What Does FTE Mean in BPO? How One FTE Is Counted
In BPO, an FTE is a block of billable hours, about 38 a week, not a person. The vendor decides who fills those hours unless your contract says otherwise.
Edvin Cernov
Call Center Outsourcing Insights
Expert guides on call center outsourcing, BPO vendor selection, pricing models, and operational best practices.
17 articles in Call Centers
Customer Service Outsourcing to the Philippines
The Philippines is still the default for outsourced customer service, but per-seat price isn't the whole story. Real costs and an independent ranking.
Edvin Cernov
What Is Nearshore Outsourcing? Costs, Benefits & Tradeoffs
What is nearshore outsourcing? Real costs, benefits, when it beats offshore, when it doesn't, and how to pick a model, from someone who's run both.
Edvin Cernov
When Should a Startup Outsource Customer Support?
There is a right stage for a startup to outsource support, and before it, doing it yourself is the point. When to delegate and how to vet the first partner.
Edvin Cernov
Training & Onboarding Outsourced Call Center Agents
A guide to training and onboarding outsourced call center agents: bridge culture, align on brand, and set BPO partners up for success.
Edvin Cernov
How to Choose a BPO Vendor: Criteria, Questions, Red Flags
Choose the right BPO vendor in 2026: criteria that matter, diagnostic questions to ask, red flags, pilot structure, and how to build a weighted scorecard.
Edvin Cernov
BPO Pricing Models Compared: Hourly vs FTE vs Per-Ticket
BPO pricing runs $8-15/hr offshore, $14-22 nearshore, $30-45 onshore, or $1,200-$9,000 per FTE monthly. Compare all six models and normalize quotes on one axis.
Edvin Cernov
Healthcare Customer Service Outsourcing: What's Different
Healthcare support outsourcing is two markets: payer member services and provider patient support. HIPAA diligence decides who qualifies for either.
Edvin Cernov
Why Ecommerce Brands Outsource Customer Support
Why ecommerce brands outsource customer support: scaling peak seasons, cutting cost, and improving quality across digital channels.
Edvin Cernov
How BPO Went From Cost-Cutting to Strategy
BPO started as a 1980s cost play until Kodak's 1989 deal made it a category. It has been quietly turning into a strategic capability ever since.
Edvin Cernov
What Is BPO? Business Process Outsourcing, Explained
BPO means contracting a business function out to a specialist provider. Understanding how the vendor makes money is what keeps your deal from going wrong.
Edvin Cernov
10 BPO Trends Reshaping Outsourcing in 2026
The BPO trends shaping 2026: AI restructuring the category, nearshore growth, vertical specialization, outcome-linked contracts, and ESG sourcing.
Edvin Cernov
CX from the buyer's side
An email when there is something genuinely worth reading: what is working in CX and call center operations, and what quietly is not.
More on customer experience
Voice of the Customer (VoC) Programs: 2026 Practitioner Guide
How to build a VoC program in 2026 that drives operational change: channels, analysis, closed-loop feedback, and what 20%+ CLV lift actually requires.
How Voice of Customer Analytics Actually Works
Voice of customer analytics explained without the vendor pitch: what the data has to look like first, who owns the action, what platforms actually cost.
How to ride the wave of a fashion trend
A demand spike breaks the systems nobody designed for surge. Set trigger points, pre-stage the escalation plan, keep contracts flexible before it lands.
Best NPS Software in 2026: 12 Tools Compared
NPS software in 2026, 12 tools compared and ranked by how well each turns survey scores into action, with real pricing, honest tradeoffs, and fit by use case.
7 Best Zendesk Alternatives in 2026, by Use Case
The 7 best Zendesk alternatives in 2026, sorted by the trade-off that actually matters: how fast you can set the tool up versus how far you can bend it.