BPO vs. KPO — What Is the Difference?

KPO and BPO are practices leveraged by businesses with different needs. What is the difference between the two, and how does SupportYourApp deal with both processes? 

BPO, Business Process Outsourcing — the process of business operations handled by a third party, for example, Support as a Service provider. 

KPO, Knowledge Process Outsourcing — the process of outsourcing information-related operations. Subtype of BPO.

KPO vs BPO — What Is the Difference?

	BPO	KPO
Requires	Basic knowledge (language and computer skills)	Special knowledge
Types of services	Low-end	High-end
Expertise in	Business processes	Knowledge and information
Reasons for it	Need of efficiency, speed, and decreased expenses	Need of knowledge, information, and expertise, often in large volumes
The most common services	Customer care, customer support, web hosting, transcription, data entry, content moderation support	Research services, Data analytics, Legal or Financial Service Outsourcing
Qualification needed	Knowledge of the basic processes	Specific knowledge
Difficulty	Low to medium	High
Relies on	Cost arbitrage	Knowledge arbitrage
Main benefits	Decreases costs, improves core business processes, improves operational techniques	Provides access to experienced professionals, increases a business’ competitive advantage
Industries in need	Tech, e-commerce, delivery	Financial institutions, medical establishments, retail, manufacturing

KPO, BPO, and SupportYourApp

SupportYourApp has been providing outsourced services to companies from different industries for more than a decade. Among customer and technical support, QA, and a variety of other services, we also provide BPO and KPO services. 

With Business Process Outsourcing and Knowledge Process Outsourcing being different, we implement different strategies and expand, onboard, and train our teams in different ways: 

1. Looking for the right professionals

💼. BPO: Business Process Outsourcing does not require any specific or technical knowledge out of the gate. To expand the team with the right BPO professionals, our HR managers check: 

• Basic hard and soft skills. 
• Whether a newcomer will be a good fit with the existing team. 
• Whether a newcomer corresponds with a client’s and our own values. 

ℹ️. KPO: Knowledge Process Outsourcing is a difficult process that requires specific knowledge and background. To look for a perfect candidate for a difficult and technical KPO position, our HR managers: 

• Involve a client and their testing into the hiring process as much as possible, or as much as a client wants to be involved.
• Treat the candidates’ hard skills with more attention than for BPO. 
• Tailor the testing process in accordance to each niche and position. 
• Check candidates’ knowledge of the market and tools they will work with. They should know the latest trends and developments.

Our Knowledge Process Outsourcing teams are hand-picked. We make sure our KPO candidates have had previous experience working in the field. This saves us and our clients the time of training, waiting, and subsequently, having their processes on hold. 

2. Onboarding

Both Knowledge Process Outsourcing and Business Process Outsourcing professionals go through the same process of company onboarding. They learn about: 

• SupportYourApp values and policies. 
• Our management team. 
• The rules of scheduling and following our company procedures. 

They also sign NDAs and agreements to make sure our processes and information are secure from the first second of the newcomer’s cooperation with us. 

When it comes to product onboarding, the processes differ:

💼. BPO: to be at their most efficient, our BPO specialists go through about 2-4 weeks of product onboarding. Our Team Leads and/or Delivery Managers stay with them during the entire process of product onboarding, explaining everything they need to know. After the initial training is over, we make sure the newcomer’s quality of customer communication is top-notch. Only after that, they are free to work without constant supervision. 

ℹ️. KPO: the onboarding for the Knowledge Process Outsourcing professionals is more targeted and area-specific due to the knowledge they already possess. During product onboarding, our Delivery and Project Managers and our Team Leads mostly fill in the possible gaps in the tech knowledge. For example, if a candidate has been working with Amazon Web Services, we will focus on Google Cloud Platform, which forms a helicopter view for cybersecurity specialists. 

3. Training and knowledge checking

While working with us, the support consultants maintain a high level of customer communication and service. SupportYourApp Delivery Managers make sure the communication between our teams and our clients is streamlined. More so when it comes to difficult projects like cybersecurity- or e-commerce-related KPO processes. 

💼. BPO: we constantly check the knowledge level of our customer support teams. They are always in close contact with their Delivery Managers and Team Leads. We have integrated constant sync and feedback talks to assess the needs of every team member, and make sure nothing stays unsaid and unexplained. This helps us do both: ensure a consistent level of knowledge and prevent burnouts. 

ℹ️. KPO: our Knowledge Process Outsourcing teams leverage our communication culture to develop and be at the best even for the most technical projects. Often, our L2 and L3 tech support consultants start training in development and change their career paths. Teams’ close communication with developers helps them understand new features, release changes, and even an app’s architecture. We hold niche-specific check-ups and keep the teams up with the latest development and releases. 

Both KPO and BPO processes require constant attention and care. Outsourcing them to the right Support as a Service provider will ensure they are always at the highest level and easily satisfy all of a business’ needs. 

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