Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Read this About BPO Companies before Outsourcing

By Darron Skinner-Martin


Business process outsourcing companies (BPO companies) specialize in helping other companies with managing offshore staff. You might wonder why these business process outsourcing companies are so important to a business and the world's economy these days. Well, managing offshore staff has become more important than ever, and its importance is just going to keep increasing; for we have entered the age of a true global economy as there has never been before in recorded history.

The whole world is aware of international trading. Goods and services are traded every minute of every day. You now have access to global labor hire talents thanks largely to the significant improvement of information communication and technologies. There are many advantages to business process outsourcing. There is the huge amounts of money saved on overhead costs as well as the actual cost of labor. Other benefits can include the creation of jobs on a global scales and the ability for your business to reach and touch the lives of people all around the world.

Technology drives this new, transformational business world. Cell phones, PDAs, and high-speed Internet connections along with affordably priced personal computers are making the virtual office and BPO to offshore staff everyday realities. But technology always has a dark side--that is, it can always be abused and always requires new management or oversight methods. And this is where business process outsourcing companies come into play with managing offshore staff.

Any business process outsourcing (BPO) company should accommodate and provide the following ten strategies to better manage your offshore staff.

1. Legal documentation to ensure your businesses proprietary knowledge is protected.

2. Screen share technologies which permit staff to see your computer screen and vice versa...this is very good for training or holding dynamic webinars.

3. Computer screen snap shots are critical to the management of offshore staff. Would being able to see what your offshore staff are working on every 5 minutes help you? This will enable you to keep check of all activities.

4. All time sheets monitored by HR departments. These time sheets need to indicate the start and end times as well as any lunch breaks offshore staff may need.

5. Being able to monitor and manage offshore staff requires knowledge of their internet connection status. In developing countries this can be problematic as internet status can drop in and out during poor weather patterns.

6. Instant chat services which can include rules on how long the staff have to respond to a chat inquiry.

7. Your time is precious. A BPO company should take care of payroll, personal days off (sick leave) or just someone to speak with for any problems you may encounter.

8. Work-flow so you can actualize priorities and explain work while giving deadlines and expectations that are realistic.

9. Webcams that can be used flexibly and increase the perception of the human touch and real-time human interaction.

10. The use of a phone is essential to managing offshore staff. VoIP can be used extremely and the standard of the connection needs to be high.

Just like fee-based consultants, business process outsourcing companies are specialized professionals who are needed in today's globalized economy. More and more companies of all sizes will face increasing needs for managing offshore staff, and the BPOs have arisen to come to their aid.

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