Top BPO Trends to Watch Out for in 2020
TeleworkPH
Published: January 10, 2020
The BPO industry is constantly evolving. In fact, we are constantly finding ways to adapt as the trends arise. But first, let’s take a quick look at what happened in the BPO industry this year.
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2019 Trends That Emerged
1. The Rise of Automation
As the movie Terminator predicted, artificial intelligence is here to stay. While AI has a negative connotation given by some people, many still believe that it can greatly impact our future. In terms of business technology, AI was introduced to help optimize basic processes that can significantly cut costs for businesses and corporations.
From the viewpoint of outsourcing, this can be threatening particularly to call centers. However, computer bots can only be encoded to learn basic and systematic tasks. A personalized touch is still needed for situations that need critical thinking and creative decision-making strategies. With that, much training is needed to develop BPO professionals for these types of responsibilities.
2. Introduction to Cloud Services
BPOs must take steps to stay on top of IT services because digital technology plays a huge role in data generation. Businesses demand IT infrastructure from outsourcing companies because they don’t want to invest plenty of money in in-house technology. Through cloud computing services, businesses don’t have to rent storage, servers, and networks. They never have to worry about their infrastructure being outdated because that’s the responsibility of their outsourcing party.
3. Start-ups and SMEs Try Outsourcing
With limited budgets and resources, it’s no wonder that start-ups and small businesses are hopping to outsourcing. Some of them were a bit hesitant but once showed the positive results and data, they were glad to jump on board. Start-ups and SMEs are more encouraged to try outsourcing because, with a reliable outsourcing partner, they can get valuable talent at an optimum cost.
4. Staff and Skill Shortage
2019 has been a challenging year for BPO companies when it comes to staff shortages. 52% of businesses are met with a lack of skilled workers in the BPO industry. In the Philippines, employers are finding it difficult to hire BPO professionals because of the insufficient experience of applicants. And as automation continues to rise, businesses are determined to get high-skilled workers and re-skill some of their workers.
Indeed, 2019 was a year full of development for the BPO industry. But here are the predicted trends in 2020 which will continue to improve several parts of the industry.
2020 Predicted Trends
1. Automation in Social Media
By 2030, 40% of jobs in the US could be lost to automation. But as mentioned above, this could be preventable if workers were able to learn complex roles because customers still expect a personal touch in their transactions.
Aside from that, another aspect where automation will flourish is through social media. Nowadays, people will not recognize your brand if you don’t have a presence on social media. The same goes for customer service. Customers prefer to chat or message their concerns rather than traditional calling. Moreover, they still expect you to be available 24/7. Since urgency is one of the main criteria for good customer service. As a result, chatbots were invented to enhance the social media customer service experience and they will continue to grow in 2020.
2. Solidified Cloud Services
It has been projected that cloud services will become more prevalent in 2020. More businesses will take on cloud technology because of the unavailability of physical locations to set up. Besides, they want to reduce their spending by using indispensable technology.
Cloud computing has a multitude of benefits. First, it improves business systems and processes. Second, it provides companies with more storage of data and information when necessary. And last, it holds a secure impenetrable system that reduces the risk of being hacked. For most, getting a cloud service is a smart business decision. BPOs will have to master this service if they want to capture clients in the coming year or so.
3. Start-ups and SMEs Embrace Outsourcing
While 2019 established the partnership between start-ups and BPOs, this year the demand for outsourcing will increase. Due to the productive results seen by these start-ups and SMEs, new companies are more than willing to pursue a partnership with a BPO provider. So, for 2020, expect these small businesses to want to have synergized business processes with their BPO partner.
4. All-in-One BPO
Start-ups and SMEs are becoming more demanding with their BPO partners. They are seeking an outsourcing partner that can do it all. One who can provide customer service, finance, IT, marketing, graphic design, or anything else they might think of. That’s why BPOs will need to be more flexible on their offerings. And with automation looming in the background, they will have to be more diversified.
Businesses are cutting costs and are becoming dependent on technology for their needs. However, there’s still a market for traditional outsourcing through start-ups and SMEs. But that will be short-lived because once they’ve understood the concept, they will soon embrace outsourced technology.
Global competitiveness and the rapid growth of technology are some of the challenges that the BPO industry must face. In the end, the BPO industry must learn to embrace these challenges in order for 2020 to look bright.
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