The year 2020 shook the business world to its foundations and showed how highly volatile the environment is with a change possible at any moment. However, preparing and coping with a global pandemic has taught us resilience, responsiveness, and most of all, adaptability.
One area that has been most impacted is the outsourcing industry. New trends are emerging and shaping how partnerships between clients and vendors exist. How can businesses thrive in the face of change? Let’s take a look at what’s in store in outsourcing in 2021.
Emerging Trends in Outsourcing for 2021
- Rise of KPO
Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) deals with specialised knowledge and problem-solving outsourcing. Some KPO services include data analysis, financial consultancy, research and development, etc.
With the growing sophistication and adoption of advanced technology by various industries, KPO will become more valuable in outsourcing services. Companies seeking to fill the gap for highly-skilled professionals or expand use it to their requirements while ensuring costs are kept low.
- Robotic Process Automation
2021 will witness further incursion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies into outsourcing. Robotic process automation or intelligent automation is the novel technology that is already proving to offset workloads for outsourcing providers and boosting business services delivery.
- Social Media As a Customer Service
One trend that 2021 will see is growing social media adoption as a customer service channel. Due to the pandemic of 2020, social media apps and platforms have seen a skyrocket in global penetration rate. With more customers taking to social media platforms, this has created a better opportunity of interacting with clients where they are, boosting customer experience and raising satisfaction in general.
- Staff Upskilling
With menial and repetitive tasks taken over by automation, staff have to focus on more specialised knowledge. By upskilling, outsourcing staff can enhance knowledge and capabilities, which elevate and expand their service scope and delivery.
- Cloud Computing
A game-changer for many industries, cloud computing has provided greater storage access and increase processing power to users on-demand. Outsourcing providers can use a pay-per-usage model to offer their IT infrastructure to their clients ready to pay for a server, storage, and networking needs. Most businesses today are already using or considering using cloud services.
Outsourcing Best Practices For 2021
- Set Well-Defined Objectives And Goals For Outsourcing
Determine if you need to outsource your business, what aspects need outsourcing, and what best fits your needs and objectives. With well-defined expectations, both parties can ensure that the service rendered is according to the objectives stated.
- Strengthen Management Relations
How well a company and its outsourcing provider work together will help forge successful partnerships. Through mutual respect and commitment to terms agreed upon, project leaders and managers can improve their relationship. This healthy relationship can be the catalyst for business growth in the long run.
- Ensure Data Security And Regulatory Requirements Compliance
A huge priority will be keeping customer sensitive information safe, more so due to the involvement of a third-party. Businesses have to review all the data security requirements before committing to any agreements. Besides minimising the risk of data breaches, other things to consider are regulatory requirements and compliance with existing laws.
- Improve Conflict Management Processes
Conflict management processes should be created to effectively resolve disputes, which are expected when people work together. This will improve team relations and overall work performance. This conflict management process includes a hierarchy of escalation and principle negotiation for better representation.
To wrap up
The outsourcing industry like most industries is adapting its services to accommodate the rapid changes in technology and the evolving needs of businesses in 2021. With all of these exciting changes that will boost in-house staff communication and contribute to better services and growth, there has never been a better time for customer service outsourcing in the Philippines.
