Outsourcing enters legal sector

Outsourcing is nothing but contracting out a company's non-core, non-revenue producing activities to third party companies. And recently there has been a big shift to outsource intellectually-based service activities like research, product development, logistics, human relations, accounting, legal work, marketing, logistics, market research.

 Offshore outsourcing has entered to the legal profession as well. However it had not entered the complex agreements but more fundamental labor. BPO companies lifts the burden so that the firm can focus on the aspects that provide maximum value to its clients such as strategy, negotiations, fact development, drafting, depositions and court appearances. Outsourcing legal work, ranging from legal research to proofreading to organizing and indexing documents for trial has emerged as a hot issue in the legal community.

Any talks or discussions on the offshore outsourcing sector leads to Indian BPO companies. India is at the forefront of outsourcing. This is due to technical maturity, cost advantages and the productivity gains firms receive.Today, India is one of the most exciting emerging markets in the world. Skilled managerial and technical manpower that match the best available in the world and a middle class whose size exceeds the population of the USA or the European Union, provide India with a distinct cutting edge in global competition.

 Law firms, legal departments of major corporations and state and federal government are increasingly following the BPO route to reduce cost and increase efficiency. Outsourcing allows them to remain competitive and serve more clients. It has become an indispensable asset to legal community. Moreover Indian BPO companies are more productive because they work six days a week, not five, and they start work 5.5 hours before the UK.

Outsourcing enters legal sector

Outsourcing is nothing but contracting out a company's non-core, non-revenue producing activities to third party companies. And recently there has been a big shift to outsource intellectually-based service activities like research, product development, logistics, human relations, accounting, legal work, marketing, logistics, market research.

 Offshore outsourcing has entered to the legal profession as well. However it had not entered the complex agreements but more fundamental labor. BPO companies lifts the burden so that the firm can focus on the aspects that provide maximum value to its clients such as strategy, negotiations, fact development, drafting, depositions and court appearances. Outsourcing legal work, ranging from legal research to proofreading to organizing and indexing documents for trial has emerged as a hot issue in the legal community.

Any talks or discussions on the offshore outsourcing sector leads to Indian BPO companies. India is at the forefront of outsourcing. This is due to technical maturity, cost advantages and the productivity gains firms receive.Today, India is one of the most exciting emerging markets in the world. Skilled managerial and technical manpower that match the best available in the world and a middle class whose size exceeds the population of the USA or the European Union, provide India with a distinct cutting edge in global competition.

 Law firms, legal departments of major corporations and state and federal government are increasingly following the BPO route to reduce cost and increase efficiency. Outsourcing allows them to remain competitive and serve more clients. It has become an indispensable asset to legal community. Moreover Indian BPO companies are more productive because they work six days a week, not five, and they start work 5.5 hours before the UK.

Outsourcing: the meaning within

Entrepreneurship is the back bone of any economy and with the current shrinking of the entire system there has been a lack of it prominently. Even though there are many businesses that are the foundation of what makes our country work, but it's the small business owner that keeps the economy growing. Back office Outsourcing is one of the answers to many economic growth problems but no one wants to hear about it.

Small businesses are the backbone of the economy and make up a majority of the country's income. Mostly due to lack of skilled work or not enough work to support a larger staff, small companies can't handle all of the work that needs doing. Many businesses that need work can't sustain long contracts with other companies so they use them on a case-by-case basis. Back office outsourcing companies come into the picture when the small companies can't handle large salaries for many employees and also they become unsure of a consistent clientele. For attaining success, the best choices should be made in the company model and business analytics. And offshore outsourcing services are just a means to that end. 

People are usually sceptical about the BPO jobs that they believe that outsourcing jobs to other countries means job loss in their country. But that is completely false. Usually the small businesses can’t afford what it takes to support many workers in the first world countries with a higher standard of living. If you can't get the job done with local workers, then look towards outsourcing to get five times of the original work done for almost half the price. Sometimes BPO services simply mean that a business is expanding their services through outsourcing, which will mean greater opportunity for the host country and its economy.

Outsourcing is not synonym to loss of job opportunities. It often means that the work is being contracted out to an agency or service provider. It's a way for a business to get the job done without having to create entire departments, which ends up saving a company millions and keeps them in operation.

Overcoming the outsourcing woes in India

There has been lots of speculation revolving around the BPO industry across the world. Pouring oil onto fire, a section of media and other organisations have launched a contemptuous attack on the call centre employees, which may prove detrimental for the growth of BPO Industry. Take the case alleged corruption at the call centres and BPOs. If we analyse both the past and present scenario, corruption is rampant everywhere in the world. So there is no use in pointing the finger towards the outsourcing industry alone. 

