Outsourcing

What Are Some Challenges Faced By BPO Firms?

BPO firms find their establishment in concentration in the developing countries rather than in the developed countries. For any company that wants to excel in the market, the base is always the BPOs that garner a connection between the company and its customers through effective communication. If one is unaware what BPO stands for then it will be better to know that it means Business Process Outsourcing. Some of the countries that are competing to get a stand in the BPO market are Malaysia, India, Philippines, China, and Mexico. Countries like Guatemala, Puerto Rico and El Salvador are gaining importance. These countries face some challenges in order to execute business. Some of the challenges that the industry faces are as follows:

Changing Political Scenarios

The BPO industry can greatly get affected by the political scenario of the region they are located in. Outsourcing to other countries also is prevented by the governments passing certain bills. Falling economies, wars, citizen protests can be a significant reason for the matter. The BPO companies can get majorly affected by this.

Frequent Disruptions

Poor internet connections, power outrage frequently and call traffic management have taken a major toll on the BPO firms. As they have to operate business 24*7, a little of disruption can mean a great loss to the business.

Lack of Talented Workforce

Most of the countries face difficulty in finding the right skilled people. Of the total number of graduates passing every year, only a meager percentage of the graduates are able to qualify for the positions.

Growth of Opposition against Outsourcing

The BPO sectors in one country are being opposed by some other country. Take for example the BPO industry of India which is at the hand of opposition from the US politicians and UK labor unions. These developed countries feel that the operations of BPO should not be shifted to developing countries like India. They are more interested in keeping the jobs in their own country for providing jobs to the citizens.

High Attrition Rates

Attrition causes a lot of loss in the talent and incurring significant losses in training the employees. In countries like India, the attrition rate is much more than the UK based BPO firms. This is because the employee in India does not stay more than 11 months but UK employees a minimum of 3 years to change their job. The high attrition rate in India is mainly because of monotonous nature of the job, high-stress level, change in lifestyle, lack of growth in the career, etc. but once the BPO gets stabilized the attrition rate is expected to come down.

New Entrants in the Industry

Earlier there were just a handful of countries that operated the global BPO business. Now, more and more countries like Canada, China, and Malaysia are trying to gain a foothold in the BPO sector. So, such countries need to provide unmatched skilled professionals that can take care of the business. Also, a better infrastructure will be a hands-on advantage.

Brand Equity

Building of brand is an important task of the BPO firms. The HR professionals have an important role to play in this part by providing adequate training and good working environment. Even if the employees are leaving the company they would become the brand ambassador for the firms. If the employees leave unsatisfied, this will lead to decreasing equity with negative reviews.

Health Concerns

Most companies are located in regions having different time zones. Hence there is a bright chance that the employees have to work all day long. This can be a cause a major health issue which drastically leads to the reduction in the efficiency of the employees.

Exceeding Customer Expectations

The main criteria of all BPOs should be to provide the customers with complete satisfaction. Due to several social media channels, the expectation of the customers is rapidly increasing. They are becoming a sphere of a tough challenge to the BPO firms.

All these are some of the tough challenges that a BPO firm of now is facing. Where on the one hand they are giving tough competition, on the other hand, learning to deal with them quickly can make a company see rapid success. So, it is the responsibility of companies to find out a solution that will be meaningful to their work.