BPO – Contact Center Industry Uncovered
It was when I graduated from college when I first heard of the BPO industry. I didn’t know back then what it was. I didn’t know what it was or what type of jobs they offer or what nature of business they have. Call centers, as what they are more commonly known for on the other hand seemed to have an infamous image. Having a job as a call center agent is often frowned upon. I started working in the BPO industry way back 2006. Whenever my classmates organized reunions to see how each other has progressed in life – especially in our careers – I oftentimes was seen to have one of the lowest in terms of success level, right next to joblessness or being impregnated early or out of wedlock. I have heard ’encouragement statements’ like “At least you have a job.” When I was new to the industry, I was ashamed to declare that I was a call center agent. A few more years into the job, I knew better.
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But what is a BPO anyways? It took me long to understand what a BPO was and it was hard for me to explain it to the normal-jobbed people i.e. the elderly who thinks I am wasting my life in this industry. Allow me to try to uncover what a BPO really is.
Definition
But what really is a BPO? Let me try to explain by giving an example.
Let’s s say you have a company the ABC company. You started small just like any other companies. You have the basic number of employees like any normal company would. Now let’s say you started with only 10 employees. Since you are just a small company and you are just starting out, you are using your garage as your office. Then you expanded and needed to transfer to a new and bigger building. Aside from the basics like desks, chairs, electricity, internet connection, etc, you’ll now need two more things: security and maintenance. These two are necessary but will be too costly and a bit too expensive if you’ll go out of your way to source for the staff yourself. Security guards in particular will require trainings, licenses (I suppose), uniforms, their materials like their flash lights and their ever popular weapon the policeman’s club or what we call here in the Philippines as “batuta.” Since you – the ABC company only deals with your own nature of business – let’s say food business, wouldn’t have that much resources to do all the dirty work to have a security guard, you have the option to outsource.
Yes, that’s basically how outsourcing works. I couldn’t find a formal and official definition of Business Process outsourcing but with the example that we have,
it is an industry that offers services or business processes - such as security services - needed for businesses to operate.
The services offered
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There are several types of business processes. Nowadays you can outsource almost anything. Our example above, security services, repair and maintenance, IT, Legal services, HR processes (like hiring, payroll, benefits, etc), and the most common- customer care to name a few.
Here in the Philippines, BPO is a booming industry. In fact it is so rampant that I have seen BPO’s outsourcing their services. For confidentiality reasons, I cannot disclose any company names to cite examples but to give you a picture I’ll give you some general unnamed scenarios. I have been in the industry for 12 years now and I have been to companies who utilize the payroll services of another BPO. I have worked in a BPO who offers their Talent Acquisition services to yet another BPO. I have also been in a company who offers customer care services for an online auction site. You name it, there’s always BPO for it.
Why BPO
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And the main reason why is the main thing a business would want – to minimize cost. To save money. With our example, if I am the owner of ABC company, it will be easier for me to just contact DEF Securites, tell them how much security personnel I need, pay them, et voila! My building already has security. DEF for sure assured me of the quality security services they can provide. Problem solved, plus tbe long term benefit of not having to worry if one security guard resigns. DEF Securities will take care of that for me. Less hassle, right? Yay! BPO rocks!
Type of contact
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BPOs have different forms of communication. We got the most popular, the call center which utilizes a direct form of communication – talking over the phone. We also have the chat support. And the email support. Most traffic goes to phones since it’s much easier to explain verbally which is most commonly utilized by telecommunications companies, utilities, sales, health care among others. There are however other businesses that require other form of communication. Most of the time, these are for companies that require multitasking like an online auction website. Some companies use both chat and voice. But on the other hand, there are also companies that require extensive research and will demand more time for investigation such as fraud. These businesses opt for the email form of contact. As I’ve said, name your needs, BPOs got it. Amazing, isn’t it? BPO rules!
The requirements
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The processes offered by BPOs require different skillsets. If you are an ITO (Information Technology Outsourcing), you will need people with exceptional skills in computers, networks, programming, etc. If you offer chat as a form of contact, you’ll need to have a high level of multitasking skills and of course extremely fast typing skills. Talent acquisition requires a lot of digging when profiling candidates. There are BPO companies that require degree holders, there some that accepts you even if you haven’t finished college yet. There are also some who accept part timers. It all depends on what the client needs.
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The Clients
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Before, I thought we only serve the US based clientele. Then I got assigned to an account with multilingual agents. I also worked for a company that has Canadian based customers. Then there are the French and Spanish speaking agent, the ever sought for Australian accounts because of the morning shift. It really is diverse. One has to be really quick to adapt if you want to last long in the BPO setting.
A BPO is just like any other company, we offer services, we get paid for doing our jobs, we get promoted if we perform well, etc. Just like any other normal day time job you’ll find in the business districts in Makati, Taguig Alabang, Quezon city, Cebu, etc. Oh, I forgot. These cities are some of the most popular contact center sites in the Philippines.
12 years in the industry, 1 year taking chats, 1 year taking in calls, 10 years as a workforce analyst, all I can say is I love this job! It can be taxing at times, but I have learned to love it. :-)
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