BPO Full Form | Why is it Different From Call Center?

Most of the time we have heard the word BPO but do you know the meaning of BPO? If you want to work in the BPO industry then you should know about this Industry and what this industry is all about. You also should know the roles and duties in BPO which you can perform. If we speak about the current time then most of the youngsters are eager to work in this industry. You can work in the BPO industry Part-time and full-time.

In today’s article, we are going to inform you what the BPO is and we also inform you about the types of BPO. Further, we will also discuss How a BPO is different from a Call Center. We can assure you that this article will provide you with important information.

What is a BPO Full Form?

The full form of BPO is Business Process Outsourcing. This is a process of business behavioural where a company hires another company to complete its tasks. Normally BPO is the contracting of non-primary business activities and processes to a third-party provider. BPO services involve Payroll, Human Resource (HR), Customer Care, Call Center relationships, Social Media Marketing, Data Recording, Telemarketing and Accounting etc. 

For Example, Vodafone which is a Multinational Telecommunication company, its main business is to provide a smooth mobile network to its customers so that their customers can enjoy the good services of Calling, SMS and the internet. To provide other related services to their customers like providing information related to data plans, Solving any problem related to the mobile network, How to improve IT infrastructure, etc. For all of these services, Vodafone has hired the services of another company.

Those who have experience in the services industry, provide services to these companies. Also hiring another company for their other work saves lots of time for these companies and also they don’t require additional manpower. So that the company can focus more to improve their services. 

What are the Types of BPO?

We have some information as to what the BPO is, now we will know what the types of BPO are. According to Work and BPO systems, BPO has been divided into 3 types and almost every company works on the same formation. 

Offshore Outsourcing

When a country’s company gives another Country’s company to provide the services on their behalf and makes a contract for that, then this process is called Offshore Outsourcing. In simple words when the services are outsourced to any other country it is called Offshore Outsourcing. The reason behind offshore outsourcing is political stability, Lower Labor Costs, Various Tax Savings etc.

In these types of BPO the company can get skilled workers and services at a much lower price. That will help to reduce the overall expenses and potentially lower product or service rates for the end-users. 

Onshore Outsourcing

When a company of any country gives the work of providing services to the company which is located in the same country then it is called Onshore Outsourcing. This type of BPO is also referred to as Domestic BPO. In very simple language a vendor in one city or state or district can be hired for services provided to companies in any other city, state or district. This can be induced by numerous things like the availability of specialized capabilities in a certain region or local differences in prices and expenses.

Nearshore Outsourcing

Nearshore Business Process Outsourcing or Nearshore BPO is an act of hiring the services of vendors in geographically nearer nations. For example, a company in the United States of America can incorporate Canada and Mexico along with Central America. This type of outsourcing normally happens when specialised skills are available at a very minimal cost in nearby countries but a few things also need to be considered while going for Nearshore Outsourcing like Timezones, Language Proficiencies etc. 

Back-Office BPO

Services that are apart from Customer-Facing services come under Back-Office BPO. These types of services include Human Resources Services, Quality Assurance, IT services, Business Process Automation and many more. There are a few subtypes of BPO like IT-Enabled Services (ITES) BPO, Such as IT analysts, LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing), Knowledge Process Outsource (KPO). 

The main benefits of outsourcing these tasks as the companies can focus more on their mission instead of consuming their time in costly internal training and onboarding.

Front-Office BPO

When we talk about Front-Office BPO then it is referred to Customer-Facial Services which are Customer Service, Sales & Marketing and Tech Support. Normally these services are frequently outsourced due to technical understanding and they can be achieved off-premises. When we outsource Customer Support Lines, Any Front Office Service, Web development services, the business can benefit from specialized skills with proficiency and costs. 

What is the Career Scope at BPO?

A BPO career implicates the nucleus activity of producing Business Process Outsourcing Services. This includes Voice (Telephonic) and Non-Voice (E-Mail & Chat) based Customer Interaction Services, Technical Support, Analyzing of Customer Specific Data, Transaction Processing and Telemarketing. In a fast growing BPO industry, career opportunities exist across various fields like HR, Legal, Marketing, Quality, Administration etc. 

This also includes Customer Support, Technical Support, Telemarketing and multilingual support. As India is a vast English speaking nation so it has become a perfect place for outsourcing US workload by Business Process Outsourcing. In India, English is taught as a secondary language. Also, the labour in India is cheaper than in comparison to the United States. As far as Qualifications, Most BPO jobs require basic computer knowledge and good command of English. 

Call Center Executives are required to be trained in Soft Skills including Voice Neutralization and accent training. If you are not having any professional degree then you can consider BPO jobs as a long term career option. Most of the people take BPO jobs as a short term career option. 

What are the Benefits of BPO?

There are several benefits of BPO which are mentioned below.

• Increase Sales & Productivity– By hiring the services of BPO companies the Business can pay more focus on their vision. This also saves their valuable time and it also helps to assist their Customers along with completing their project at a rapid pace. Here the Experts complete their work efficiently and it will increase sales and productivity. 

• Reduce Costs– Every company wants to earn more by investing less, BPO services reduce the business cost. BPO not only works on lesser prices but also plays an important role in productivity-increasing and hiking revenues. Through outsourcing the services company gets the work done on lesser services. 

• System Utilization: BPO utilizes the limited resources by maximum level. Outsourcing services help to inspect new employees and the resources. It leads to increased production and reducing costs.

What are the Negative Points of BPO?

There are few negative points of BPO. Let’s understand these points.

• Communication Problems: There is always a case of miscommunication between Customers and Customer Care agents in BPO. For example, a Customer says another thing and the Customer Care Executive understands a different thing. This leads to an increase in miscommunication between Customers and Executives. Sometimes the Customers get irate and say unprofessional words to the Customer Care Executives. 

• Bad Effects of Health– As there is no particular shift timings in BPO and Mostly BPO works 24*7.  That is why the employees need to work during nights as well as during the early morning. The bad timings of BPO do have bad effects on our health and many of the BPO employed suffer from health problems.

What is the difference between BPO and Call Center?

Generally people think that BPO and Call Center both are the same and work ethics are also the same. But there are some differences between BPO and Call Center and their work processes are a little bit different from each other. Now let’s differentiate between the two of them.

• BPO works on Online and Offline mode but Call Center only works on Online Mode. 
• In Call Center the primary work is Making Calls and Attending Calls but In BPO the main work is mail, Meetings, Printing, Documents and calls etc. 
• BPO works on a system and its main purpose is to increase business productivity. But Call Center works as a part of BPO and its main work is to assist customers and advertisement of the Products.
• For Job in BPO, you need Basic knowledge of computers and command of English but in Call Center, you need to have good communication skills also. 
• In BPO there are various departments such as IT, Finance, Billing, HR, Quality etc but in Call Center, there are departments that make and receive calls. 

Conclusion

We hope that you will get very important information related to BPO. Also you will understand the difference between BPO and Call Center. 

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