A Basic Comparison of Front Office BPO vs Back Office BPO

If your business has any of its work completed by third-party vendors, you are already using Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). The BPO is behemoth. The global BPO market size boomed from $92.5 billion in 2019 to $232.32 billion in 2020. In today's work-from-home, gig economy, and hybrid workplaces, you can't leave BPO out of your plans. In fact, 80% of global business leaders say they expect to maintain or increase outsourcing spending.

So what does this outsourcing look like? Well, there are really only two: Front Office BPO and Back Office BPO. Let's have a look at these things in a friendly, and casual manner.

What is Front Office BPO?

Front Office BPO involves the activity your company does where it is directly interfacing with customers. The continuing reminders of your company to your customer are activities like a call, sales or technical support.

"Half of executives are outsourcing customer-facing activities for cost efficiency but not at the cost of quality," the Deloitte 2024 Global Outsourcing Survey noted.

Third party providers like marketing agencies, IT helpdesks or customer service departments allow business to provide great customer experience at a fraction of the full-time cost.

What does Front Office BPO Includes?

Front Office BPO includes the following:

Customer Support and Service: Making calls, writing, or messaging customers to address inquiries, resolve complaints, and troubleshoot issues.

Sales and Lead Generation: Convincing potential customers to convert from prospects to repeat customers that generates revenue.

Technical Support and Helpdesk: Helping customers to resolve technical issues including both hardware or software issues.

Telesales and Telemarketing: Convincing people to purchase something or services over the phone and selling.

Live Chat or Social Media Management: Engagement of web customers or complaint management and relationship management.

Front Office BPO Skills

To be successful in front office position vendors must have:

• Strong interpersonal skills and communication
• Language skills and cultural understanding
• Problem solving ability
• Salesmanship
• Emotional competence

What is Back Office BPO?

Back Office BPO handles the back-of-house operations that keep your business going. They are not front-end roles, like accounting, IT, or HR, but necessary to work efficiently. Small businesses, as per a 2023 Clutch survey, like to outsource such roles to save and have access to professional staff without the cost of full-time staff.

Back office outsourcing is shifting to niche segments like data analysis, legal outsourcing, and IT services. These services keep your company ship-shape and sailing smoothly even though they may not make your company money in themselves.

What does Back Office BPO Includes?

This is what back office BPO will usually entail:

Data Entry and Processing: Maintaining current, precise, and easily accessible company information from financial information to customer information.

Accounting and Bookkeeping: Handling money, payments, bills, and book balancing.

Human Resource Management: Employee recruitment and hiring, employment, and retention.

Research and Analytics: Access to data to inform business decisions, market trends, or competitive analysis.

Quality Assurance and Compliance: Maintaining products and services at their highest levels of quality and in regulatory compliance.

IT maintenance and support: Resolving the technical problems, for instance, printer failure or software bugs, to get systems up and ready to run.

Supply Chain Management: The movement of goods, services, and information from suppliers to customers.

Skills Required for Back Office BPO

Back office providers need:

• Technical skills
• Attention to detail
• Process improvement skills
• Analytical thinking
• Knowledge of rules and compliance

Front Office and back office BPO: Key Differences

So why are they different? Let us have a look at the most important way in which they are.

Customer Interaction - The most difference is with whom they communicate. Front Office BPO is talking to customers—think of this customer service reps answering complaints or sales reps talking to clients. Back Office BPO is in the background. An accountant, for instance, works with numbers, not with customer conversation.

Revenue Impact - Front office outsourcing impacts your bottom line. A successful sales presentation or marketing campaign may equal money in. Back office BPO is not overnight cash flow but helps your business with keeping the tick going on—such as IT support so your systems won't crash.

Time Sensitivity - Front office work is time-sensitive. The customers need feedback in timely fashion, and the suppliers therefore need to respond in timely fashion. Back office BPO work, such as bookkeeping or data entry, is less about doing it fast and more about getting it right. They have less time-sensitive deadlines but need to be accurate.

Performance Metrics What makes them successful? Success for Front Office BPO is satisfied customers, quick turnaround, and sales conversions. Success for Back Office BPO is accurate work, efficient processes, and cost savings.

The Bottom Line:

Why Both Matter BPO is an economic business solution that can bring dramatic results. Front Office BPO brings life to your brand, communicating with your customers through sales, customer service, and marketing. Back Office BPO stays in step with accounting, HR, and IT activities, so you can concentrate on your bottom line. If you need to impress clients, or you need to streamline process, you can outsource. The secret is knowing what to outsource and what your employees are best at and what the business goals are.