Trends that will Shape the BPO Sector in 2020

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BPO services have always been about speed, responsiveness, understanding concerns of a lead and offering competitive rates to win clients. While cost-effectiveness is the most highlighted USP of BPOs but outsourcing has helped businesses streamline hay wired processes, it has shaped the customer experience for many brands and also added to the overall efficiency of an organization.

Operations, peripheral activities, and contact centers will be the most outsourced processes in the coming years. 2020 will start a new era of outsourcing where both BPOs and enterprises will rely on different metrics for measuring efficiency and success.

Trends for BPO in 2020

Omnichannel approach for higher client retention

With quality customer experience becoming a standard instead of being a key metric, the focus of enterprises will shift to offering an omnichannel experience. With customers relying on multiple devices to interact with businesses, offering omnichannel experience will lead to better customer satisfaction and also increase customer retention. BPOs from around the world are gearing up with the requisite technology and training to help organizations offer similar experience across all platforms and devices.

Tailored Outsourcing

With the entry of new players like the Philippines, the competition in the BPO sector has stiffened. More and more agencies are evolving themselves to suit the growing needs of an organization. While some enterprises continue to train their employees on the latest technology, out of box thinkers are customizing their services as per the growing needs of enterprises. Sectors like E-commerce and Fintech are growing rampantly.

With the increasing user base, they are going to need outsourcing services sooner or later.

The increased penetration of the telecom network in India and China has pushed e-commerce and Fintech growth. Fintech penetration has grown from 16% in 2016 to 60% in 2019, whereas the e-commerce sector is expected to touch 2 billion users mark by the end of 2019. Such a gigantic user base will require a plethora of talented and trained professionals for quality customer support and back-office operation.

Also Read: Business Process Outsourcing for Organizations – Functions That Can Benefit

Businesses will go data-driven

With the dynamics of customer service changing, businesses will start relying heavily on data. To offer quality omnichannel experience and cater to the needs of customers on social media, enterprises will have to analyze the existing data meticulously. By leveraging customer journey mapping, competitor benchmarking and social media analytics, organizations will be able to predict customer behavior and offer better support and product recommendations.

The power of analytics when harnessed properly can help businesses control churn rate, increase customer loyalty and also drive referral sales. In the coming years, BPOs will also analyze user data to offer a better customer experience. BPOs are lining up to adopt analytics environment because customer experience is now a key decision influencer.

Social Media as a Customer Service Channel

Today customers want to interact with brands through social media platforms and messaging apps. Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp are some of the most commonly used platforms to reach enterprises. Brands are relying heavily on social media channels for customer acquisition. In the coming times, brands of all sizes and capacity will start leveraging social media platforms as a customer service channel. Amazon, Uber, and Netflix have already used social media as an effective tool for customer service. Together they have also raised the bar of customer service and now contemporaries need to offer a similar experience.

BPOs will play a crucial role in helping organizations offer quality customer support on Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp. Unlike contact centers, enterprises can rely on social media channels for handling more than one customer at a time and improving their customer satisfaction scores.

AI-powered Voice Response

With omnichannel experience becoming mainstream, enterprises will be pushed to acquire AI-Powered Voice Response. Since omnichannel experience is about offering a similar experience on every platform, businesses will have to harvest voice responses better. With artificial intelligence, BPOs can easily transcript calls and maintain records of conversations. AI will make it easier for BPOs to analyze the data and curate an omnichannel experience.

When leveraged efficiently, Artificial Intelligence will work like a bridge between data collected from various channels like social media, calls, emails, and chats. When analyzed together, data from varied sources will reveal every pattern a particular customer follows assisting with better customer service.

Cloud-Based Services will make Every Business Global

Organizations from around the world have relied heavily on India and the Philippines for their outsourcing needs. In the coming years, they will truly become global companies because hybrid cloud storage will allow them to store data in the cloud and access it from anywhere in the world.

The growing demand for quality customer experience and omnichannel experience turns cloud-based storage into a necessity. By transferring all customer-related data in the cloud, enterprises will make it easier for BPOs to analyze the data and decipher customer expectations.

Must Read: Expert’s View: Biggest Challenge Faced by Today’s Contact Center Leader

Up Skilling

With multiple BPOs evolving to suit the needs of growing organizations and offering tailored outsourcing services, others will also be coaxed to upskill. In the coming times, BPOs of all sizes will start investing in training their professionals. Any agency that resists change or denies to evolve with time will go obsolete.

India, China, Philippines, and Southern Europe are expected to emerge as the winner because of the easy availability of English speaking professionals. The pool of young people in India and the Philippines attracts businesses the most. By upskilling, BPOs located in these two countries can ensure long-lasting employment and prosperity.

While the trends will come and go, Customer Experience will continue to rule the turf

Recently concluded years have changed the way BPOs work. What started with contact centers has now developed into full-fledged businesses that offer everything from back-office support to customer experience enhancement.

In the coming years, customer experience is going to be a key differentiator, people will choose businesses that offer quality experience over enterprises that offer a competitive price. BPOs have a huge role to play in shaping the customer experience. By leveraging analytics, journey mapping and benchmarking, agencies can understand customers better and then optimize their services for offering a better experience.

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