Organizations of all sizes can benefit from outsourcing certain routine and non-routine processing functions. As I have discussed before, payroll processing is the most popular but should not be the only business process considered for outsourcing. It is not essential that an entire business process be outsourced. Many firms identify partial sub-processes of a larger process which can be performed more efficiently by a BPO provider. Customer relationship management (CRM), product warranty management and back office accounting are a few areas where sub processes can be identified for outsourcing.
In CRM applications, certain events occur which create needs to update customer information from returned contact management mailings and emails. These transactions can be systematically routed to a BPO provider for updating in order to maintain accurate customer databases. Initial product warranty information data can be routed to providers to create customer warranty records in a timely manner. Even the employee time record capture process related to payroll functions can be off-loaded to outsourcing providers to meet tight time turn-around requirements on a routine basis.
The benefits of outsourcing these partial processes are similar to those of those larger business processes.
1. Lower personnel and processing costs
2. Depth of resources when volume requirements rise and fall
3. Consistency of task process quality
4. Timeliness of service process delivery
The key to a successful outsourcing function is specifically defining the details of the processes required. Documentation of the tasks involved including rules and exceptions are necessary so each organization knows where their particular responsibility lies inside the entire business process. Many times the knowledge shared by both organizations will contribute to the overall efficiency of the outsourced function and the entire business process.
