with features designed to distribute calls efficiently, in order to
maximize the number of fielded calls while keeping customer satisfaction high.
-advance call distribution
The portion of a company made up of administration and support personnel who
are not client-facing.
- back office
Companies perform research and analysis work that supports business,
investment, biotech, and marketing firms.
- Research Process Outsourcing
This form of BPO leverages information technology (IT) over the internet or data
network to deliver services.
- Information Technology-enabled services
A subset of KPO and encompasses a huge range of higher-level legal work, not
merely lower-level legal transcription.
- Legal Process Outsourcing
This pertains to all the operations a business needs to support its travel logistics,
from reservations to hotel and vehicle bookings.
- travel
Offer more than process expertise; they may also provide business and domain-
based expertise.
- Knowledge Process Outsourcing
What are the 6 reasons to outsource processes
- to decrease cost, to concentrate on key functions, to achieve better results in
non-core functions, to expand global presence, to improve speed and efficiency,
to enable flexibility
This type of service include internal business processes, such as billing or
purchasing that has no direct interaction to clients.
- back office/back office services