Over the last decade BPO has become so popular that it has actually affected all sectors of the economy. Financial institutions have not been left behind in using outsourcing for improving processes like payment process outsourcing, mortgage processing, etc. As banks were discovering the benefits of outsourcing tasks like payment process outsourcing, the economic recession hit and it gave them more reason to go for BPO services. The challenges of getting another company (inbound or offshore) to do your work became more apparent and these banks found themselves in a tricky situation that forced them to address these issues. So here are the issues and how they are being addressed by these banks.
Culture and BPO
Given that some banks had chosen offshore companies to handle their process optimization and transformation, issues of culture started to emerge. Initially, as offshore BPO was starting to take shape, many Indians, Chinese with foreign accents were being used to handle customer calls through their remote call centers.
Several issues were raised regarding having foreigners handling their transactions. Some felt they were not in a position to understand their issues because being foreigners they could not relate with the local problems and culture. Issues of trust were also raised. The clients wondered if countries like China and India could be trusted with handling personal information or this information could be leaked and used for identity theft. Some customers started looking for companies that did not outsource their business processes overseas.
Problems in Foreign Countries
Some of the countries had problems such as tsunamis, typhoons and floods. The banks and financial institutions in America and Europe that had outsourced processes like payment processing outsourcing in those countries were at pains to explain to their clients why they could not handle their transactions when emergencies occurred. The problem was made worse by the fact that some of these countries do not have disaster management strategies to help businesses get back to their normal day to day lives as fast as possible; therefore getting the system working again was a challenge.
Addressing the Challenges
Over the years, outsourcing of critical areas like payment processing outsourcing has evolved and companies providing these services have learnt to address these issues. Inbuilt redundancies have been incorporated into their systems such that they have several points in different cities in order to cushion them from complete breakdown in case of disasters.
A good professional firm can address these problems professionally and have a work around in case some of these problems come up. Therefore the success of leaving your organization’s process optimization and transformation begins with choosing the right company to handle it.
Author Bio:
Author is a diverse corporate writer, editor and marketer with years of experience. Currently sharing information on mortgage processing, IT outsourcing, BPO and payment process outsourcing.