Essential Guide to Business Process Outsourcing | Smartsheet

The future of BPO is similar to that of many industries in that automation will be key. Many experts point to RPA as the main avenue through which BPO will change. For example, data entry work and image recognition can be automated easily. However, experts report that certain functions, like handwritten data and telemarketing, will resist automation.

All industries, including BPO, will likely leverage emerging technologies, such as cloud services, social media, and machine learning, to reduce costs and accelerate growth. One business model, the productized service, combines software and an outsourced staff member. An example of productized services is a package that bundles cutting-edge accounting software and accounting services, with both services billed to the contracting company monthly. Startups in particular are becoming more dependent on this type of service, so there is mutual dependence with BPOs.

The trend of providing and supporting improvements in social media management tools is expected to continue. Investments in cloud computing will also persist, as it becomes a more mature platform. In addition, BPOs will invest in diversifying their workforce. As BPOs get more competitive and are forced to lower their prices, they will move to lower-cost alternatives such as software automation and AI. With the threat of losing workers to AI and automation, governments and business leaders are educating them so they can meet the newer demand for highly skilled positions.

With businesses expecting BPOs to fill their gaps or even becoming dependent on them, BPOs are required to be more transparent so that they may build and maintain trust. In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, BPO providers were concerned that they would lose their ability to work for U.S. companies if the new administration changed policies on trade, tax laws, and visas. However, experts do not believe that changing political tides will negatively affect BPO or KPO. Because KPO in particular requires higher-level skill sets or higher education, experts believe that individual country politics will be less apt to disrupt the businesses.

Our experts weigh in and provide their opinions of the future of BPO, and some have recommendations for hiring BPO vendors:

According to SEO expert and business advisor Alex Genadinik, Founder and CEO of Problemio.com, “Moving forward, I fear that there will be a decline of quality as the market saturates with more and more companies and freelancers that do essentially the same relatively low-quality work. The challenge is that if you hire high-quality companies, they typically do great work, but are costly. As a business owner, this means that you must either get to the point where you can hire costly companies on a long-term basis or allocate resources to SEO in-house. If done intelligently, it doesn’t have to require many resources, but at least you will have control and transparency of what the SEO work is being done. This ensures that your employees are not cutting corners or doing something that will get your website penalized by Google.

“I have experience outsourcing to a BPO for my business Problemio.com, and I have been hired by SEO marketing agencies to train their staff. What I can say is that if you are hiring on a budget, you will get very low-quality work. Only the top tier of the BPO companies actually do good work that I as an SEO expert would deem acceptable. So for the long term: Hire high quality or don’t hire at all.”

Thomas Wooldridge, who specializes in web design, social media, and PR at Relamark Web Design & Marketing, advises, “BPO is something that will never go away. It’s like saying you want to bring back encyclopedia books or Blockbuster videos. Our world has never gone backward from technology. The internet has made it much easier to bring the whole world together.

“There will always be a need for low-skill and low-wage workers who would be difficult to hire in the West, although many countries such as India, the Philippines, or China will gladly do it on your behalf. On the other hand, the same country you used to hire the low-wage workers will eventually get smarter. The local economies and workers’ skills will improve to where they are demanding higher pay. So then you have to look into another third-world-type country to attract.

“For example in the 1990s, India was the prime location for BPO services. Because of this, education and middle-class incomes rose to the point that they have nearly surpassed that of workers in the United States. Now U.S. companies have to nearly import those same workers to take the jobs that Americans couldn’t fill. That is why there is a tremendous growth in Indian medical doctors and IT people in the United States.”

Pete Abilla, Lean Six Sigma expert turned entrepreneur and owner of FindATutorNearMe, a tutoring marketplace with over 100,000 private tutors, says, “During my career, I’ve spent a lot of time improving the processes of clients. One trend I’m seeing is that organizations are more interested in training their own employees in the techniques of Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma. However, for some processes, such as call centers and primarily back-office operations, it might be more cost effective to outsource those to a BPO entity. Another trend I’m seeing is that BPO organizations are best to use for departments that are primarily cost centers and not revenue generators for the company.”

Ben Walker, the CEO of Transcription Outsourcing, LLC, says, “We work with all kinds of companies, small, medium, large, public, private, and many different government agencies, on a daily basis. They use my company because they don’t have the internal personnel to do what we do for them. Transcription is not something a lot of people do any more, so by utilizing us and our teams of transcriptionists we can help them get what they need much faster and cheaper than they could do it themselves. I don’t think companies like mine will be going anywhere any time soon because we do highly specialized work that you can’t replace at the drop of a hat and start filling cubicles next week.”

Derric Haynie, CEO of Vulpine Interactive, says, “By the end of 2017 or early 2018, I’m planning on opening up my own counterpart agency in Asia (Bali or the Philippines are front-runners right now). The reason I’m doing this is because my business relies heavily on systems and processes, things that technology can’t quite do, but doesn’t require significant strategy or high-level employees either. By opening up our own business, we can ensure quality and continuity while simultaneously keeping costs very low.

“While I don’t think all companies will move toward this model, I do see it as highly viable and would expect more ‘outsourcing’ to actually be done in-house as even small companies like mine can open up their own in-sourced shop in another country.

“In the short term, I see BPO being easier to access and utilize by all companies, but I also see AI and technology eliminating many BPO jobs in the short- and long-term future. It’s the same venture, not a new venture. We will just be opening an office in Asia to handle all of our low-level processes. I imagine there will be many problems starting a business in another country. I have yet to assess all of them properly. I’m not looking forward to that.”

FInally, the new BPO destinations expected to emerge in 2018 include Bulgaria, Romania, Egypt, Mexico, and Columbia. Due to fierce BPO competition, oversaturation, and reduced business growth, these five countries may become alternate low-cost locations.