Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) to off and near-shore locations has increased dramatically in recent years. Emerging economies, most notably India, have proved they can deliver outstanding service at highly advantageous price points.

The financial benefits of BPO are now universally accepted and the range of service offerings continue to increase. While cost savings and improved shareholder value are essential, it is the conversion of fixed into variable costs that is proving attractive.

With the powerful benefits of shared skill sets created in centers of excellence, BPO’s are transforming the way global enterprises run their businesses in traditional areas such as customer service and technical support.

The Enterprise Provisioning function is responsible for customer service requests, configuring systems, providing access to resources, and delivering enterprise-level management information. This includes moves/adds/changes to existing circuits and networks, as well as contract and service level agreement monitoring.

In the telecom arena, the industry is discovering how BPO for Enterprise Provisioning can create an entirely new area of improvements to service delivery, productivity and cost.

Radical transformation

BPO provides hard evidence that the law of Comparative Advantage continues to thrive. India, China, and some South American countries have found that they can now effectively compete with more developed economies by delivering compelling financial benefits. This direct appeal to the bottom line has created a massive industry in a few short years. But BPO has moved on from competing on price alone. Many BPO providers have now developed unmatched centers of technical and customer service excellence, with pooled resources that compare with or exceed those in more developed countries.

The benefits of BPO include a deep talent pool, improved skill sets, a flexible supply model and process redesign using Six Sigma for quality improvements and process excellence. As the industry has matured, business process areas formerly seen as off limits are being appreciated as possible outsourcing candidates. Specifically, in the telecom arena, Enterprise Provisioning has moved to center stage.

Enterprise Provisioning departments – with large fixed costs for real estate, technology and personnel – are prime candidates for BPO. As BPO and off shoring are maturing, telco carriers are enjoying lower operating costs for traditional areas of customer service and technical support.

Top