Friday, December 26, 2008

What is outsourcing

What is outsourcing? Outsourcing is a company's activity of engaging another organisation to do their business process or part of their business process.

Below are some examples of why outsourcing can be a good decision.

1. More often than not, companies that take on outsourcing projects and jobs already have the facilities and the manpower to do the business process on behalf of their client's companies. This means that the client do not need to buy the necessary facilities and hire the necessary staffs or personnels in order to get the job done. This translates to huge savings for the companies that engage the outsourcers.

2. By outsourcing some of the tasks, companies can focus their business on more important matters. This can ensure that efforts are effectively channeled to make the business more competitive. Instead of being a jack of all trade, companies should focus on their main core business and let some of the other side tasks be managed by experts of these areas.

3. Outsourcing is one way of getting highly-productive manpower in a cheaper rate. Why is that so? This is because the wages of skilled professionals in certain companies are lower than in other countries. This is due to the cost of living being lower in certain countries. This results in skills professionals from certain countries having a lower market rate salary.

4. By outsourcing certain functions and tasks, a company can be able to save a lot of office space. This is because facilities required for these tasks need not be housed within the office.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Is Home Business Suitable for You?

A home business is a business that operates inside the home of the business owner. Usually is a small business. Since home business is operating inside a house, the business owner does not stuck in traffic jam everyday to go to office. The business owner runs home business by himself, no workers is needed. He gets all the income and profits gained in a home business. Usually a home business can earn about few thousands or more each month. Is it attracted you to start a home business? No traffic jams, no workers, and high profit, relax at home, more free time to spend with family.

Many websites are promoting different types of home businesses, such as affiliate programs, multi-level marketing (MLM); resell rights of particular products and many more. Some websites are even stating no experience needed, easy to start, guaranteed system, earning more than you expected and other attracting words to attract more prospects. The system is very fantastic and easy, so it attracted many new leads to join. After some time, some people cheer with joys of his success but some fail to gain any profit and yet getting more and more credit card bills. They success because they suitable to run a home business but the others not.

Is Home Business Suitable for You?

A home business is a business that operates inside the home of the business owner. Usually is a small business. Since home business is operating inside a house, the business owner does not stuck in traffic jam everyday to go to office. The business owner runs home business by himself, no workers is needed. He gets all the income and profits gained in a home business. Usually a home business can earn about few thousands or more each month. Is it attracted you to start a home business? No traffic jams, no workers, and high profit, relax at home, more free time to spend with family.

Many websites are promoting different types of home businesses, such as affiliate programs, multi-level marketing (MLM); resell rights of particular products and many more. Some websites are even stating no experience needed, easy to start, guaranteed system, earning more than you expected and other attracting words to attract more prospects. The system is very fantastic and easy, so it attracted many new leads to join. After some time, some people cheer with joys of his success but some fail to gain any profit and yet getting more and more credit card bills. They success because they suitable to run a home business but the others not.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Customer Service For the New Business Owner

You finally took the plunge and started your new business and no doubt have already realized it is your customers who will determine your success or failure since you seem to spend every waking moment thinking of ways to bring them in. Keeping customers happy and coming back is your number one priority and is absolutely essential to the long-term success of the business. The best way to do this is with outstanding customer service and to get you started, here are some of the best customer service ideas you can use to keep those hard-won customers happy and coming back.

* Respect - Treat everyone with respect. If someone were even considering buying from you, why would you not treat him or her with respect? Customers can spend their money anywhere and if they feel mistreated it will certainly be the last time you hear from them.

* Honesty - Along with respect for your customer comes honesty. Be honest in everything you say or do. This means never promising what you cannot deliver. For example, if you are a contractor and promise someone you will arrive at 9:00 the next morning, make certain you are there when you promised. If you know you cannot make it at that time, why would you ever say you could?

* Over Deliver - Go beyond what you promise. Offer a no hassle - no questions asked policy and mean it. Find ways to offer something for free. For example, if you sell watches, offer free batteries for life. You will not only gain a happy customer, you will be happy too since they will probably buy something else every time they come in for their free battery. Try to come up with ways to offer more than your customer expects such as coupons, free gifts, and faster service.

* Educate - An informed and educated customer is a loyal customer. If you take the time to teach your customers how to properly use whatever it is you sell, you will go a long way towards making yourself indispensable and an expert in the eyes of your customers.

