The main source of income for almost any business type is their products and services that they offer to customers. Naturally, when you want to produce certain products or offer certain services to customers and clients, you’ll need to spend time, money, and effort creating such products.

But as the years pass, technological innovations like automation and AI development slowly and steadily made it even more convenient for workers to get their daily workloads done. However, AI and automation have gotten so advanced that most workers, especially those working for manufacturing facilities and industries, can be replaced with industrial treadmills and automated machinery that can instantly do all the heavy physical work. Still, manual supervision is needed for such industries to flourish.

Not only does automation help lessen monthly expenditures, but business outsourcing has also been a tried and tested means of improving workload output while still keeping a company’s expenditures at a minimum. Instead of having to pay a minimum of $1200 for a low-skill job in the United States or 1600 GBP in the United Kingdom, most employers can get the same amount of work output for only $200 in a month, or even less.

If most of these workers can be easily outsourced to other countries that will require less pay, then there’s no need to spend an excessive amount of money on the salary of workers in first world countries. But with automation keeping up its pace, how will this affect much of the BPO economy in these 3rd world countries?

What Is Business Process Outsourcing?

During the first few years of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, it’s usually comprised of companies that cater to telecommunication companies in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe.

The BPO industry doesn’t necessarily have to be about customer services and call handling to most first world countries as there are more business types and models, such as content marketing, search engine optimization, E-commerce management, and IT security agencies that are appearing in third world countries. But when it comes to customer support and service, the BPO industry in places like the Philippines comprise 52% of the industry.

A variety of first world countries have started focusing more on the local and current workforce rather than outsourcing much of their business to 3rd world countries. In the last few months, the pandemic has taken a severe toll on various industries and businesses, and much of the call-handling industry has been affected by this public health crisis. Some would say that the lack of workforce in these first world countries is why most would opt for outsourcing workloads to BPO companies.

But whether it’s being outsourced to other countries or not, there are still a variety of call answering services that pride themselves on their call handling skills and their ability to increase customer satisfaction, no matter where it is in the world. Being comprised of veterans in the industry, these professionals are responsive and are known for handling any situation for any industry type.

How Has It Been Affected?

Most experts would say that have of BPO engagements, especially those that are in the call-handling field, are merely replicating processes that are given by clients. In a technologically-sensitive environment, much of the industry will find that their methods are not obsolete, and frankly, out of fashion.

However, automation does help in different fields of the BPO industry rather than disrupting much of the process. Some of the benefits include:

• Eliminating repetitive work
• Ensures minimal errors
• Better compliance
• Better job satisfaction
• Better business forecasting
• Timely delivery of workloads

Although slowly and steadily, a good chunk of the workforce might be replaced in favor of automation, the BPO industry is still benefiting from these innovations.

Much of the BPO industry has enjoyed the benefits of automation, but there will come the point that most of the workforce will be replaced for more convenient methods. But what does the future hold? Only time will tell. The BPO industry and outsourcing will still be there in the future, but technology might be a big factor in whether it will stay or not.