Business Process Outsourcing is rising, and Fiji’s economy and the talent pool are set to reap the benefits.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) or also referred to as “offshore outsourcing”, is a method of subcontracting various business-related operations to third-party vendors.
Although BPO applied initially solely to manufacturing entities, such as manufacturers that outsourced large segments of their supply chains, BPO now applies to the outsourcing of services, as well.
So, this includes business services such as administration, inbound and outbound sales, customer service, IT support, payroll, and the like.
According to global reports BPO is set to grow at an annual rate of 9.1% from 2022 to 2030.
In Western markets, such as Australia, NZ, the US, and the UK, many big firms outsource their business processes to more economical needs to reduce operating costs locally.
Typically, these companies outsource operations like administration, outbound, and inbound sales, customer service, and payroll roles, with locations like India and the Philippines being the popular choice.
However, Fiji has become a challenger, and outsourced services are rising here.
Local Fijians can benefit from the increase in skilled career opportunities, many providing excellent training programs to equip their staff to compete globally.
Many established businesses are already providing business support services to global companies, including Our Pacific Office (formerly BTR Fiji) in Nadi, which has been operating since 2017 and has an extensive client base, predominantly in Australia.
And business is booming with more and more international clients like Store Local, and MilkRun joining their books, so job opportunities are on the rise.
We spoke to Brad Russell, Director and Co-Founder of Our Pacific Office to get his thoughts on the increase of BPO and how it’s positively affecting the Fijian economy:
“We first started trading in the BPO industry in 2017.
Initially, we commenced with one client and 4 team members. Fast track until today, we have over 150 in the team across nearly 30 clients, offering a good spread across various roles and industries.
We are always looking to attract new talent to our team here at Our Pacific Office.
We invest in our people by providing high-quality training and development programs to build and retain a high-performance team.
We also work with our clients to deliver their specific training requirements and ensure efficient knowledge transfer to support their business as best we can.
I see a lot of potential for the industry’s future growth as long as, as an industry, we keep our service level standards at a global level which is why we at Our Pacific Office, invest so heavily in training our staff.
However, there are challenges for the industry, the primary one being the instability of consistent power supply and communication costs compared to the cost that our competitor countries like the Philippines and India, for example.
This can be overcome by using backup generators, but businesses feel the impact of the rise in diesel costs.
Overall the BPO industry looks like a promising future for Fiji’s economy.
To keep Fiji on this positive trajectory and the BPO industry booming, we should look to continue to focus our education on the growing needs of the BPO industry.
We can be prepared by having candidates ready for our industry when they exit the education system, ready to enter the workforce.
Skills such as computer skills and an excellent English voice with a desire to learn how global companies operate are always great attributes to have as you enter the industry.
Not to forget an excellent friendly manner, which for Fiji comes naturally.”
Source: Our Pacific Office