How would forecasting be useful for operations in a BPO( Business Processes Outsourcing) unit?

What factors may be important for this industry?

Forecasting would be very important for operations in a BPO unit. Forecasting, in essence, makes for the ability to be proactive, intuitive and strategic, and it may very well be the differentiating factor between success and failure. You can have cash-flow forecasts, operating budget forecasts, call/e-mail/chat volume forecasts, forecasts for attrition and absenteeism of phone agents...anything! By properly-assessing historical information (whether that be cash-flow, sales, refunds, attrition, phone/email/chat volume, absenteeism...anything!) you can develop some sort of expected trend or pattern for future time periods and make decisions based on what that forecast means to your business. Here is a very simple, rudimentary example. It can be applied to any part of your business, but I will use the staffing of a contact center as the basis of my example: For "ABC Toy Company", when I look back at historical call volumes, I notice that my call volume in December is quadruple what it is in August, and that this trend has been apparent for the last 3 years. If August of 2008 provided for 100,000 calls, then based on this information, we can expect around 400,000 calls in the month of December. Based on that forecast, what do I need to do in order to provide adequate service to my customers? Do I need to hire more phone agents? How many? Do I need to expand physical space to allow for such a ramp-up in hiring? Perhaps there are ways other than by phone that I can address my customers' needs? By developing a forecast, you can deal with the answers these questions bring about ahead of time, making for smoother, more cost-effective business operation. If I have missed the mark on your question, please elaborate and I'll clarify accordingly.