Ever heard of BPO? With the specialization of companies in their lines of business, it is inevitable the growth in demand for activities that are outside the central objectives of the area, such as IT services. In some cases, these are fundamental to achieving goals within the company.
When the institution does not have specialists in Information Technology or has few resources for investment, outsourcing this service seems like a great business option. Therefore, it is in this aspect that BPO appears as a solution.
In this post, our goal is to present some information about BPO, its importance in current times, and how to put it into practice, especially in the IT area. Stay with us and check it out!
What is BPO?
The acronym BPO stands for Business Process Outsourcing and can be called Business Process Outsourcing. Its concept is simple: an organization that does not have expertise in a certain area hires another organization to carry out a process related to this lack of expertise.
The concept of BPO was born in the industry. Many manufacturers needed to hire other companies to handle certain processes that were part of their production chain, but not directly related to the manufacture of their products. Therefore, over time, other organizations began to adopt this practice to optimize time and resources.
We can say that BPO is a way of channeling energy and resources to the core business of the company. Therefore, as many secondary processes are outsourced to other organizations, those that are not directly linked to the core activity.
According to a report issued by MarketLine, BPO Services Industry Almanac, the process, and activities outsourcing sector generated revenue of US$ 144.9 billion in 2017 alone. In this sense, showing how the concept has been gaining strength.
Today, companies from different niches use the BPO concept in their activities, including non-profit organizations and government agencies. Everyone hires service providers, making the provision of IT services one of the most common practices.
Why use BPO?
Companies that seek to apply BPO leave operational activities aside to take a more strategic stance in relation to their business. From outsourcing, there is a redirection of the focus of managers and employees to functions that directly generate value for the company and its products.
In this way, the consequences are the reduction of costs, the increase in the quality of the products, and a greater variety for the customers.
The decision to transfer part of the company’s activities also allows for the development of large-scale operations and greater business scalability. After all, the organization will not have to worry about the growth in demand for certain activities.
Example
For example, as the business expands, the need for more storage and more powerful servers may grow. With BPO, it is the contracted company that must deal with these problems, allowing the business to turn to strategic expansion activities.
Another very interesting point concerns the specialized labor to carry out the processes. Employees with this profile demand high salaries from the company, which can compromise the payroll. With outsourcing, the company has service providers who are experts in their markets and do not lose out in terms of quality.
Costs also become more controlled. The BPO agreements have Service Level Agreement clauses, previously agreed between the parties and which guarantee the provision of services and other business variables.
Also called SLA, are quality commitments assumed between the service provider and the customer, delimiting their actions and determining the responsibilities of each party to the contract, and if not complied with by one of those involved, it can generate fines or breach of contract.
Benefits like these are hardly achieved with internal processes, which have fixed costs and limited growth. From the outsourcing of services, management is no longer done in a non-specialized way and the company’s production level tends to increase.
How to apply this concept in the IT sector?
The IT sector is one of the fastest-growing in the world. According to Gartner estimates, more than $3.8 trillion will be invested in information technology in 2019 alone. This shows that companies are looking for ways to innovate without losing product quality and increasing costs.
BPO proves to be a great alternative to optimize earnings. Next, we separate the points that demonstrate the application of this concept to IT operations.
Data analysis
Data analysis is not a common activity in most companies, but it has strategic value for the growth of any company. By using BPO, your company can count on the specialized provision of this IT service, with accurate reports to make more informed decisions.
Juridical processes
Other necessary activities within the companies are the legal processes and the alignment of services with current legislation. An outsourced company, with qualified and specialized professionals, can be of great help in ensuring the IT sector’s compliance with all legal requirements.
Accounting
Accounting, especially the collection and payment of taxes, is an essential activity to avoid problems with the Revenue and other tax bodies. Transferring this activity to a specialized company guarantees agility and precision in transactions.
Compliance
Compliance and best practices are fundamental when it comes to IT, as they help reduce errors through a very well-founded operational routine. When looking for a BPO, one can find professionals specialized in carrying out process audits.
These specialists analyze all the company’s IT routines and check for errors, bottlenecks, and the possibility of improvement. This generates reports with actions to be taken, which aim to keep the company in compliance with good IT practices.
Tax area
Our tax scenario is highly complex, with several taxes that work from numerous rules, which can make life difficult for some companies. Outsourcing this service helps the company to understand how it can manage its tax processes, in order to avoid any problems with government agencies.
As we have seen, investment in BPO strengthens the company’s focus on strategic actions, by saving employees from many operational activities. This allows for the channeling of team energy into activities that directly impact the financial health of the business.
