Business process outsourcing has two main areas of work: Back-office functions and Front-office functions.
Back-office functions
These can sometimes include internal process within an organization like
- Accounting
- Information technology (IT) services
- Human resources (HR)
- Quality assurance
- Payroll
BPO contracts can involve outsourcing an entire functional area, like an HR department, to a single vendor or might outsource certain processes within a functional area like payroll but all other HR processes remains with the organization.
Front-office functions
Here direct interaction with clients or customers through channels like phone, email or chat.
Voice Process
Contact with clients or customers over the phone. This can be an Inbound or outbound process.
Non-voice Process
Contact with clients or customers over Email, Chat or Social media
Processes include:
- Customer relations
- Sales & Retention
- Technical support
- Shipping & Logistics
- Social media Support
- Online Reputation Management (ORM)
- IT help desk services
- Software support
Apart from above mentioned main processes there are other processes like
- Data entry
- Data conversion services
- Bookkeeping services
- Form processing services
- medical & legal transcription services.
Outbound process usually include sales or collections. Even though incentives are good here, most prefer inbound processes for stability.
Types of BPO based on the service provider's location:
Offshore outsourcing: Process outsourced to a company in a foreign country.
Onshore outsourcing: Process outsourced to a company that operates in the same country.
Nearshore outsourcing: Process outsourced in neighboring countries.