Business Process Outsourcing(B.P.O)
What is BPO? :
No doubt you've heard it before. It's one of those trendy catchphrases that some people use without fully understanding it.
A more traditional meaning might define BPO as contracting out non-core duties and expenses to an outside provider in order to achieve some cost savings and perhaps improve productivity.
Outsourcing means the transfer of continuing management responsibility for a function to a third party supplier under a contract which specifies particular service levels.
The term "business process outsourcing" describes the outsourcing of a varying mix of non-core (yet critical) processes which, include claim handling, customer relationship management, finance & accounting, human resource, information & communication technology (ICT), policy administration, procurement, revenue collection and other transaction services.
Companies are using BPO to reach a wide range of goals. BPO was once viewed primarily as a way of reducing expenses. Today, enterprises are leveraging BPO services to achieve productivity gains, shorten innovation cycles, enhance customer intimacy and enter new markets.
Benefits of Outsourcing :
There are many reasons to outsource which will vary from organisation to organisation and from process to process. For our clients the key rationale is that through our delivering their critical non-core activities, they are liberated to focus on their core activities - on what they are best at.
Through outsourcing, we aim to bring about a number of benefits which include increased quality of service and thus achieve ever-increasing client (and consumer or citizen) satisfaction. Our clients have access to skills and technologies which would otherwise not be available to them and so experience new levels of innovation and improved management and control.
There are also clear financial benefits as we invariably reduce the costs of providing a service. Clients are able to turn fixed costs into variable ones and reduced investment in assets liberates resource for use elsewhere.
There are also strong benefits for the employees who transfer to us. We are able to offer them fulfilling career opportunities and their roles change from often being seen as overheads supporting organisations to being at the heart of our organisation's revenue-generating activities.
Successful outsourcing contracts are designed with change in mind: the challenges which organisations face change, along with the environment in which they operate and the expectations of their customers, and so new opportunities develop. We are able to work with our clients and to adapt and develop our services to meet these new challenges.
Overall, BPO liberates clients to focus on their core activities, achieve a rapid and sustained improvement in business performance, bring new levels of expertise and innovation into the organisation and achieve enhanced levels of client satisfaction and shareholder wealth.
Industry reports :
Business intelligence major International Data Corporation (IDC) has predicted that the IT-enabled services market globally will account for revenues of US$ 1.2 trillion by 2006.
With growth projected at 11 percent annually, the ITES/BPO segment will be one of the most significant business opportunities for the Indian software and services industry.
Indian IT players have in fact already made great strides in the ITES/BPO market. What began as an activity that was confined to MNCs that set up captive ITES facilities in the country, India today has a large base of third party ITES/BPO companies that are bagging prestigious remote services projects from leading global organizations.
The ITES-BPO market remained a high growth segment for the Indian software and services industry during 2002-03. Despite the adverse global economic conditions, Indian players in this space, logged in high growth rates. Overall this sector grew at over 65 percent-upping revenues from Rs. 71 billion in 2001-02 to touch Rs. 117 billion in 2002-03. |