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Business Process Outsourcing

Opportunities for Service Providers
 
Document process outsourcing within Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is the opportunity for service providers in document outsourcing marketplaces. By 2005, CAP Ventures projects that BPOs of all varieties will be worth over $200 billion. Business process outsourcing is when a customer identifies an entire print-related business process and shifts ownership of that process, including all infrastructures, to a service provider. In exchange, the outsourcing service provider enables a better level of service, higher efficiency, and lower costs by applying knowledge in print business processes to streamline service.  

BPO offers a number of advantages to print service providers, but requires a high degree of credibility in execution due to the importance of the process being outsourced and to a customer’s ability to conduct business. Because of this, document outsourcing service providers seeking to win BPO contracts need a portfolio of capabilities and methodologies, some of which are listed below.

• A structured approach to BPO that analyzes and re-engineers customers’ print business processes   
• Sufficient skill in executing every step of the process, either through the document outsourcing service provider or a partner of the provider     
• The ability to measure and control steps within the process to ensure that operational and financial goals are met     
• Knowledge of customer industries and specific customer business challenges

Value-Added Services

In addition to taking over customers’ print business processes, document outsourcing service providers can realize specific revenue opportunities from value-added services that go beyond commoditized print. Often, these services add credibility or capability that help a provider win a BPO agreement, and include:

• Customer Care 
  • Services that support better integration with customers’ business processes
• E-Enablement   
  • Support for enabling electronic bill presentment, or presentment and payment
• Preparation Services   
  • Services that allow a customer to personalize and mass customize print, as well as services that provide a greater level of design detail, add color, and streamline presentment
• Distribution Enhancement
  • Mail services that help customers make use of emerging mail standards

By providing value-added services in these areas, the outsourcing provider can help customers introduce new technology and new efficiencies to their environment, but success requires planning. For every type of service introduced, the outsourcing provider takes on the responsibility of becoming the expert. This requires a commitment to ongoing training and education, internally and for the customer, as well as a commitment to keep the technology current.

The preceding announcement is an excerpt from CAP Ventures’ United States Document Outsourcing Market Forecast: 2002 – 2007. The complete document is available immediately. To learn more about the forecast or to make a purchase, please contact Allison Jones at , ext. 208 or .