A common next question after the BPO chat is, “How the heck do you do it?”
Unlike the restaurant business where it is all about location, the actual location doesn’t matter in BPO; the location can be anywhere in the world.
So, let’s stick with our crazy and simple ways and consider that in the HR Services industry, a desk with a computer, Internet connection, and access to the systems and tools required to do the job are all you need.
They are the location, no matter where in the world that may be. The location could be an existing employee working from home, an executive at the Starbucks in the airport or even someone 10,000 miles away.
In our Benefits Reconciliation example in the article “BPO for HRO Simplified”, the common requirements to do the job are:
Think of your BPO as very remote workers.
The key is being realistic about the skill and number of workers at your disposal. Can you find a line of process experts with both accounting and benefit skills in sufficient numbers to get the job done? Will the carriers cut you some slack or take your money?
Where location does matter is where you find a large number of highly educated and skilled workers who have a computer in front of them.
Even better, now you are doing business with a vendor with known economics that lets you get what you pay for, and not worry about overtime or the challenges of employment. You have a contract with agreed upon base line measurements, cost, turnaround time and error rates.
BPOs are experts at finding the right location to hire, train and offer you the best workers for the job, without any of the headache.
They’ve got the location covered. You get to solve your customer’s real problems and help them with the new ones. Not a bad gig.