The basic fact is that all the BPO employees are well educated and they are well aware of their responsibilities. The persons, who work with the BPO companies, understand the importance of security. They never breach the rules defined for them by their employers. Now the offshore outsourcing companies are taking strong security measures to prevent any misuse of the details of the customers and all the employees adhere to the rules. 

Most BPO companies have certifications and undergo third-party audits at regular intervals. So there is no question of authenticity while hiring the best among the many Indian BPO companies. Moreover outsourcing industry offers job opportunities like no other. It has been noticed that BPO is the best place for women empowerment. Women are given ample opportunities to prove themselves in the BPO sector. This is the only industry, which has witnessed high growth for women and helped them move to the higher positions in large numbers.

Despite all the odds, offshore outsourcing is booming. People abroad understand the importance of outsourcing their business to India since BPO s in the country have displayed their skilfulness and efficiency in handling the works assigned to them. They should be encouraged and motivated to work more diligently.

BPO services surpass IT services

  Acquisitions by Indian outsourcing companies are continuing unabated, driven by an increasing need to both deepen and broaden their capabilities in their search for growth and scale. A key driver of this activity is a little noticed long-term trend that should become more obvious as the years roll by that of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector growing faster than information technology (IT) services outsourcing. Acquisitions are happening rapidly and mostly finance and accounting sector is on the move. Also BPO firms are joining hands with telecom service providers as well. Most of the experts opine that unlike IT services, the BPO sector was not hit as hard by the downturn of 2008-09. IT services has now bounced back strongly and is growing much faster than BPO as a short-term trend. In the long-term, however, especially given that the IT services market is very well penetrated, it is BPO which will outpace growth, they points out.

According to some reliable data point the worldwide IT outsourcing expense is growing at 4% while BPO is growing or will grow at 6-8%. When you analyse the actual IT spend of companies, you can see that is growing at only around 2%, reflecting their actual growth. On an average, for every $1 billion spent on IT, a company would spend $4-5 billion on BPO.  Outsourcing is a much larger market and it is not that well-penetrated. So the long-term road ahead is clear. As with IT services, BPO clients are becoming more demanding and looking as much to solve business problems as to reduce costs. This calls for a deeper industry domain knowledge as well as global capability—the other key factors driving acquisition activity in the space.

Offshore legal outsourcing versus onshore outsourcing

Outsourcing companies that in recent years added to the financial woes of the American legal profession by sending work to low-cost countries like India are now creating jobs for lawyers in the United States. The American salaries for outsourced work may look meagre compared with the six figures that new associates might still hope to draw at a big firm. But outsourcing jobs typically pay better than temp work — and certainly better than no work at all.

And at that salary range, American lawyers start to look a bit more competitive with their offshore counterparts — and more attractive to potential American clients that might not be comfortable sending legal work overseas. Legal outsourcing companies with offshore office are looking forward to deliver a fantastic client experience by setting up onshore facility. This has been seen as the latest trend by legal BPO s in USA. Some of the leading BPO companies have already set up offices in most part of the state and has lawyers working during United States business hours, on tasks that, because of logistics or American law, can be difficult to perform outside the country like writing and vetting export control documents, military contracts and some patent reviews. Most of the BPO companies have set onshore sites and have been hiring steadily in recent months. And though the industry’s total number of employees in the United States is still estimated to be only in the hundreds, analysts predict fast growth for the field. In the United States, outsourcing companies are hiring lawyers from temporary legal services firms or recruiting them directly out of law school. The pay is often comparable to lawyers’ salaries in smaller cities. And the jobs can come with other benefits, like equity stakes in the company and management opportunities that might not be widely available at conventional law firms. Even though it will put a stake over the offshore outsourcing companies, it will enhance the business globally.

BPO favours Telecom industry

Most of the businesses have now started depending on the outsourcing phenomenon in order to succeed in their business. And hence back office outsourcing has become the new key in the present world to expand your business. This trend is reflecting in almost all sectors like banking, insurance, retail etc. Amongst all the businesses profiting from the services provided by outsourcing, telecom industry is one. According to estimates, almost 75% of the telecom business companies have already taken to outsourcing.

