Outsourcing can be called the combined creation of the modern era of global trade, improving geopolitical relations and worldwide internet connectivity that enables collaborations and integrations across cities, countries and even continents.
During the initial years, outsourcing was only used for basic processes such as data entry and payroll processing. However, as connectivity expanded and the technological skills of BPO companies advanced, businesses started outsourcing more and more processes/services. Today, you can outsource many backend processes and financial/operation functions such as invoice management, accounts payable processing, survey reporting, and utility bill management to name a few.
This has driven innovation and created new business process outsourcing trends and practices.
In this era of constant digital transformation and evolution, here are the top 10 business process outsourcing trends that will rule the market in 2020 and the years to come:
1. Reinvention and Innovation In Outsourcing Solutions
Outsourcing has moved beyond simple, repetitive and basic tasks. Today, businesses are looking for smart solutions to their everyday problems that involve the perfect combination of human innovation, automated efficiency, and technical accuracy, i.e. people, process, and technology.
Outsourcing firms have risen splendidly to this challenge with a range of customized technological solutions. From custom-built automation bots to cloud-based collaboration platforms, the process of outsourcing has become a smart sourcing one.
At ARDEM Incorporated, we don’t just hand you the same list of services with the same processing solution. Our team studies your business model and your current processes to identify the cogs in the wheel and then optimizes each step to create a flawless workflow with a customized solution that is tailored to your company’s specific needs.
Our team comprises college-educated, well-experienced members with analytical minds and strong problem-solving skills. These skills translate into successful business solutions with the efficient employment of advanced automation and machine learning technologies. We can confidently state that ARDEM is at the top of all business process outsourcing trends in 2020 and beyond.
2. Artificial Intelligence or AI
Attention! The fears were true; artificial intelligence is taking over the world and outsourcing is next!
Scared you pretty good, didn’t we? Well, jokes aside, it is a fact that artificial intelligence or AI is becoming an increasingly vital feature in every industry and the outsourcing business is no different.
AI is being increasingly employed to automate several data entry and processing functions including accounts payable processing, invoice management, and utility bill processing.
AI streamlines all these processes by identifying and segregating data and even automatically filling in missing details. As an example, let’s say you need to process a large number of invoices in every format ranging from physical documents to email attachments and digital invoices. Once the document conversion process is over, AI can automatically detect and fill in any missing information to complete the invoice document and increase the chances of swift approval and payment.
The applications of AI in business process outsourcing are endless and will revolutionize business process outsourcing solutions in the years to come.
3. Robotic Process Automation
Robotic process automation or RPA refers to the application of specialized computer programs to automate secondary or repetitive tasks such as data entry or mining for higher accuracy and reduced operating costs
However, for a complete digital solution, you need a blended approach that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning with the right human intervention and supervision to create successful solutions.
The first step in the implementation of robotic process automation is a thorough analysis of the existing business process and the creation of an optimized solution to eliminate all errors. Once the new process has been defined, special software robots, i.e., bots are coded and assigned to the existing workstream wherein they start performing tasks with greater speed, accuracy, and precision.
At ARDEM, we have a wide range of proprietary ARDEM Bots that are coded to our clients’ specific requirements. One of our areas of specialization is survey processing and we have a special range of survey processing bots; our Sumti and Gyan series of bots that collect and report data from surveys by performing a series of sequential steps.
The purpose of automation goes beyond just reducing costs, bots speed up your processing time drastically, while also delivering high-quality consistent data with greater accuracy.
The option of customized coding elevates robotic process automation over enterprise automation solutions as RPA offers more than just automation, it gives you a super-efficient workstream, manages your workload effectively and frees up your time and office resources so that you can focus on developing your core competencies and scaling your business.
Robotic process automation is set to revolutionize the outsourcing industry by transforming raw, unstructured data into measurable performance. Let’s keep a lookout for it, shall we?
4. Cloud-Based Management Platforms
There is another big and upcoming business process outsourcing trend on the outsourcing horizon and yes, you’ve got it right! We are talking about cloud computing that will overhaul the traditional way of doing things.
