Driven by client expectations, fast changing technologies and the need to constantly adapt to the new normal, the global business process outsourcing (BPO) industry has evolved significantly over the last two decades. Outsourcing is no longer only for large enterprises. Small businesses and even start-ups are embracing the concept of outsourcing key processes to help steer their companies during uncertain times. Outsourcing firms need to adapt faster than their environment, their clients and their competitors by deploying more robust, flexible tools to handle functions like accounting as well as expanding the scope of their services to include processes such as human resources (HR), ecommerce and customer support, among other functions.
Expected to provide consistent, accurate and up-to-date data across various business functions, BPOs face unique pressures in a complex climate. Outsourcing firms need technology that meets the needs of the small startup to the billion-dollar global enterprise—and all points in between. This balancing act can be eased by cloud-based systems and other technological innovations, allowing BPOs to leverage infrastructures that can more easily scale to meet their client’s requirements.
Here are three ways that a unified cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform helps outsourcing firms achieve the ideal level of symbiosis, even during times of uncertainty, while improving customer retention:
Make sure to join the Insightful Accountant webinar with Oracle NetSuite, "Using a Cloud Solution to Boost Remote Collaboration in Outsourcing," on June 16, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. You can register here.
#1 Allows internal and external users to focus on what matters most. Managing and maintaining multiple systems for each client’s state of health can quickly become unprofitable. To support clients in times of change, you need all the help you can get, which can mean adding more people or squeezing more efficiency out of your current personnel. With a cloud ERP solution, BPOs have the ability to replicate a robust, secure cloud system across hundreds or thousands of clients, allowing organizations to focus on what matters, without compromising profits.
#2 Goes beyond financials. Most solutions that outsourcing firms are using to service clients have very narrow finance capabilities. In times like these, clients need a more robust solution that will support them in areas like inventory, projects, ecommerce, and HR in order to quickly adapt to change. They require the services of an integrated system that centralizes and automates accounting and supports other key business functions. With real-time, anywhere, visibility and control of financials, payroll, projects, inventory and suppliers, your clients can make smarter, faster decisions with access to their system anytime, anywhere. By implementing a unified cloud platform that incorporates all of these capabilities (and more), BPOs can create efficiencies in the delivery of the outsourced services they provide.
#3 Helps clients scale and adjust. Change is the only constant in times like these. Smart business leaders use slowdowns and times of uncertainty to adjust business models and systems to position their companies for success when economic conditions stabilize and growth returns. Companies that do not aggressively confront change are the ones that fade away. With ERP, there’s no need to slow down to select, implement and train on a new system every time a client’s model changes. Clients receive a flexible solution that allows for growth and provides clients the ability to adjust operations and go-to-market strategies. A scalable solution offers the flexibility to fit and accommodate clients of any size, unlike other software solutions such as Xero, QuickBooks and Intacct, all which are geared towards small clients with very simple requirements. With ERP, BPOs can quickly and efficiently build custom workflows at no cost as their clients’ requirements grow and change.
Deploying a unified cloud ERP solution allows BPO and accounting firms to provide more robust outsourced services customized to each client’s industry and realize all the benefits that using a single, flexible solution for managing clients of all sizes and across all industries provides. Add the ability to incorporate additional business capabilities to the equation and the net sum is a flexible platform that meets and exceeds the needs of the BPO’s diverse customer base in any economic climate.
Make sure to join the Insightful Accountant webinar with Oracle NetSuite, "Using a Cloud Solution to Boost Remote Collaboration in Outsourcing," on June 16, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. YOU CAN VIEW THE RECORDING IN OUR WEBINAR VAULT.