You may have noticed that the terms BPO and call center are used interchangeably, and while these terms are related, they are not interchangeable. The biggest difference is a BPO company performs back-office tasks like customer support or accounting, whereas a call center handles telephone calls. Learn more about how BPO and call center are not only different but alike.
What is BPO?
BPO stands for business process outsourcing, and it involves contracting a third-party to provide specific business functions. BPO companies are contracted to handle core tasks for another business. Those tasks include accounting, collections, technical support, HR, customer service, market research, and more. Many companies will outsource to a BPO if they don’t have the time or resources to hire an in-house team to complete these tasks. Outsourcing to a BPO can also save businesses money by reducing the costs that are needed to pay salaries, benefits, and other expenses.
What is a Call Center?
A call center is a facility that handles large volumes of calls. Traditionally, this included handling incoming calls, but the modern call center integrates email, chat, instant messaging, and even video calling. Call centers help businesses stay connected with its customers through inbound & outbound calls.
There are several types of call centers, including inbound call centers that focus on calls from customers, typically providing support, services, or sales over the phone.
Outsourcing a call center with Confie BPO ensures that customer support will be available 24/7, 365. It also includes the benefit of multi-channel engagement. Our agent communication methods include voice, email, web chat, IM, SMS, and social channels.
The Difference Between Call Centers and BPO Companies
A call center is a function of a BPO. But a BPO cannot be considered a call center since they handle much more than making and taking calls and managing communications for their business partners. Some BPO processes don’t involve interactions with customers at all.
Call centers focus on interactions between clients and providing customer service, while a BPO organization works behind the scenes.
What is a Contact Center?
It is a central point from which all customer interactions across various channels are managed. Its primary purpose is to provide customers with efficient technical support, customer service, and sales assistance. Contact centers can be used for research, technical support, customer service, and many other purposes.
Consumers want more ways to reach businesses, and a contact center helps with that. In a modern contact center, technical support can be delivered in video call or chat. Order updates are delivered via SMS, and sales inquiries are delivered via email.
The most significant difference between a call center and a contact center is that call centers manage inbound or outbound calls, while a contact center offers multichannel customer support, including email, chat, voice over IP (VoIP), social media, and website support.
Nearshore BPO and Call Center
Confie BPO has the experience and infrastructure to manage your organization’s business processes, from call center services to IT support – and everything in between.
Our call center agents bilingual and bicultural, so there’s no language barrier. As a nearshore operation, we also share the same business hours with U.S. businesses in the Pacific Time zone. Our state-of-the-art facility is located in Tijuana and allows us to operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
We have helped numerous companies streamline their processes while saving money, and we can do the same for you. Call 800-684-2276 to speak to a representative to learn more about our services.
