Outsourcing is here to Stay Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Outsourcing is here to Stay - Essay Example Off-shoring refers to the task which is assigned to a third party based in another country away from the country who intends to carry out the work. With an increase in globalization and the amount of task being outsourced, the difference between outsourcing and off-shoring is hardly felt. Counties like India and China have been two hotspots for carrying out outsourcing task. Central and Eastern Europe are attractive destinations, but costs are rising there, too. Offshoring is actually increasing in Africa and the Middle East, but political instability poses ongoing challenges there. In our day to day use, we get to hear different abbreviations like BPO, ITO, and KPO. But what do they actually mean and where lies the difference We need to look into the details of each and try to know the difference between these three different types of outsourcing. a. Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) - it refers to outsourcing a specific business processing task. It can again be divided into two categories namely front office outsourcing and back office outsourcing. Front office outsourcing includes customer-related services like marketing, technical support etc and back office support refers to services like billing or purchasing. b. Information Processing Outsourcing (ITO) - To impart information, information processing outsourcing too is being carried out both for front and back office support. c. Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) - Similar to ITO, we have the knowledge processing outsourcing units known as KPIs who by and large are knowledge-based units who provide analytical, technical and have decision-making skills. Pharmaceutical Research & Development units mainly fall under this category.     Even though outsourcing has been a very common concept in today's world mainly for the developing countries like India, but there are a large number of issues pertaining to this sector. Many BPOs, ITO, and KPIs have not been able to succeed in today's world because of a huge competition. The clients who have been able to deliver quality resource have been able to succeed. Thus, there is a need to have quality assurance and quality check to successfully carry out the task. The other problem that one can foresee is the conflict that arises between the client and the vendor. The client intends to get better service, often at lower costs, than it would get by doing the work themselves.