* Complaints - You have surely heard the saying the customer is always right but do you really believe it? You will never "win" an argument with a customer, they will just take their business elsewhere and you will ultimately be on the losing end. The good news here is if handled properly, a complaint can turn a dissatisfied customer into a loyal customer for life.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Small Business Marketing Tips

Small business marketing tips are guidelines regarding potential opportunities in small business marketing. They help to plan and implement an effective marketing strategy. Small business marketing faces many constraints such as poor budget and lack of essential resources. Marketing tips serve to overcome these constraints. They help to improvise the marketing strategy with a step-by-step planning process. Tips can be the short cut to utilize and benefit from a particular situation. The ultimate aim of these ideas is to enhance the business. Marketing tips are also a guide of do's and don'ts in the marketing field. Small business marketing tips come up with innovative and practical ideas for a cost effective marketing strategy.

Small business marketing tips attempt to enhance the marketing according to the prevailing conditions. It helps to choose effective resources for marketing, suitable to attract the attention of customers. The tips are available for all the steps in marketing including planning, formulation of the strategy, selection of marketing materials and effective marketing procedures. It enables a product to grab consumer attention and to position itself in the market. Effective marketing tips will generate sales quickly.

Small business marketing tips also aim to maintain product identity. Most of the tips prefer branding of the products for a unique selling proposition in the market. Creative marketing ideas such as newsletters, business post cards and trade booths are provided. It explores alternate marketing strategies such as bartering system, mail outs and offers. Tips suggest that referral marketing is one of the best techniques to highlight a product. Cause related marketing is also harnessed as a marketing opportunity.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

BPO Outsourcing To India – Major Advantages

India is probably the leader of offshore BPO outsourcing, and there are certain reasons why executives in American countries tend to entrust their BPO needs to their Indian colleagues.

Firstly, India possesses a well-developed system of higher education, which accounts for about 85,000 graduates each year, who can boast of a solid reputation in the international business community.

Secondly, with the help of BPO outsourcing to India an American firm can reduce their costs up to 40-50% percent in comparison with the sum of money they would have to pay to an American or European employee for a similar job. This gives an organization a great chance to stand out in front of their competitors. Thirdly, employees of BPO outsourcing companies are Indians, who strive for quality and carefully work with the customers' data ensuring a perfect accuracy level.

Next, in comparison with many developed European countries, Indian BPO outsourcing resources luxuriate in computer literate workers, who speak English as their first language. This makes them cost effective compared to other outsourcing countries.

BPO outsourcing call centers are frequently located in India as the country has one of the biggest telecommunications networks in Asia, which counts around 25 million telephone cables, and is constantly expanding. Numerous companies, private owners and government agencies have installed around 8500 VSATs throughout India, making it easier to gather all the necessary information.

Friday, October 17, 2008

SAP Based BPO Solutions

A BPO can be successful if it can develop the necessary organizational skills. The common problems faced in standards BPO is there is loss of flexibility, insufficient preparation and difficulties in measuring performance before and after the agreement.

Managing a BPO is not a simple task as it has lot of risks. To deliver good results the service provider has to rely on sound business foundations like process automation and related technology. SAP can help the BPO in many ways such as integrated business solutions, in house processes, certified BPO partners that can handle the outsourcing needs.

BPO with SAP solutions has major advantages like it has lower risk of transportation, operations, legal compliance and contract governance; it has lower cost during transition and evolution, lower ongoing total process cost and lower cost of keeping long term options open.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Nasscom: Short-term impact on outsourcing

The fourth-largest software exporter from the country Satyam also said that it was "concerned" over the developments in the US. "We are very concerned about the recent development in the BFSI segment in the US. However, the Lehman Brothers episode will not have any impact on Satyam," Satyam Computer CFO Srinivas Vadlamani said. HCL Technologies, however, said that the two US majors -Lehman and Merrill Lynch -were not its clients and therefore would not adversely affect the company.

When one puts all of this together, there is some loss but given that most of the top five companies have over 40-45 per cent exposure to BFSI space, then mood is worried and concerned right now, said an analyst.

Already finding it tough to cope with the slowdown in the US, the beleaguered Indian IT vendors are likely to see some reversal in revenues coming out of their banking practice with the recent happenings at global level.

Nasscom, which is of the view that the current crisis is a consequence of the subprime crisis which began last year, said many companies that were being directly impacted by the turmoil last year had prepared for this eventuality.
But the association is optimistic on the challenge being contained as it said "India's value proposition continues to be strong. As an industry, we have worked as partners with our customers and will continue to do so, even as the financial services sector realigns itself."

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Business Credit Cards

A true business credit card is a line of credit that is taken in the name of the business, under the business' credit. Activity, whether good or bad, is reflected on your business' credit report through D&B and other financial institutions, and the liability for any debts incurred and bills owed is with the business.

