Tag Archives: Captive Center
A Closer Look at the SEO of Offshore Captive Centers
You may have heard of SEO, and what it generally means to online businesses. For offshore captive centers, however, SEO does not generally mean search engine optimization and online business promotion. For them, SEO refers to the three high level phases in establishing the business of a captive center. Putting it more clearly, SEO is elaborated as “Strategize, Establish, and Operate.” This is practically the basis that companies use to build and grow their offshore captive center.
S for Strategize
You can relate this process to making any ordinary business plan. The priority here is whether or not an offshore staffing will be beneficial to the parent company and the formulation of the business strategy when it is proved that an offshore captive center would prove profitable for the business. In this phase of strategizing, the phrase “location, location, location” still rings significantly true. A significant part of your strategy will be affected by the country and city that you select as the place for your captive center. You have to consider the country’s economic status and its stance regarding foreign investors. You also have to consider the country’s resources (manpower, equipment, etc.) that you can use for your business.
The Trends of Captive Center Outsourcing
Companies utilizing Captive Center Outsourcing has grown exponentially.
A survey made by Infosys on companies having outsourced captive centers states that an increasing number of Fortune 500 companies have started using captive centers as part of their business strategy in recent years. Many of these companies have even started utilizing captive centers as far back as more than 10 years ago when captive center outsourcing wasn’t that well known.
These companies come from varied industries ranging from IT, Telecommunications, Retail, Financial services and Software as some of the examples. Companies have exercised almost absolute control on these centers. This may have been because at that time, the technology of countries where captive centers were established weren’t at par with the parent companies from the US and Europe.
The Captive Center in Today’s Global Economy
What is a captive center? A captive center is generally defined as: An operation that is owned by an offshore company. The activities are performed offshore but are not outsourced to a third party.
Why do companies operate captive centers? The answer is simple: to cut down costs. The global recession has forced many companies to seek solutions to a decreasing influx of cash against a rising demand for products. The business model that was widely accepted more than 5 years ago was Captive Center Outsourcing.
In this model, Western companies can take advantage of massive cheap labor in Asian countries as well as the cheaper cost of infrastructure which these countries offer. Another advantage is that trade secrets are given security since the said companies still own the said captive centers.
During this time (5 years ago), the technology of Asian countries were deemed “inferior” compared to their Western counterparts. The Western companies also wanted as much control as possible in order for them to maintain their “edge” over their hired manpower.
Factors in Choosing Between Captive Call Centers or Third Party Call Center Services Outsourcing
Nowadays, the demand for call center services have increased and this is because of the functions they do for different businesses. Call centers provide telemarketing services, answering services and customer service support. The best thing is, they can be located almost anywhere, hence, allowing companies to take advantage of time zones and cheaper labor rates in different states and countries.
Call centers may be the “it” thing among businesses today, but of course, as a business grows, so does the need for more customer support to clients and customers. Captive centers and outsourcing are two options a company can choose from.
The Growth of LPO Industry
Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) is the practice through which law firms seek legal assistance and services from another law firms from either within or outside their own country. LPO involves the transfer of legal processes to low-wage markets overseas. This has become a famous trend as law firms seek to minimize costs, increase flexibility and expand their in-house capabilities.
LPO providers have established themselves in leading outsourcing destinations such as India, Philippines and the Latin America. Among the major legal projects outsourced to LPO firms are document reviewing, legal research and writing, outsourcing patent services, and drafting pleadings. The legal services provided are known for their reliability, affordability and competition, which is why outsourcing the legal issues is a good and practical choice made by global companies.