In the process of making any major financial or technological policy, outsourcing is a major player. This fact has been unanimously accepted by the telecom executives worldwide. Apart from the fact that outsourcing certain business processes is convenient to the company, it is also true that telecom companies save a lot of money by following this suit. This is very relevant on the network management where half of the finances within a telecom industry are spent. Other segments that require a lot of time and finances include customer care, billing, recruitments etc. With the advent of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) though, the telecom industries can easily outsource the above mentioned services and processes.

With the major processes outsourced, the telecom companies are then better able to utilize their time and management by focusing into expansion and other company policies aiming at expanding their customer base. This is particularly applicable to telecom industries based in the first world nations or developed nations, where work force is extremely costly. Hence outsourcing their business processes to BPO service providers ensure that all their customers get complete and proper attention, hence assuring a loyal customer base. Then again, outsourcing also ensures that these companies get the latest of technological aid, which would have come extremely costly if the company had decided to do it themselves.

BPO- Insurance

The life Insurance segment is facing various areas of concern like growing claims, increasing litigation, rising labor attrition and nontraditional competitions like brokerages and banks. In this situation, the Insurance companies particularly the ones dealing with Life Insurance need to implement remedial measures. Most of the life insurance companies rely upon Back Office service Provider for reducing administrative and labor costs through automation and outsourcing. The insurance outsourcing market is enormous with India being one of the most preferred destinations. There are nearly 3,000 insurance companies in the US alone and around 63 percent of India’s outsourcing revenue comes from United States, says Global Insurance Outsourcing report.

Also by outsourcing property and casualty insurance works, the insurers have focal determination of high severity claims management with accurate claim processing, faster business cycle, reimbursements and turnaround times. With the internet playing a major role in expanding insurance segment, majority of the population go for online insurance products than relying on the traditional methods. Consequently, the insurance companies particularly in the Property and Casualty insurance vertical are no longer relying only on Back Office Outsourcing but rectification and strengthening of crucial business processes. 

Shriram Value Services, an associate of the multi-billion dollar Shriram Group, headquartered in Chennai, India efficiently delivers insurance industry specific as well as cross industry BPO solutions for clients across the globe. We provide a list of comprehensive solutions to our trusted clientele reaching places far away from just being offshore BPO providers. With our deep domain expertise in insurance processing and diligence, Shriram Value strives to deliver maximum productivity, increased operational efficiency and profitably to our clients.

Relying on BPO in credit card processing

Customer attrition, ever increasing and complex fraud patterns, increased competition and regulation are some of the hurdles faced in the Credit Card processing sectors. Along with this there are complexities involved with the legacy processing systems due to the inflexibility and inability to adapt quickly to changing market place demands. Also the banking sector has been under constant pressure to reduce transaction costs. Furthermore there has been business and technology convergence, expensive and inefficient distributed card centers affecting the sectors.

The banking companies should control the capital expenditure and become more alert in the credit card offering sector to overcome the hitches. The companies are in need of a business model that is capable of handling a wide range of card processing, operations to define processes specific to market needs, market and regulatory changes, products and services to be customized to the specified needs of the market segments.

Shriram Value has the expertise in processing system that can provide the control needed to optimize approvals in an environment where non face-to-face transactions and consumer controlled delivery manipulate the profitable growth. Our services include Credit card application processing, Credit card servicing, Credit card settlement.

Insurance BPO sector in India

The Property and Casualty Insurance sector has been experiencing vibes of strong competition. This has been substantiated by the acquisitions and mergers happening in the segment due to the dominant position of large market leaders, ever growing technology and competitive pricing environment. However market conditions remain supportive for underwriting profitability and rates have increases in market segments particularly in Property and Casualty Insurance following catastrophes. All these have resulted in tight competition within the Insurance space. 

By outsourcing property and casualty insurance works, the insurers have focal determination of high severity claims management with accurate claim processing, faster business cycle, reimbursements and turnaround times. With the internet playing a major role in expanding insurance segment, majority of the population go for online insurance products than relying on the traditional methods. Consequently, the insurance companies particularly in the Property and Casualty insurance vertical are no longer outsourcing just back office support work but rectification and strengthening of crucial business processes.  

Shriram Value understands the segments of Property and Casualty insurance that requires enhancement and renders help in attaining proficiency.  We are equipped with knowledge as well as technological competence for delivering comprehensive off shoring solutions.

It’s time for vertical shift in BPO

In order to cater to the changing demands of the outsourcing industry many large BPO firms are widening their vertical or sectoral expertise. With clients now more open to outsourcing sector specific mid- to front-end functions that require deeper domain knowledge, BPOs are enhancing their expertise in such functions. These include areas like mortgage processing, core banking, supply chain and healthcare insurance. For clients, this helps to contain costs and focus on their core business.