However, some companies out there offer "business" credit cards which they require a person guarantee for. These institutions will often ask for a personal guarantee, and will almost always ask for a social security number from the person applying for the business credit card. If this is the case, the credit card is not a business credit card, but is simply a personal credit card which is used for the business. The business is not liable for bills and debts - you are.

When applying for a business credit card for your business, watch out for areas asking for your SSN (and not your TaxID orEIN) and be wary of any business credit card that asks for a personal guarantee. By ensuring that your business credit card is in the name of your business, you can help to build your business' credit, while avoiding creating problems with your own personal credit.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

What is Data Entry Outsourcing?

Data entry has been a very tedious job that most companies need, but don't want to do so they find out information on data entry outsourcing, and implement this service into their organization. There are hundreds and hundreds of data entry outsourcing firms that employ their services for this tedious task that companies don't want to deal with.

These data entry outsourcing firms save the companies a lot of money in benefits and salaries for cheap work that they can get from the data entry outsourcing firms. It has been said that data entry is a brainless type of work that monkeys can do and all they require from the employees that do it, is fast and accurate fingers.

But a lot of people have come to find out that data entry is not such an easy task to take on so they employ data entry outsourcing firms. Most of the employees that do this data entry are very skilled in their work. It takes talent in order to type or key on a computer keyboard with accuracy. It is these people that allow the companies to have the information they need to analyze or have the information they need in order to get those statistics to their boss on time.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

BPO Companies - A Means Of Outsourcing

BPO companies are located overseas and represented by call centers, data entry specialists, offshore bookkeepers, tax preparation specialists, accountants, email answering specialists, telemarketers, copywriters, web sales and marketing professionals and many other specialists.

BPO companies are one of the fastest growing industries in today. The benefit of BPO companies are reduction in production costs, getting the work done by professional specialists. It’s a logical sequence of globalizing IT market.

To hire a BPO company several factors needs to be taken into consideration as your several business risks are shared with the BPO companies. One should plan long term projects and long term goals in which chances of failure seems minimum. It should be seen that work get accomplished in time as it increases the cost and overhead expenses in case the stipulated task doesn’t get accomplished.

These days many BPO companies are into origin from India, China,Philipines,South Africa. In developing countries like India there is sharp competition in BPO companies These are largely assited small and medimum sized companies which seek to boost their business profit with their cost effective techniques.

Friday, August 22, 2008

Offshore outsourcing India

Offshore Outsourcing has been popular for several years. Countries like India are popular offshore outsourcing locations which offer cost effective solutions. There is a wealth of articles and write ups about the cost advantages of offshore outsourcing with a majority claiming anywhere between 40-50% savings.

• It has one of the world’s largest pools of highly educated, English-speaking workers (250 million), many with scientific and technical skills. By 2010, India is expected to be the largest English-speaking country in the world.

India has very low wages. Starting salaries for IT engineers in India range from $5,000-$10,000, low by US standards but very attractive in a country with a per capita annual income of $500.

India Advantages

India has the advantage of a very large number of English speaking populations, which is more than in any other non-English speaking country. Add to that the lower cost of manpower; it becomes very attractive to hire Indian software professionals. Once the boom started, India is producing software professionals by thousands. IT education starts right from Nursery and specialized institutes are available to provide diplomas/degrees in various fields of IT.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

How Much Memory is Enough

With technology growing as it is these days, more and more people are becoming dependent on computers for a wide array of tasks. Many people use computers for online gaming which requires a bit more memory so that the graphics are displayed properly. Most of the online games with high graphics require more memory so that the computer does not freeze. So in this case the more memory you have the better.More and more people are opting to go to school online as this is a way to go to school at home and the time you go to school online doesn't matter. As busy as most people are with daily lives, going to school online is a workable option that most people are interested in. The school files are large and small, so the more memory you have the better. Of course you can also burn your school files to a disc and that way delete the files to free up more space.

Most computers ship with the minimum amount of memory necessary to allow the operating system to run smoothly. With the memory upgrades available, you can increase your ram fifty percent or more, depending on the available memory slots in your computer. With today's newer office applications and the graphics intensive games, it is necessary to have more memory so that with two applications open and running, the less chance you have of your computer freezing or acting strangely.Typically the operating system manufacturer is the one that sets the minimum amount of memory required to run the basic operating system itself and not any additional applications or programs. This is why it is recommended to upgrade the memory as the minimum is simply not enough to run more than the operating system. Therefore you will help prevent frustration from computer crashes or freezing.

