What Is BPO Management?

Business process outsourcing (BPO) management is the management of a business’s outsourcing needs. The purpose of BPO management is to make sure there is a proper work flow between the business and the outsourcing company, with special attention paid to satisfying the business’s core objectives. Its focus is on high value and high risk jobs, where the skill requirements and services must remain at a high level of performance. BPO management is divided into two categories: back office and front office. BPO management of back office positions can include the finance, accounting and billing departments, while front office positions include those that have contact with customers, such as marketing, customer service and technical support.

The purpose of BPO management is to manage the outsourcing needs of a business to create high efficiencies and work flow. When a business moves some of its operations offshore, it is necessary to implement BPO management to guarantee a higher chance of success. The manager will quickly be able to see what can be done to improve processes, communications and performance between the two companies. If there is a problem or lack of understanding between the two organizations, the BPO manager will be able to act as a mediator. If the business does not renew its contract with the outsourced company, then it could significantly increase its costs by switching to a new outsourcing service.

Types of functions that are typically under BPO management are back office and front office. Jobs filled by outsourcing company that are of concern to BPO managers are often classified as high risk and high value, where the performance of each employee is dependent on his skills and knowledge. For example, data entry is a low risk and low value position, but data mining can be considered high risk and high value. Data mining requires employees to be highly skilled and accurate, as the results of the data mining are often used for strategic planning purposes.

Demand for BPO management is increasing, as higher level positions are moving overseas in businesses of all sizes. Since contracts are generally long-term commitments between the two organizations, BPO management is needed in order for this strategic move to have a higher change of success. Services such as logistics, engineering and real estate often require BPO managers to ensure performance and quality of services.