What Is IT BPO?

Information technology business process outsourcing, or IT BPO, is the outsourcing of IT processes from one business to another. Among the many kinds of business process outsourcing that are now common, IT business process outsourcing is a popular one. Although the acronym IT BPO may seem confusing, the simple premise of the idea is that businesses sometimes outsource IT operations to third party companies.

One of the most compelling reasons for businesses to pursue IT business process outsourcing is related to the considerable skills required to do most IT tasks. Information technology work is inherently different from much of the other work done in the business world, where alternative skills like communication, decision-making and intuition come in handy. In IT, other aspects like knowledge of code, syntax, protocols, and general attention to machine logic, are more commonly used.

Because a business may have all of the human staff it needs, but lack any in-house staff with advanced IT skills, that business may decide that IT business process outsourcing is its best option. There are any number of ways for businesses to achieve this outsourcing. They can order skilled IT professionals through job boards, contract with established companies, or hire on independent contractors as consultants. The business may pay for IT services by the hour or by the project, or come to some other kind of payment arrangement.

One major form of IT BPO relates to another common business goal. This is called ITES, or “IT enabled services.” When a business chooses to outsource “ITES,” that business is often pursuing additional efficiency in the form of automation. Many traditional tasks in human resources, sales, customer support, or nearly any part of the business can be enhanced with automated systems. This allows the in-house staff to achieve more with less work, and may profit the company over the long term.

In today’s globally interconnected world, there are many incentives for a company to achieve IT BPO. One is that hiring IT services in other parts of the world can be cheaper than domestic outsourcing. Another is that new technologies can deliver IT components remotely, leaving the business that is hiring the IT services with less liability. All of this leads to an increase in IT business process outsourcing among competitive businesses in many fields and industries.