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Many answering services and call centers claim to be experts in business process outsourcing (BPO). If the services are performing the BPO activities in house or they have partnered with various providers such as supply chain companies and business payroll companies, a BPO provider goes far beyond the traditional definition of a call center. An answering service, call center and contact center are all certain types of BPO companies, but Business Product Outsourcing goes far beyond these types of telecommunication services.
Business Process Outsourcing is a specialized form of IT (information technology) outsourcing. Business Process Outsourcing focuses on utilizing a third party service provider to handle IT-related activities. These activities can include such applications as management, development, and data center operations. These operations can include call center services, contact center services, testing and quality virtual assistant services assurance of products or services.
Years ago, Business Process Outsourcing generally consisted of such tasks such as payroll. A third party payroll service was commonplace in many offices. BPO then grew to include human resource functions such as employee benefits management and employee assistance programs. Today Business Process Outsourcing can include a variety of functions that are considered non-traditional. Business’s that choose to employ third party companies to handle tasks that are traditionally done in house, are generally on the cutting edge of technology. However, in many cases these third party companies handle the entirety of the companies hardware, software and telecommunication needs.
Telecommuting and its BPO Relationship
An internet search on the term will reveal many businesses that label themselves BPO providers. Many of these businesses base their service on the phenomenon of telecommuting. Through a relatively new way to work known as telecommuting, the BPO company allows an employee, or an entire company to operate without the walls of an office. The entire process is seamless, invisible and effective. The entire reception and communication site is handling off premise, while the employee can operate in the office, at home, or even by the pool. Answering Service, call center, and contact center processing is part of the method of phone call handling.
Even in the days of email, text messaging, instant messaging and the internet, phone call handling is still the primary way of doing business. The companies that embrace technology and continue to pay attention to old fashioned customer service values are the ones that will thrive and prosper in today’s business environment. In the answering service industry, the need to embrace technology and continue to provide customer service values is a necessity. By embracing change, a traditional answering service can go beyond traditional conventions and become a Business Process Outsourcing specialist.