Business Process as a Service ( BPaaS )

As defined by Wikipedia, Business Process as a Service ( BPaaS ) pronounced ["b"-pass] is a new business term that combines Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) with the Software as a Service (SaaS) models.  BPaaS is a rapidly growing model for businesses that are looking to outsource traditional business services.

The fundamental difference with BPaaS over BPO is that BPaaS focuses on end results versus operational activities.  Where typical BPO programs will have the client focusing on daily operational tasks to deliver the outcome, BPaaS focuses on service levels agreements (SLA) and Key Productivity Indicators (KPI) as the measure of operational service and success.  Additionally, BPaaS aligns itself with the macro goals of an organization and drives to results versus the measurement of periodic productivity measurements.  Another way to review this business model is that delivery of the customer’s goals outweigh how the outsourced provider delivers the results.

This is a fundamental shift away from time/material management and a move towards results based objectives. Taking the software as a service delivery model of on-demand technology BPaaS also combines the use of technology to provide efficiencies with the service delivery model.  BPaaS allows organizations to gain access to critical technology and the service resources required to implement, deploy, train and manage the critical technology to a corporation without the huge capital outlay.  In today’s ever changing technology pace and with more point technology solutions emerging at a faster pace, the need to purchase software is quickly vanishing.  With all solutions heading to the “cloud” there is a rapidly growing demand for the support services required to deliver the technologies. 

The other key attributes in a BPaaS is that this enables a decentralized deployment of a services outsourced model by providing a “many-to-one” access points with a, commonly used, “pay-as-you-go model”. Through the software as a service infrastructure model, corporations no longer need internal resources to manage end-user requests.  They simply deploy the software management systems provided by the outsourcing company, or chosen collaboratively but owned by the outsourcer. Then the outsourcing company is responsible for end-user satisfaction and key contractual business results.