Functions Commonly Outsourced By Banks And Financial Institutions

Eyeing the increasing competition, consumer demands and expectations of shareholders for cogency, today, BPO or
Business Process Outsourcing has become a common practice in many sectors. Like others, the banking sector outsources multiple services to external agencies or call centres to ensure timely delivery of quality outputs, cost-effectiveness, access to the latest technology and maximum reach. Financial organizations, these days, tie-up with finance outsourcing BPO service providers to meet the growing customer care requirements. To offer better sales support to both the valued and potential customers, banks often reach out to call centres, which are usually equipped with a skilled workforce, and modern technologies and are capable of providing 24-hour support along with multilingual assistance.

The world is currently witnessing a digital revolution, where social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have become one of the primary mediums for communication. Apart from solving queries over phone calls, BPO service providers make sure that the customers, trying to reach out through social media, chats, emails and messaging apps, are instantly attended to. Besides, call centres also offer various requirement-specific packaged services to different customers.

Top 5 Benefits Of Outsourcing Financial Services, For The BFSI Industry:

    • Saves Times
      Back office activities and lead generation are time-consuming activities. Hence, outsourcing these functions to a service provider or call centre saves a lot of time. Reputed outsourcing providers make sure the banks can invest more time into other core banking activities.
    • Gives Access To The Latest Technologies And Expertise
      Call centres are generally rigged with modern technologies and a team of skilled professionals, who are aware of the current market trends, policies and regulations. Hence, outsourcing financial services enables a BFSI company to retain old customers and build new ones by offering efficient customer support.
    • Saves Overhead Costs
      Hiring and training customer support, back-office and lead- generating staff often turn out to be a costly affair. Besides, in- house staffs need to be offered employee benefits, like incentives, medical insurance etc., along with fixed monthly remunerations. Hence, outsourcing financial services is quite beneficial. It enables the companies to save overhead costs while ensuring optimum revenue along with customer retention.
    • Reduces Hardware And Software Costs
      Hardware and software required for accounting are quite expensive. Therefore, instead of spending money for acquiring these, it is always beneficial for banks to outsource the accounting activity to finance outsourcing companies, who already have access to the latest software to churn out outputs of optimum quality.
    • Lowers Risk
      The risk of internal theft or security breaches can be eliminated by outsourcing financial services to a third party. Banks can check the references and history to make sure the outsourcing partner meets all the basic security standards. The encryption method used by the outsourcing partners is often considered and the actions they take are observed by the banks, to monitor data and location.

Commonly Outsourced Financial Services:

    • Lead Generation
      Outsourcing lead generation offers a better turnaround time for identifying, delving into qualified leads and scheduling meetings with clients.
    • Payroll Processing
      Outsourcing payroll processing fetches a bank ample time to put on the core banking activities and saves a lot of energy, time as well as money.
    • Customer Support
      Customer support is one of the critical activities, commonly outsourced by banks and financial service providers. For the BFSI sector, customer support plays a vital role. When it comes to
      choosing banks, customers often get sceptical, as it is about the safety of their hard-earned money. To thrive in the competitive industry, banks need to offer proper guidance on choosing the right financial services, through efficient customer support. Hence, outsourcing customer support exposes banks to skilled professionals who are capable of understanding the psychology and requirements of the customers and guiding them accordingly.
    • Back Office
      In the BFSI sector, data management and CRM(customer relationship management) activities are often considered secondary. However, these activities are crucial, like the others. Effective data management and CRM can ensure transparency in banks and financial service-providing companies. Therefore, financial firms can consider outsourcing back-office activities to make sure the job is done by experts and with maximum diligence.

Summary:

Though outsourcing is quite an old concept, today, it is being rapidly accepted and embraced by multiple sectors. Businesses, these days, outsource entire departments to save on hiring and training costs, improve productivity and ensure maximum revenue. Among others, financial services are commonly outsourced by banks and other financial service providers, as they get access to the expertise and resources of an accounting department, without paying for overheads.

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