To save costs, get access to specialized expertise or free up internal resources in order to focus on core business activities, companies may turn to Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). BPO involves delegating a specific subset of tasks to external providers: first level of customer support, data entry, etc.

Why do companies opt for BPO?

The main reason is cost savings: outsourcing is often cheaper than hiring full-time employees and offers greater contract flexibility.

Outsourcing can also provide the scalability needed to expand or reduce operations as the company needs.

Example: During the holiday season, a bakery might see a surge in orders for gift boxes and custom cakes. Instead of struggling to manage the extra workload, they can outsource packaging and delivery services to handle the increased volume. Once the busy season is over, they can scale back these services without having to lay off staff.

The third key reason to outsource is to focus on core business. By outsourcing repetitive or non-core tasks, companies can allocate more resources to complex operations or their main business.

What should you consider when outsourcing?

Training

Even though you're outsourcing, you still need to make sure the external team understands your business processes, standards, and expectations. Clear training and effective knowledge transfer are crucial to ensure quality remains consistent.

Giving them access to your knowledge base, the playbooks in their scope and all the decision trees will help you successfully onboard your external operators.

Data security

When outsourcing, you’ll often need to share sensitive information, whether it’s financial records, customer data, or intellectual property. It’s crucial to ensure that your external partners follow strict data security protocols and comply with relevant regulations to protect your business and customers.

Outsourcing front-office operations

The most common reason our customers turn to outsourcing is for front-office operations, especially front-line customer support. Level 1 support usually involves handling routine tasks and answering repetitive questions, so it makes sense to outsource it.

This way, your in-house experts can focus on more complex, high-value issues instead of getting bogged down with everyday inquiries. Once you’ve documented the most frequent customer questions in your knowledge base, Level 1 support becomes predictable and easy to manage, making it perfect for outsourcing as a cost-effective solution.

Additionally, if you want to offer 24/7 support, outsourcing is an effective solution. It provides round-the-clock coverage without overloading your internal team.

Aligning operations and strategy

Operations are crucial in supporting your company’s goals, but they also represent a significant cost. As an ops manager, your role goes beyond managing day-to-day processes: you have the opportunity to shape operations into a true asset that drives company growth. The best ops managers shine in those moments.

Two examples of Ops making an impact

Let’s see how Ops alignment with company goals can have a signigicant impact.

Launching a new product

When launching a new product, operations often take a backseat. Support processes are usually still being refined, and the product may be unfinished when it reaches initial users. This leaves operations and support teams managing early customer issues manually, gathering feedback, and compensating for missing functionality—all to help close gaps and contribute to the launch's success.

Once the company has validated its product-market fit and business assumptions, the strategy shifts toward scaling efficiently. At this point, it’s time to refine the processes, automate repetitive tasks, and eliminate any inefficiencies. The goal here is to scale your operations.

Becoming profitable

When profitability becomes the main focus, the company may need to curb spending, meaning hiring is likely put on hold. Here, the focus of operations shifts entirely to efficiency and cost reduction, as every expense needs to justify its value. The goal isn’t growth through expansion but growth through refinement.

Profitability-focused operations prioritize optimizing current resources to do more with less. This might mean revisiting workflows, reducing dependency on manual interventions, and ensuring that each process is as efficient as possible. Even small changes, like improving process flow or cutting out non-essential tasks, can lead to significant cost savings over time.

Conclusion

Your operations strategy should always be a reflection of your company’s broader goals. Whether you’re expanding, launching something new, or just trying to improve what you already do, make sure your operations plan supports those goals. The key is to be efficient, flexible, and ready to scale when needed. When your day-to-day work aligns with your big-picture strategy, everything clicks, and growth becomes a whole lot easier.

This is the final class from the Customer Operations Handbook. If you are curious to learn more, all chapters are available as a free ebook to download.