Before going into why it makes sense to outsource insurance back office services to India, it will be relevant to know what Business Process Outsourcing actually is. BPO is outsourcing a portion of a company’s operation to a third party who in turn can offer a seamless transition and carry on from where the company left off. This can be further segregated into two – front office and back office outsourcing with the former consisting of core tasks like customer service and sales of products and services and the latter comprising of finance, accounting, human resource management and other similar administrative functions.
So far as insurance support services are concerned, emphasis in this sector has traditionally been on insurance back office outsourcing. This is apart from the other activities that form a part of insurance outsourcing services. These are information technology-based outsourcing that mainly includes data processing and commission management, KPO or knowledge process outsourcing and LPO or legal process outsourcing.
Outsourcing insurance back office services to India is known as offshore outsourcing and there are a number of benefits that can be reaped by this –
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Top of the line services – India today has made giant strides in infrastructure development and there has been a mushrooming of IT based insurance outsourcing companies with state of the art hardware and software offering offshore insurance back office services that are comparable with the best in the world.
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Human Resources – India has a vast pool of talented human resources as good as anywhere in the world. They work with advanced tools and technologies that not only results in a higher level of performance and efficiency; it also results in lower costs due to a quicker turnaround of outsourced work.
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Cost efficiency – Insurance back office outsourcing to India is definitely a cost effective proposition for offshore companies seeking insurance outsourcing services. This is due to a number of factors. First, insurance outsourcing companies in India are not manually intensive and hence there is quick processing which saves on cost. Secondly, these companies offer multi-sourcing solutions that guarantee optimum pricing of any outsourced task. And finally, workers with high skill levels and training ensure that results are customized for different clients. Thus, by offering exclusive solutions and not having to work around standardized formats every time, costs are kept at competitive levels as compared internationally.
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A difference in Time Zones – One of the main advantages of insurance back office outsourcing to India is the difference in time zones with other countries. This ensures that any work to insurance outsourcing companies in India is completed and ready outside office hours in those countries. This allows a seamless flow of work around the clock between the outsourcing insurance company abroad and the outsourced company in India.
It is therefore seen that a combination of factors ranging from skilled manpower, advanced IT infrastructure and cost effectiveness contribute to making India an attractive destination for outsourcing insurance back office services.