In order to prevent this problem install the maximum memory for your computer make and model, as recommended by a computer specialist. With the advances in technology almost daily, it is necessary to have a smooth running computer that can handle having multiple applications open. Online gamings are high graphics programs that require more memory to display the graphics properly. If you are looking to run multiple programs, play games online and other applications, it is best to have more memory.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Delhi Offers Best BPO and Call Center Jobs

Delhi is World’s BPO capital!! Having a call center in Delhi & NCR is the norm for several global companies today. In order to meet the growing international demand for cost-effective, customer-oriented call centers, many organizations worldwide are outsourcing these services by setting up call centers here.

But what makes call center jobs in Delhi such an attractive option for fresh job seekers? Is it more like a part time job in Delhi option to earn an extra buck? At call centers the opportunity to make money can be very lucrative as the salary offered with just a graduation degree is way ahead expectation. More to this list is free pick and drop cab, a free meal, attractive offices and a lot of entertainment at times!! The fact is BPO industry has in offer great opportunities for both fresh and experienced university graduates.

The top BPO’s in Delhi & NCR actively increasing manpower are; EXL, it is a leading end-to-end BPO in Noida near Delhi and headquartered in New York. Xansa, the international business process and IT Services Company is Europe's leading providers of telecommunications services centered at Noida. NIIT SmartServe is a subsidiary of NIIT Technologies, a global IT solutions company located at Gurgoan near Delhi. iEnergizer is one of the most progressive International Call Centers in Asia Pacific region, located in Noida near New Delhi.

Integreon provides high-value, complex BPO solutions (also known as Knowledge Process Outsourcing, KPO or judgment-based BPO), specializing in document, content and knowledge services located in Delhi & NCR.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

BPO - Growing Sector in Asia

The Business Process Outsourcing is mainly divided into two categories: the back-end processing and the front-end processing. The back-end processing mainly deals with back office work like billing and the front-end processing mainly deals with customer support. The BPO industry mainly concentrates on the front-end process i.e. providing customer support. Most of the BPO companies recruit candidates for the front-end process. The pay scale for front-end processing (customer support) is also high when compared to back-end processing as you are mainly dealing with clients in US and UK and it requires good communication skill.

The job actually involves providing solution to customer queries. A candidate with good communication skill can thrive well in a BPO industry, especially as a customer support executive. The BPO industry also provide excellent training facilities. These training facilities actually help the candidates a lot as it makes them understand what the business is all about.

Actually, the BPO industry and the information technology go hand in hand. So, BPO sectors are also termed as information technology enabled services (ITES). Even though the basic pay scale is high in a BPO sector, working in a BPO industry can actually test your limits. Health-related issues such as severe backpain can arise as you may be working for long hours at a stretch. It may also lead to severe stress. So, once you have made up your mind to have a go at the BPO industry,

you must also be prepared to face the consequences. Unlike a software industry, it is very unlikely that you might be getting a good exposure in a BPO industry.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Offshore outsourcing

Offshore outsourcing to India is one of the most popular management practices today. Though it is generally spurred by the cost reduction factor, this is just one of the reasons one should consider offshore outsourcing. Most parties who outsource are unaware that Indian Service Providers do not just offer cost effective solutions, but also value addition by improving productivity and quality.
Offshore outsourcing has been popular for several years. Countries like India are popular offshore outsourcing locations which offer cost effective solutions. There is a wealth of articles and write ups about the cost advantages of offshore outsourcing with a majority claiming anywhere between 40-50% savings.
However, offshore outsourcing has come under attack recently. There is an outcry against outsourcing by parties in the US and UK because of the loss of jobs to people in these countries. Many have pointed out actual costs and poor quality of service as the hidden truths behind the attractive packaging.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Mobile Phones and BPO Employees

The youngsters are the prime targets of the mobile manufacturing companies. They know that youngsters tend to be get easily attracted to all the new features like music, imaging etc. Easy money for the youngsters has further helped in fueling the mobile proliferation. Nowadays, youngsters have got every good reason to work in a place like BPO sector and earn a good remuneration. With the BPO sector expanding at a lightning speed, jobs are just waiting for the youngsters. Smart jobs for smart people has become a driving force in popularizing the BPO bandwagon.

The BPO industry is a place to work in full freedom and enjoy like nowhere. Party bashes have become a everyday affair in the BPO industry. Youngsters working in BPO are traditionally fond of showing their fashion statement with newest of the new arrivals in the fashion market. Ipods were a big hit at one time. Now, it's the time for the multimedia phones like Nokia N-Series, LG U970 Shine etc. Walkman-Series phones from Sony Ericsson are also becoming extremely popular among the BPO workers.

