By JEFF MEDLEY
Guest Columnist
Companies operating within almost every industry in today’s world are facing numerous challenges centered around their relationship with technology, and many organizations have found themselves at a crossroads.
They recognize their dependency on technology is as strong as their inability to meet the high demands associated with the state of their back-office operations. Although many are aware of these challenges and the negative outcomes that can be its byproduct, very few have yet to overcome it.
The solution is most likely something that does not already reside within their organization; instead, many will need to look outside their circle, turning to a concept known as business process outsourcing (BPO). The term BPO, which has only grown more in popularity and recognition over the last several decades, refers to the outsourcing of processes that are not considered core competencies of a business.
Netfor, a people-centric organization building innovative business process solutions that enable organizations to scale, realize efficiencies, and focus on growth, addresses some of the most common pain points that are currently weighing on businesses, particularly organizations with a workforce ranging from 200 to 100,000 employees.
Some of the most common pain points that continue to weigh down and frustrate businesses include the following:
- Low customer satisfaction scores
- Continuous navigation of repetitive customer questions
- Lack of internal expertise across operations
- Internal staffing costs
To overcome these pain points, we offer our clients personalized care utilizing services that radically transform and simplify BPO, making Netfor the go-to, trusted advisor for organizations. Ultimately, our goal as a BPO partner is to give our clients the positive experience of taking back their time to focus on what matters most.
Why should companies consider outsourcing their business processes?
When the term BPO is tossed around, many executives might be quick to shy away from it. Some might cite that their company is too small to benefit from a provider’s services, or they may conjure up the stereotypical outsourcing situation in which customer calls and other tasks are outsourced to people located halfway around the world. However, both of these assumptions are far from the truth.
Market analysts and industry focused publications point out that BPO has a bright future ahead as it is linked to greater innovation, a reduction in organizational cost, efficiency and productivity and improved relations with customers, just to name a few.
In fact, a market forecast released last year anticipated that the BPO market will experience a compound annual growth rate of 8.5 percent from 2021 to 2028 globally.
Additionally, data gathered from a small business survey found that IT was the No. 1 service that small businesses were likely to outsource, reporting that 27 percent of these businesses planned to outsource their IT services last year.
Finally, domestic outsourcing of back-office services is alive and well as Netfor and other like-minded companies ensure that their teams meet client expectations from their specific region within the U.S.
What happens when companies fail to identify inefficiencies?
While some may argue that technology is only one element of a company’s operations, it certainly is and will continue to be the strongest factor driving efficiency and productivity. With that being said, this should motivate leaders and executives to look in-depth and assess the current state of their company. The ongoing conditions surrounding their technology support help desk, customer service call center and/or their technical maintenance and support should be considered. When a company is lacking in one or more of these areas, they will always find themselves in a sea of inefficiencies spreading throughout their organization.
Inefficiencies are the catalysts for setbacks such as a loss of employee morale, disruption to both internal and external lines of communication, a direct impact to their bottom line as well as the inability to identify any other pain points existing elsewhere that may also be a major drain on their business.
In the long term, any combination of these inefficiencies could result in a company falling behind their competitors in service ability, quality of work, reputation, and profit, among many others. By partnering with a trusted BPO service provider, companies are able to collaborate on minimizing or completely resolving these inefficiencies and distractions.
What should companies look for in a BPO partner?
As companies across the globe come to terms with their needs and look to evolve their operations to better reach and serve clients, it is imperative that they research available options to locate their best fit partner; however, initiating these efforts may be intimidating.
When conducting research, executives should assess the qualities of each provider, answering questions that include but are not limited to the following:
- Does this provider serve and fulfill our specific organizational needs?
- Where are their employees located?
- Do their values align with our organizational and operational values?
- Do they have a proven track record of success?
- What motivates them to do what they do?
Whether you are a government entity, education system, retail and manufacturing corporation, quick service restaurant (QSR) or managed service provider (MSP), there is a BPO service provider that is ready to meet your needs.
In Netfor’s case, our team strives to develop solutions that address our clients’ unique pain, simplifying their business processes in order to get them back to what truly matters – serving their customers. By instilling core values such as: Be a problem solver, ask the difficult questions, act transparently and make every day better, we have continued to experience growth among our team and services for more than 25 years, improving our clients’ ability to carry out their business and launch themselves into the future.
For more information on Netfor, visit netfor.com or reach out to us at info@netfor.com.
Jeff Medley is the founder and CEO of Netfor, a Fishers-based business process solutions firm.