Understanding the BPO Jobs and Culture

Call Center II (Photo credit: Vippman)

Objective

Understanding the BPOs and Call Center

Identify the career option in BPO industry

Identify the future potential & challenges

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

 BPO stands for Business Process Outsourcing . It means outsourcing of business processes from developed countries to the developing or third world countries to get faster results and bigger profit margin.

BPO is a hiring venture to take responsibility for a business process.

BPO explained, importance & types of services

BPO in a broader sense means employing an external agency or a third party vendor to get a job done

To attain maximum accuracy

At a comparatively lesser cost

(these days KPO knowledge process outsourcing & LPO legal process outsourcing is also maturing)

Call center types

Domestic

International

Inbound

Outbound

Voice base

Non voice based

Inbound call centers

In bound call centers provide support function that include inquiries or help desks for various segments.

Vodafone call centre (Photo credit: markhillary)

Most of the call centers are offering customer relationship management services that include support for voice call center,

 e-mail response,

web-based text  services and back office processing.

Out bound call centers

Out bound call centers provide services for

   Customer contact, to interact with international clients either on the help- desk make collection calls which include market surveys information and telemarketing.

Non voiced jobs

Data entry

This requires updating, organizing data base on various details of customers and clients.

Transaction processing: Answering customers

Queries, enquiries and responding to the complaints over the E-Mail

Types of services rendered by BPOs:

Customer support services-

 These are voice, email or chat based. The related call centers oprate24/7 throughout the year. Typical examples include resolving customer queries related to customer’s bank-account status, order status, product information etc

Technical support services

IT helpdesk support

Data entry services

Accounting services

Internet /online service

Nature of Work

Call centers are voice or web based

Either in bound or out bound where in calls are received from and made to the customer respectively

Specialized in business processing, here calls are made from company to company.

Areas addressed by call centers are sales support, reservations, bank accounts and tele marketing.

Working conditions with BPO

To work in a BPO you must be prepared for the challenging job, which would also require you to work during non-morning hours (night shifts)

Because the clients are mainly from U.K, U.S and European countries

Key skills required for BPOs:

To crack a BPO selection interview one needs to add a reasonable presence of mind to a focused thought process as well as good communication skills.

The voice : grammar, pronunciation & rate of speech.

The thought process: listening, organized thinking, fluency & knowledge.

Call center expects

Call center interview depends on

 Computer knowledge

 Communication skills in English

 Keyboard skill

Mathematical skill etc

JOB PROFILE in BPO

Customer service representatives-

Also known as level 1 or entry level workforce. CSR are primarily the front line and the most important workers in a BPO. This is because they are the face of the company to international and other clients. They have most critical and vital job profile.

JOB profile…

Technical support: specialized. However in most of the cases it is generic and doesn’t require a specialized degree

Hardware support:

Software support

Network support

Important areas of training

Accent training

Listening skills

Telephone etiquette

Tele sales

Customer Relationship and

call center (Photo credit: vlima.com)

Call center terminology.

Training

Training would be given on Basic skills,

Training on the product /services (client-specific)

Training in technical fields and

Functional areas (medicine, taxation, law, financial services).

Future potential

Is growing at a fast pace

Huge growth potential

The following factors have helped India emerge as a global hub for off-shoring:

Talent pool

Good infrastructure

Operational excellence in terms of quality & leadership

Conducive business environment including policy interventions like telecom reforms

Declaration of IT & ITES as essential services to keep them out of political turbulence

Continued growth in the domestic IT sector