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.

In order to manage your offshore staff you should ensure your business process outsourcing (BPO) company gives you access to the following 10 tools and services.

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

2. Training staff can be difficult without the use of screen share technologies. By being able to see your offshore staffs PC screen (or they can see your screen) you are able to show exactly what you want staff to do.

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. Virtual time sheets which can include set lunch hours and start/finish times.

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. Being able to have instant communication is integral when using offshore staff. Ensure your business process outsourcing company has set rules on instant chat and the amount of time staff have to get back to you.

7. HR Management to look after all the things like payroll, compliance issues between countries, sick days, someone to speak with if there's a troubleshooting need, etc.

8. Software providing you and your offshore staff with a work flow program. This will enable you to explain work, set due dates as well as rank the tasks in order of importance.

9. The use of web cams can increase communication and interaction between you and your offshore staff.

10. Phone or VoIP access to staff at inexpensive rates is needed to better manage your offshore staff.

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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