Cloud computing is steadily digitizing businesses across the world. According to a recent study by Gartner, INC., the worldwide public cloud services market is expected to further expand by 17% in 2020 to $266.4 billion, up from $227.8 billion in 2019.
A cloud is basically an interconnected network of internet servers that store, analyze, and process data in the virtual space. Cloud computing, then refers to a network that is used for the delivery of software services and data.
Cloud computing provides stability, security and greater flexibility in outsourcing processes. A cloud-based platform works as a great collaborative platform for companies with locations in different countries as it allows data visualization that provides businesses with real-time data and information. It is further estimated that the next generation of business process outsourcing solutions will be all cloud-enhanced solutions.
Cloud computing consisting of mainly 3 different types of services: BPaaS (business process as a service) business process outsourcing solutions which carry out a business process on a cloud network, SaaS (software as a service), a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet; PaaS (platform as a service) that provides the infrastructure to develop and manage applications on a cloud platform, and IaaS (infrastructure as a service), i.e., servers, storage capacity, memory.
Cloud computing offers clients the perfect blend of automation and human collaboration, it standardizes and customizes business solutions and also allows for scalable usage. The user panel/dashboard on a cloud-based management platform allows users to view real-time data resulting in greater transparency and trust.
At ARDEM, we have truly embraced this game-changing technology, using it to build successful collaborative platforms for our Accounts Payable processing, Invoice Manager, Utility Manager and Survey Manager along with the main ARDEM Collaboration Platform. Our customizable dashboard view allows you to see your real-time data in different ways to observe different trends while maintaining full visibility.
5. Customized or Tailored Business Process Outsourcing
In today’s world, everything runs on customization. People are tired of generic products and services, demanding tailored specifications in everything from clothing and accessories to their business and operations solutions. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that customized solutions are one of the major business process outsourcing trends in 2020.
The logic is simple, every business is different and has its own set of needs. Applying the same set of solutions to every process doesn’t just fail to deliver an effective business solution, but it also takes away the business’ competitive advantage with competitor firms gaining access to the same set of services and solutions.
As mentioned earlier, outsourcing is no longer a simple, monotonous process. With increased collaboration and advancement in technologies, the demand for bespoke outsourcing solutions is on the rise.
When it comes to optimizing business processes and providing successful solutions for operations efficiency and reduced operations cost, understanding the client’s values and needs is very crucial.
In addition, you also need to take your time to fully understand the business model, the current operations process quite thoroughly. This gives the service provider a sense of what the client truly needs and enables the team to create a specialized plan tailored to the company’s needs.
At ARDEM, we work closely with our clients to build long-lasting partnerships while delivering customized solutions for long-term success.
6. Cost-Oriented to Quality-Oriented Business Process Outsourcing
This outsourcing trend may seem a little confusing at first. After all, the very purpose of outsourcing is to reduce costs, right?
Well, you are not entirely wrong nor are you entirely right. While it is true that the very purpose of outsourcing is to reduce operating costs and the cost of employment, firms are also looking for a higher quality of work that is delivered on time and with higher efficiency and greater accuracy.
As we progress further into 2020, more and more market studies are talking about how companies are favoring high-quality outsourcing services over cheaper, low-quality services.
So, it’s safe to say that in the future, outsourcing decisions will no longer be based on the lowest pricing, rather companies will be looking for high-quality work at competitive rates.
7. Increased Focus on Cybersecurity
Ironically, one of the biggest fears about outsourcing is also one of the biggest myths about outsourcing.
Cyberattacks are on the rise; as per RiskBased Security, data breaches exposed approx. 4.1 billion records in the first half of 2019 alone.
According to Fundera, around 43% of cyber attacks target small businesses. Statistics further indicate that healthcare, retail, and manufacturing are the most targeted industries for cyberattacks. This means that providing high-grade data security will one of the major business process outsourcing trends in 2020.
For any company, one of the primary outsourcing concerns while outsourcing data processing services is the fear of data theft and the negative impact it may have on their business. Their fear is entirely justifiable and that’s why outsourcing companies are paying greater attention to data security measures and protocols.
