In July 2022, His Majesty's Passport Office (HMPO) in the UK fined BPO major Teleperformance “hundreds of thousands” after its performance dipped to a “really low level” and caused massive delays in passport processing.
U.S.-based Serco Inc. was roped in as the new contact-centre provider for a £73.9 million contract, which will go on until February 2028. The provider introduced several operational changes to improve efficiency and clear backlogs.
Key changes included emergency support to clear the backlog, transitioning from a rigid system to 365-day operations, maximizing first-point-of-contact resolution, and dynamically scaling capacity to manage queries.
The new provider was able to clear a mountainous backlog and eliminate processing roadblocks by separating routine queries from processing workflows. Within a year, the company claimed to resolve 99.7% of pending cases.
What worked in the case of a new vendor that had not worked with the previous service provider.
The decision to change BPO partner appears to have gone beyond inefficiency to better service quality and improved customer satisfaction.
This raises a valid question. What exactly should buyers look for when choosing a BPO partner? How can they distinguish between a provider who merely is a cost arbitrage partner and one with specialized skills, the right tools, and scalable models to deliver long-term and measurable results?
We spoke with key BPO industry leaders, who shared key criteria to assess, helpful frameworks, key red flags to watch out for, and questions buyers should be asking before signing a new deal.