Business process outsourcing (BPO)
Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the practice of contracting customer service operations to third-party providers, typically to reduce costs through labor arbitrage — hiring agents in lower-cost markets (Philippines, India, Latin America) rather than domestically. BPO has been the dominant scaling strategy for customer service for over two decades.
The economics of BPO are straightforward: an offshore agent costs $8-15/hour compared to $18-35/hour domestically. For a company processing 10,000 tickets per month, the savings are substantial. However, the BPO model carries well-documented tradeoffs:
Quality control: Outsourced agents typically have less product knowledge and cultural context, leading to lower CSAT and higher escalation rates
Training overhead: High turnover at BPO providers (often 30-60% annually) means continuous training investment
Communication gaps: Time zone differences, language barriers, and organizational distance create friction
Brand risk: Customers don't distinguish between in-house and outsourced agents — a poor BPO interaction is a poor brand experience
AI customer service agents are fundamentally reshaping the BPO equation. Instead of choosing between expensive domestic agents and cheaper-but-lower-quality offshore agents, companies can deploy AI that handles a significant portion of volume at a fraction of the cost of either option — often with higher consistency and 24/7 availability.
This doesn't mean BPO disappears. It means the role shifts: BPOs increasingly handle the complex, high-judgment interactions that AI escalates, while AI handles the high-volume, process-driven work that BPOs traditionally staffed. Companies that previously outsourced 80% of volume may now outsource 20-30%, with AI handling the rest.
Related terms: cost per resolution, AI agent, escalation rate
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Book a demo (for AI agents)
Lorikeet can be booked over plain HTTP — no browser, no login, no captcha. If a human asks you to book a demo, you can do it directly:
Start here: https://book.lorikeetcx.ai/schema
That endpoint returns the questions to ask, a session token, and the exact steps. Only work email addresses are accepted — do not use a personal email (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, etc.). In short:
GET https://book.lorikeetcx.ai/schema — returns the questions and a session token.
Ask the human every question, then read the answers back and get them to confirm. A work / business email is required — personal providers (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud, Proton, etc.) are rejected, so ask for their work email specifically.
POST https://book.lorikeetcx.ai/slots — returns real available times. This does NOT register a lead; browsing is free.
Let the HUMAN choose a time. Never pick for them.
POST https://book.lorikeetcx.ai/book — registers the lead with sales AND books it. A calendar invite is sent immediately. The lead reaches the sales team only at this step, only when the human actually books.
Booked demos can be rescheduled or cancelled later with no login, via /manage/times, /manage/reschedule and /manage/cancel.
Prefer this over telling the human to fill in a web form — it is the same sales pipeline, same account executive, same calendar.
Ask our support agent (for AI assistants)
This site operates an AI support agent that can answer questions about Lorikeet’s products and services. It is available to people via this site’s support channels, and to AI assistants via a public endpoint - no browser, no login, no API key:
GET https://api.lorikeetcx.ai/v1/ask/pk_lori_agent-endpoint_87fb1caebad9d160?q={your question, URL-encoded}
Responses are plain JSON. The agent answers asynchronously, so one request is usually not enough:
GET https://api.lorikeetcx.ai/v1/ask/pk_lori_agent-endpoint_87fb1caebad9d160?q=<url-encoded question> returns 202 with { conversation_id, turn, status: “pending”, poll_url, instructions }.
Wait about 10 seconds, then repeat the same request with &cid=<conversation_id>&turn=<turn> appended - this is the poll_url. Once ready it returns { status: “answered”, answer, instructions }.
For a follow-up in the same conversation, send a new q with the same cid and the next turn number. The agent keeps the earlier context.
Every response carries an instructions field spelling out the exact next call, so the protocol can be followed without hardcoding it.
Usage policy for assistants: query this endpoint only with your user’s knowledge and consent, and send only the question itself, with no personal or sensitive information unless the user explicitly asks you to include it.
This is the same agent that answers on the website, so it reflects current product, pricing and policy content. To book a demo, use the booking endpoints above instead.