What is BPO? 

A Comprehensive Guide to Business Process Outsourcing

BPO, or business process outsourcing, has transformed from a niche initiative by a few corporate players into a global business trend over the past few decades. For years, companies frowned upon handing over control of sensitive internal operations and data to third-party operators who specialized in those workflows. But BPO has quickly proven to be an efficient and effective way to streamline back-of-house operations while making a major impact on a company’s bottom line.

Modern technology has also transformed BPO from something only major companies could benefit from, to a technique that can accelerate growth for mom-and-pop businesses and new bootstrapping startups. But in order to know how BPO can be an asset for your business, it’s worth knowing the basics. This guide can serve as your introductory lesson into leveraging the power of BPO for your business.

Business process outsourcing, or BPO, is a business practice in which an organization enlists another company to perform a process task that is essential for the hiring organization to function and operate successfully.

BPO initially emerged in the manufacturing industry, as manufacturers began hiring other companies to handle specific processes that were time and resource-consuming internally. This included elements like handing over portions of their supply chains unrelated to the core competencies required to make their end products.

Over time, organizations in a wide variety of other industries have adopted the practice. Currently, the use of BPO has expanded so much that organizations of all kinds -- for-profit businesses, nonprofits, and even government offices and agencies -- contract with BPO service providers in the United States, throughout North America and globally to perform these essential business operations seamlessly, functioning as an extension of the hiring business itself.

Traditionally, BPO has been divided into two specific categories of work, known as back-office functions and front-office functions. 

• Back-office functions: Commonly referred to as internal business functions, back-office is an umbrella term that includes traditional business operations such as accounting, human resources (HR), quality control and assurance (QA), payment processing, and information technology services (ITS). 

• Front-office functions: Also referred to as customer or client-facing services, front-office BPO includes common operations like customer relations and customer service operations, marketing, advertising, and sales. 



Some companies choose to outsource an entire segment of their operations (such as their HR department), while others will choose to contract for specific processes - such as outsourcing payroll or call center services. 




In addition to these areas, which are the most common uses of BPO, some companies have also begun to outsource strategic work such as data mining and data analytics. As business operations continue to evolve with new CRM and communications technology, the variety of uses for BPO will only continue to expand as well. 











Organizational executives choose to outsource a business process through a variety of avenues. In the case of startups, these companies often need to outsource back-office and front-office functions because they lack the resources to build the staff and supporting functions to perform those functions in-house. In the case of established companies, management may opt to outsource a task that it had been performing all along after internal analysis determines that an outsourced provider could do the job better and at a lower cost.




Management experts often advise enterprise executives to evaluate their operations to identify functions that can be outsourced, with considerations like cost savings, integration between the BPO provider and the company, and resource allocation. The organization may also have to invest in a technology solution to enable the smooth flow of work from the organization itself to the outsource provider. However, the need for new solutions or technology is largely dependent on what function a company is hoping to turn over while outsourcing BPO.









Because companies around the world offer BPO services to other organizations, BPO is often categorized based on the service provider's location:




Offshore outsourcing, or just offshoring, describes when an organization contracts for services provided with a company in a foreign country.

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• Onshore outsourcing, or domestic outsourcing, occurs when an organization contracts for services provided by a company that is located and operates within the same country as the hiring organization.
  
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• Nearshore outsourcing is when an organization contracts for BPO services provided by companies based in neighboring or nearby countries (often the same time zone, or continent)
  
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• Business process outsourcing is also sometimes known as IT-enabled services, or ITES -- a name that recognizes that IT infrastructure enables outsourcing to happen. No matter which category of BPO you are using, the actual functions are the same - which option you choose is often driven by budget and communication considerations and services offered by a particular BPO provider.

How can a company like Canon ITS help with BPO? 

Canon ITS offers years of award-winning experience providing BPO in a variety of areas, notably customer relations and call center operations, direct sales and order fulfillment, help desk services, and technical support. The Canon ITS team can also draw on its experience to offer consulting services and advice for streamlining existing business operations, based on industry best practices and the newest innovations in business tech.

Canon ITS also offers expertise in the more recent field of social media BPO, as more and more customers turn to social feeds to communicate with companies and submit service requests and orders. The Canon ITS team not only handles these services for companies, but works to serve as an extension of any brand - learning a client’s business from the inside and out, and then helping to tailor a BPO solution that is ideal for a client’s needs and operational success.

Are you interested in learning more about the BPO services Canon ITS can offer your business? Then learn more about our services or contact us today!