Have you heard about outsourcing? Did you know that you can outsource business processes to help you save time and money and run your company efficiently? BPO or business process automation with AI is an upgraded trick up your sleeve you didn’t know you needed, but you are so happy the gods of technology are here to save you.
You cannot misuse your energy on multitasking. You should focus on what you are good at and build your skills in that direction. Here is where outsourced services come into play. The global business process outsourcing market is set to reach over €500B by 2030, so don’t take our word for it. Everybody is using it.
A Deloitte report shows that the tasks calling for a new captain are in IT, finance, and payroll, but you can also tap into insurance business process outsourcing, or data entry, for example. So, if you didn’t know where to begin, you can look at these departments and see what needs optimizing. Let’s take one baby step at a time to find out more about different types of BPO!
What is Business Process Outsourcing?
While business process outsourcing is the idea of delegating certain repetitive tasks to an external service provider, business process outsourcing with AI takes it one step further. For example, it facilitates communication between you and the outsourcing company to create an automated outsourced process.
Payroll is a good example that could be outsourced. Why? Because it is a repetitive task you should not spend a lot of time on, and which can be done by somebody from outside your company. You do not necessarily need a dedicated team member for it, but it is mandatory to be able to function and grow your company.
Amongst the benefits of business process outsourcing, there are:
reduced costs and time, as BPO service providers can do something better, faster, and cheaper than an in-house team member,
flexibility when it comes to certain market changes, as you will have a dedicated external team keeping up to date with what you are outsourcing,
productivity to focus on what matters, like customer satisfaction and turnaround times, not on redundant tasks,
access to innovations outside your circle of interest,
and 24/7 coverage.
When to outsource your business processes
There are three main ideas to focus on when deciding to outsource your business processes. When you do not have the internal resources and do not want to grow your team; you want to focus on your company's core and speed up your targets, for which your priority should shift towards improving customer service.
If you were to choose between offloading back or front-office functions, choose the first ones to maybe lower costs. Then, boost the budget to develop in-house the ones in the front - customer relation services, marketing, and sales. These will turn into your ambassadors.
But before we dive into outsourcing to BPO vendors, let's browse the risks you should be aware of.
>>> Data security and law compliance should be your core values, so make sure you work with vetted companies.
>>> Next, have a team member overseeing this task to control if everything is going in the right direction.
>>> Then, build upon your collaboration. Have a three-month trial period to see if the outsourcing company can manage how you want, and also for the outsourcing company to see the amount of work involved and define the costs.
How to outsource your business processes
First of all, begin by defining your goals before choosing a BPO vendor. Are you looking to scale faster and lower costs or are you interested in somebody to provide expertise in a field you are not familiar with, for example, in a legal aspect?
Then, it's time you assess your current processes to see which one is doing good, but could do better and which ones are dragging your scaling or innovation. Keep in mind that to outsource, you might have to change your internal processes as well and invest in automation with AI.
Next, it’s time you find a reputable outsourcing partner. It will help deliver what you require and even improve what you didn’t even know you needed help with. Decide also if you are going to outsource the full, let’s say, HR or accounting departments, or only parts, like training new employees, or payrolls.
To get the right price, you must define the project's scope. Write down each task you want to be outsourced and for how long. This way, the BPO partner can plan accordingly and you will not see extra fees in the following invoices.
Have patience in managing the transition. Outsourcing partners require a learning curve to deliver personalized work. This can take from one to three months to set up a workflow, but this can be simplified with the help of AI. Make sure you define everything from the start, as collaboration will run as smoothly as it will begin. It might take a bit more extra time to set it up, but it will be worth it in the long run.
The first three months are essential to monitor and adjust. You should have weekly calls to sync up in the first month, then monthly calls for the first three months, and once or twice per year afterward, when you are in sync. But always be available if the BPO outsourcing partner wants to implement something different, for example, automating processes with AI for accuracy, like data entry, or reporting, and even cloud computing.
Business process automation with AI is a strategic decision that can help you achieve efficiency and quality while lowering costs in this competitive market. To drive your company forward, you must shift, evolve, and tap into the RPA - robotic process automation, or AI with EmailTree for customer service automation. Everything changes fast these days, it’s the only way to innovate!
Technology is pushing processes, and savvy business men and women are getting on board this wagon. Diversity means allowing your company to grow inwards, as well as outwards. And outsourcing could be the leverage you needed to focus more on your team rockstars, as well as your loyal customers. What's more, it has never been easier now to outsource to a company anywhere in the world.