Earlier BPOs have been horizontal focused. They offered services like customer interaction and support, finance and accounting, and human resources that are applied across different industry verticals. With the change in the vertical, insurance clients are now outsourcing core processes in underwriting and banking clients want BPOs to analyze risks associated with loans and make decisions on loan disbursements. The BPO giants in India are now focusing on banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), manufacturing, and telecom, media and entertainment verticals. Plus the outsourcing sector is also scouting for acquisitions in different geographies. Some Eastern European countries are excellent for accounting, while the US is good for healthcare experts. BPOs are also appointing domain specialists to improve their verticalized offerings. For instance, banking sector executives are hired to work on actuarial (risk assessment) roles at BPOs.

BPO s coping with the recession

Business experts confirm that Business-process outsourcing is getting redefined and will expand rapidly over the next five to seven years outpacing growth in technology services. These days’ companies are looking to outsource a wide range of services including human resources and accounting. In order to meet this demand, outsourcing companies are rushing to build up their expertise. Several companies have taken the acquisition route while others are opting to develop these services internally, says one of the veterans. 

Talking about the recession, experts believe that the global economic meltdown largely depend on customer’s economic cycle. Some of the clients have been severely affected by the economy while there are hopes that they will recover very soon. Outsourcing volumes will increase gradually as customers come out of the downturn in the economic cycle. However, on the other hand, looking at the business in totality shows that the business has not shrunk, they opine. Companies continue to look forward in outsourcing services in industries like banking, financial services and insurance sectors. Also technology, telecom and manufacturing have their share in the bread as well. In addition, clients are interested in focusing on their very core businesses and they seek specialised providers. Most of the Indian BPO companies focus on existing sectors and later on expanding to adjacent areas.

Some facts on back office outsourcing

For the assortment of advantages it offers, back office outsourcing has gained immense popularity over these years. Businesses outsource their back office jobs since they can save the money that they would have to spend for acquiring these tasks carried out in-house. Back office outsourcing companies in India enable business experts to concentrate on core organization activities by lessening the administrative responsibilities of business experts. To be precise outsourcing back office jobs costs much less and yields greater results. 

Leading health care facilities, insurance firms, educational institutions, government agencies, organization establishments, legal firms, banking sector, financial, accounting firms and other people take benefit of the outsourcing services. There are numerous well-recognized outsourcing companies offering outstanding back office services. The best thing with the back office outsourcing firms is that they deliver consistent and competent service. They are always equipped with innovative technologies and software. Also a team of professionals which includes information conversion professionals, accountants, auditors, editors, proofreaders, quality controllers, monetary analysts and others with profound understanding about distinct file formats, accounting, auditing rules and data conversion tools and methods compliment the work of BPO in India. They have the capability to competently manage even complex back office projects and deliver good results within the specified time limit.

Change is Inevitable and BPO industry is no Exception

The Outsourcing business in India still leads the global IT outsourcing market and its advantages over other regions are distinct. Rising from the periphery to emerge as a viable, high-potential opportunity for the country's IT-BPO services sector, the Indian domestic market has undergone a transformation over the past decade. 

According to the government statistics, India continues to dominate global outsourcing market with market size estimated to be worth about $52 billion. Banking and financial services contribute nearly 40 percent to India's outsourcing industry. Even though the offshore outsourcing industry has been facing bottlenecks like cut-throat competition, severe shortages of trained and skilled manpower, more investment needed in infrastructure, need of higher level of control, maintenance of higher quality standards, the BPO service sector has slowly gone past the hurricanes smoothly. 

However, experts suggest that India's outsourcing industry is on the cusp of a significant change, shifting to knowledge-intensive and value-added services that call for a new way of functioning. In the global outsourcing market labour or cost arbitrage has been the constant concerns. But when it comes to outsourcing business in India, need to scale rapidly, greater focus on core competencies, enhanced productivity, heightened competition and reduced time to market that is driving domestic demand.

There now seems to be shift in the services that are outsourced. Earlier the not-so-important and tedious back office works were outsourced while now the outsourced services are now the areas that require experts. What has triggered the companies to search for experts to offload functions beyond their know-how is essentially the growing competition and market needs. This is not only helping organizations save time and gain value for money but also helping them scale up by capitalizing on their proficiency, says reports. To be precise, the Offshore BPO industry is standing at an interesting focus-shift point. BPO service providers are now adding the knowledge component into the mix in an attempt to deliver greater value.