ARDEM recognizes that with data security, comes great responsibility.
We are extremely particular about our clients’ data security and that’s why we already have our VPNs, SSLs, encryption protocols, HIPAA, PCI, GDPR compliances and security protocols in place.
In addition to security compliances and protocols, we also are extremely careful about who we expose your data to. Access to sensitive data is strictly on a need-to-know basis, and we have measures in place that ensure that your data cannot be moved, edited, or seen by all.
We also take special care to hold sensitive data only for a strict time limit, once we are done with the data and have successfully delivered it, we dispose of it after the specified date. Our clients trust us with sensitive data because they know that they can. Some of our most satisfied clients are government departments including the US Army, Veterans Administration, Department of Interior and the National Institute of Health among others.
We also regularly review and update our security measures to manage your documents and data entry securely.
8. Small Businesses Will Outsource More
Gone are the days when only large conglomerates and businesses outsourced their business operations.
With the advent of cloud computing outsourcing and smart sourcing, more and more medium and small level businesses are outsourcing their backend operations to reduce the cost of operations and focus on scaling future growth.
In fact, more than 37% of SBEs outsource at least a few business processes and trends indicate that more than 52% of SBEs will continue to outsource business processes in 2020.
Furthermore, SBEs are also expected to increase their outsourcing budgets from around 6% to approx. 9%. This may seem like a small number but it is a major decision for a small business that is looking to scale its operations and as the decade progresses, SBEs are expected to spend a major portion of their budget on outsourcing services.
The advantages of outsourcing for SBEs are many:
- Access to scalable solutions that are customized to the business’s specific needs and delivered.
- End-to-end solutions that eliminate the need to hire more staff and save costs that can be used to finance the company’s growth.
- SBEs are free to focus on their key competencies and expand their operations without having to worry about whether their support operations will be able to keep up.
9. Contract and Delivery
In every business and service, customer experience has and always will be of paramount importance and the same applies to the outsourcing industry as well.
As outsourcing destinations expand and markets fluctuate, every business will be on the prowl for the best outsourcing services with high performance and a competitive range of services.
This will result in services being outsourced on a short-term basis and with clear cut terms specified in the contracts. The renewal of the contract will depend entirely on delivery, i.e., the quality of the work done and the speed and accuracy with which it was delivered.
The focus will be on how your services fare when viewed next to your competitors and an analysis of the tasks performed.
The future of outsourcing lies in a result-focussed approach and we at ARDEM can say without a doubt that we are extremely proud of our results.
As a BPO company, we are in high demand because of our faster cycle times vis-à-vis other data processing outsourcing companies, as ARDEM offers real-time data processing services, processing large amounts of data within 24 hours, which in other BPO companies would require a processing cycle time of at least 2 to 3 days. Come, give your business the ARDEM advantage today.
10. Up-skilling
As technologies evolve and the scope of business expands, it becomes equally important for outsourcing companies to up-skill their team and empower them to deliver upgraded solutions. That’s exactly why upskilling your team is one of the primary business process outsourcing trends in 2020.
The term up-skilling means to learn or teach additional skills and in this competitive age, businesses must stay abreast of the latest trends and technologies to match strides with the competition. The popular saying— “you snooze, you lose”, has never been so true.
Outsourcing companies must invest back in their resources, i.e., their team to make sure that they are trained in the latest technology and business processes.
The ARDEM team comprises smart analytical minds with excellent problem-solving skills and an intense drive to create innovative solutions.
Having broken down and explained the current and future business process outsourcing trends, we can now safely say that this business is here to stay. Despite the changing business landscapes, outsourcing remains one of the fastest-growing industries, courtesy of the ever-increasing demand for outsourcing services.
At ARDEM Incorporated, we seek to build optimized processes that are well-equipped to manage changes and escalations. We further utilize Six Sigma and other quality management technologies to deliver 100% accurate data, 100% on-time data and successful solutions.
All these factors combine to make us one of the most sought out and trusted business process outsourcing companies in New Jersey and across the country.