Collaboration and outsourcing are common practices in economics and business. For example, food and beverage companies collaborate with cocoa farmers in West Africa to plant and harvest cocoa beans, which are then used to produce chocolate and other products. This practice is similar to business process outsourcing (BPO), which is when a company hires a third-party vendor to perform a business process that is not essential to its core competency.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): A Growing Trend in Nigeria
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a practice in which a business (B2G, B2B, or B2C) hires an external provider to handle non-core business processes, such as corporate governance, human resource management, as well as process development to focus on their core activities.
Today, thanks to Cloud Computing, more non-core aspects of businesses can be outsourced so that businesses can focus on improving their offers.
As expected, many businesses, within and outside Nigeria, are adopting BPO for their businesses. According to Statista, the BPO segment in Nigeria is projected to grow by 12.90% (2023-2027).
Advantages of Business Process Outsourcing
Some of the common reasons companies choose to outsource their business processes are:
Cost Reduction and Efficiency:
When businesses outsource, they don’t have to worry about procuring facilities and equipment; as well as hiring, training, and retaining skilled personnel which. And this enables them to channel their resources into more critical areas and purposes, improving efficiency.
Nestlé Nigeria, which is one of the largest food and beverage companies in Nigeria, outsourced their human resource operations to reduce employee engagement and reduce its HR costs in 2014.
Focus on Core Competencies:
Every industry is competitive; hence businesses need to focus on their strengths to stand out. This means, activities that are not the core activities of the business are distractions.
Zenith Bank decided to outsource their customer service and IT operations to a BPO provider when the bank was struggling, and it helped Zenith Bank to improve its efficiency and drive growth.This has also been the case for many successful Nigerian companies, such as Indomie, GTBank, and Airtel Nigeria, that have achieved growth and improved efficiency through BPO partnerships.
Access to Expertise and Innovation:
Innovation and disruptions now happen at a breakneck speed. From the rise of Artificial Intelligence to advancement of sophisticated robots and machines, businesses cannot keep up with all the trends that do not align with their core-offering.
So, it makes sense to outsource the service to a third-party organisation which has experienced, word-class personnels, and the time to focus on keeping up with the trend.
Choosing the Right BPO Partner: Intelics
Before picking a BPO partner, businesses should ensure that the BPO provider provides
Industry Expertise:
Different BPO providers have their areas of specialisation. Some are great for front-office operations like marketing and sales, while others specialise in back-office operations such as IT (network security, data backup, disaster recovery, etc) and HR (recruiting, hiring, onboarding, training, etc.).
Intelics provides state of the art back-office operations services, encompassing Digitization & Data Processing, Customer onboarding , Liability and Asset processing, Mailroom services, SCM, HR shared services, ECS/ACH Mandate management, Customer Communication Management, and more.
Longevity and Reliability:
There are many BPO providers available, so it is important to choose one that has a good reputation and can meet your specific needs.
For instance, since it was founded in 2017, Intelics has gone on to be amongst the top 10 Largest Information Management Companies worldwide, with over 2 Million Sq Feet of Global standards secured storage space across India, UAE and Nigeria.
Tailored Solutions:
Before looking for a BPO provider, it is important to define the business requirements. This will help the business to narrow down their options and find a provider that can meet your needs.Intelics, leverages synergies between its technology and consulting services to provide personalised service to SMEs that need BPS (Business Process Services).
Innovation and Technological Capabilities:
It’s also important to partner with a BPO provider that is using the latest cutting-edge technology as this will ensure the business has one more edge over their competitors.
Intelics' leverages cutting-edge technology to drive efficiency and effectiveness. Intelics provides Robotics Enabled Business Process Services, as well as Secure Storage Services.
Conclusion:
Nigerian SMEs can easily leverage reliable and reputable BPO providers like Intelics to reduce cost of operation, focus on core competencies, and access industry expertise.
