Business landscapes, regardless of industry, have always been challenging to navigate. In every entrepreneurial effort that succeeds, many others fall by the wayside. While a winning mindset can propel you to hit objectives, it’s not always enough. You need to have on-point systems and processes in place to support your can-do attitude.
However, system management and maintenance don’t always prove easy and accessible. That’s most true for startups with limited resources. This is where business process outsourcing (BPO) comes in.
BPO refers to a company entering into a contract with an external service provider to accomplish specific business functions. These functions range from online marketing to customer service or administrative duties to digital security. Virtually all pertinent business processes may be outsourced.
And if you luck out with a credible BPO firm, you’re assured of offshoring benefits that will contribute in one way or another to business expansion.
For startups specifically, the advantages of BPO cannot be overstated. Here are some of them.
Cost-efficient
Hiring full-time employees cost significant money. On top of the remuneration package you give each member of your in-house staff, there are additional expenses to factor into the equation, too. Think employment taxes, for instance. There’s also the need to provide working space alongside relevant tools and equipment. These costs do add up.
Meanwhile, with business outsourcing, you’re only responsible to pay what’s stated on your agreed contract. And that contract has got everything covered, including whatever your outsource staff needs to carry out their jobs. There’s a ready-made infrastructure to welcome you.
You won’t have to stress about workers staying in the office over time, using company resources for non-work activities. The money you save from operational costs, you can funnel into expansion goals.
Reduced turnover
Fast turnover costs significant money, which is every business’s concern these days. For one, there’s the Great Resignation trend to contend with, presumably triggered by how the pandemic has made workers reassess their lives in general and their priorities in particular.
Even without this trend, turnover has already been a major problem for startups. That’s because it’s easy for employees to ditch a job that might have failed to deliver their expectations. Here, startups are susceptible since they are still in the process of finding their footing.
BPO eliminates that risk. Once you enter into a contract, no one involved in that agreement can just call it quits. People will have to see the whole thing through.
Top talents
Before the advent of BPO, you’re limited to the talents within your immediate area. Or if you want to import top-tier talents from far away, you’ll likely need to shoulder their relocation expenses. That is on top of expectedly high salaries.
Thanks to BPO, you’re afforded a plethora of choices when it comes to experts and professionals who can help your business move forward. Your options may hail from all parts of the globe. That means you can maximize the relativity of labor costs. Again, this is another cost-saving opportunity, one you achieve without compromising output quality.
Delegation of non-core functions
While running a business entails being in control of multiple processes, there’s no need to micromanage everything. Keep in mind that there are non-core business functions that are perfectly fine to delegate. Think, for instance, accounting. That’s a job you can outsource to a licensed professional. If not, it’ll take a lot of your time, especially if it does not fall within your set of expertise.
The time and energy you save from outsourced non-core functions, you can use for more critical aspects of business management. Those may include processes that directly affect products and services.
Once non-core functions are out of the way, you’ll notice improved productivity in-house. That’s because there’s an improved sense of focus all around.
Business expansion
As a startup, you’re in the initial stages of your business journey. That does not mean you can’t look ahead to the future. In fact, as early as now, you need to have a clear sight of where you want to take your entrepreneurial pursuit. With a growth mindset, you’ll have a better shot at attracting investors. You’ll have something worthwhile to promise those with capital.
You can zero in better on growth prospects if menial and repetitive tasks are out of your hands. You’ll have more mental bandwidth to spend. You may then use that mental bandwidth to improve your current product mix, for example. Or to draft a 20-year plan that further improves upon the 10-year objective you set out when you first wrote your startup’s business model.
BPO expertise
The fact that you were able to build a startup from scratch means you’re a true business visionary. However, do not overestimate your capabilities. It’s important to maintain a healthy dose of doubt. Someone who has stopped questioning themselves is more prone to making avoidable blunders.
You may spare yourself from those blunders by teaming with a BPO firm that has a proven track record in the business process you need help with. Rest assured that they’re offering a specific service because that’s something they spent enough time to learn and master. As a client, you’ll benefit from a BPO firm’s expertise. They will provide you with supplemental wisdom when you need to hear a perspective other than your own.
Streamlined processes
A partnership with a BPO firm means you’ll be privileged with technology geared at streamlining processes. This opportunity comes with the contract you sign and pay. It will allow you peace of mind. You know your staff has reliable tools at their disposal. And you know that access to the progress of your current project is just a few clicks away.
Moreover, you’ll have a contact person or two tasked to manage your outsourced staff. All you need to do is monitor the goings-on from time to time.
As for key decisions, you have fewer people to consult with and, therefore, conclusions are reached faster.
Network expansion
You’ve probably heard the aphorism no man is an island. That word of wisdom may be tweaked for business purposes, too. That is no business is an island.
To succeed, you need a reliable network of clients, suppliers, vendors, and service providers. And there’s no such thing as too many networks or too much networking when it comes to business management. Here, more is always better. And a BPO worth their salt may help you reach and find more, network-wise.
In closing
Successful companies renowned the world over have long relied on BPO. Think Google. In 2019, their outsourced workers exceeded in-house employees. The same is true for Microsoft. Meanwhile, once-obscure startups like Skype, Basecamp, and Slack have employed BPO to advance their goals at some point.
But make no mistake. Business outsourcing is not exclusive to big and popular brands. In fact, in a 2018 Clutch survey, small businesses that had partnered with BPO firms accounted for 37% of respondents. Meanwhile, 52% shared they would include BPO in their operations the following year. This level of popularity is easy to understand.
It all boils down to the many benefits of outsourcing as listed above. The weight of these advantages cannot be argued. And if you maximize them the right way, you’re bound to see your startup blossom into a name that would later be another BPO success story.
Regina del Rosario is from Booth & Partners, a Seattle-based company with operations in the Philippines. With a solid background in conducting interviews with multiple candidates to identify the one with the most potential. Hired over 100 applicants for positions in dozens of industries and campaigns, at levels ranging from interns to upper-level management. Excellent communication abilities, including written and oral, professional and interpersonal. Highly organized and is able to complete several complicated administrative tasks simultaneously.