Strategies for Business Process Outsourcing: An Analysis of Alternatives, Opportunities, and Risks

Abstract

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of business process outsourcing (BPO) strategies and analyzes related issues. The discussions in this chapter can serve as an aid to decision makers who face the great dilemma of whether to insource or outsource a process, and additionally how to handle outsourcing to offshore locations. While business processes themselves are activities that need to be performed efficiently, outsourcing them is essentially a strategic decision that can ultimately impact the competitiveness of the client firm. This chapter explores the risks and opportunities associated with the numerous strategies related to outsourcing and offshoring alternatives, business process migration, contracting and alliance building, the role of the vendor, the nature of the relationship, multiclient or multivendor relationships, infusing maturity and ushering transformations in business processes, locating required expertise and quantity of workers, and also utilizing on-demand software services from application service providers.