As the BPO employees have to join and leave the office at erratic times, women security is of prime importance to BPOs. Mobile phones are also proving to be a great security thing for the employees, especially for the women. There are several online mobile phone shops which are offering value mobile phone offers on different handsets. Take your time and get the one that suits your needs as well as your pocket.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

BPO - Trends In India

The boom in the particularly the BPO sector, may well be over. The country has exhausted its skilled labor force, and new projects that are outsourced to India may not enjoy the same level of expert work force.We recently reported on a slowing down in the Indian BPO sector because of a shortfall in skilled workers. We also expressed concerns over other factors like rising costs and security threats in India, which may hamper outsourcing.

According to a government report, the demand for skilled labor is far outweighing the supply, and there may be a shortfall of 260,000 workers by the year 2009. This will also lead to many professionals switching jobs for career advancement, and in turn employees will be forced to attract professionals by offering them better pay packages. These factors will lead to escalation of costs, and India may well lose its edge as a low-cost destination India.

Quality, too, is likely to suffer as the top available talent has already been absorbed by the industry. As a result, service providers have no option but to recruit from a level below their optimum requirements. This makes high-quality in-house training a critical factor.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

BPO Companies – What Are They

Some experts offer to divide all BPO companies into two main groups: back office BPO companies and front office BPO companies, depending on the nature of work and the necessity to be or not to be in contact with customers. Further, the BPO companies are divided into offshore outsourcing, nearshore outsourcing and onshore outsourcing businesses, depending on the country, where the outsourcer is situated.

Some of the most widely spread BPO companies are represented by call centers, data entry specialists, offshore bookkeepers, tax preparation specialists, accountants, email answering specialists, online customer support, image processing specialists, form processing specialists, hr help, translators, copywriters, transcription specialists, billing services , database marketers, telemarketers, web sales and marketing professionals, and many other specialists. This list is constantly expanding.

In most cases, BPO companies are located overseas. Despite the seeming inconvenience of hiring an overseas specialist, and not being able to fully control the work of such an employee, BPO companies remain one of the fastest growing industries in today’s so much globalized offshore IT market. What are the reasons for such a phenomenon? There are actually many of them, the most important of which is the reducing of production costs, while getting the work done by professional specialists. Sounds like a dream? Not any more. BPO companies are a logical consequence of the globalizing IT market.

Hiring a BPO company usually implies that several of your business risks are shared with the outsourcing firm, which purchases and installs the necessary equipment, software, manages the work force at its own costs. This allows the hiring companies plan long-term projects and set long-term goals, which are not exposed to high risks of failure.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

BPO Outsourcing To India

BPO outsourcing to India an American firm can reduce their costs up to 40-50% percent in comparison with the sum of money they would have to pay to an American or European employee for a similar job. This gives an organization a great chance to stand out in front of their competitors. Thirdly, employees of BPO outsourcing companies are Indians, who strive for quality and carefully work with the customers' data ensuring a perfect accuracy level.

Next, in comparison with many developed European countries, Indian BPO outsourcing resources luxuriate in computer literate workers, who speak English as their first language. This makes them cost effective compared to other outsourcing countries.

BPO outsourcing call centers are frequently located in India as the country has one of the biggest telecommunications networks in Asia, which counts around 25 million telephone cables, and is constantly expanding. Numerous companies, private owners and government agencies have installed around 8500 VSATs throughout India, making it easier to gather all the necessary information.

A BPO outsourcing company in India can help you effectively run business 24 hours a day, as the time zone difference between the two countries provides a chance for Indian colleagues to go on with the business, when their American colleagues go to bed. Quick turnaround time is a clear privilege of many BPO outsourcing companies.

Sharing business risks is one more reason for hiring a BPO outsourcing staff in India. When you delegate some of your tasks to your Indian partners, you do not have to think about the staffing problems at the peak of vacations, about the management and education of employees, as well as the probable renovation of technologies and equipment, which you may never use in future due to the constant development of the IT sphere.

Friday, June 13, 2008

The 10 Most Powerful Words in Outsourcing

The 10 concepts that, when fully understood, allow for a solid and beneficial relationship with an outsource provider are:
  • Facility Management
  • Outsourcing
  • Out-tasking
  • Downsizing
  • Rightsizing
  • Core business
  • One-stop shopping
  • Value added
  • Process re-engineering
  • Internal Customers
In summary, the outsourcing/out-tasking industry will continue to experience rapid growth in the 1990s. Although the terminology has, and will continue to, change, the end result will stay the same - quality service to the facility management industry. Today, the facility manager still can deliver higher levels of service with reduced operating expense and still maintain the necessary control over office service functions. This can be achieved by the proper selection of an outsource or out-task provider that will become a true partner with the facility manager....