And like any other beast of burden will be used and abused by most.

There are the mega-outsourcing deals where large companes are looking to get huge chunks of their operations off their own books to save a buck, and then there are arrangements where the outsourcing provider fits into the business operations of their client "like a glove". The latter is similar to the concept of service-oriented architectures in the technical world - where technical "services" in the form of computer programs are called whenever needed to perform an automated function. Business Process Outsourcing can (and should) be thought of in the same way for some processes.

We focus on the Billing function. We are a niche player ... a specialist in billing ... with the technology and advanced support for all variations of the billing process - whether it's paper billing, fax billing, e-mail billing, eipp, ebpp, etc. We plug in to our clients' business architecture - allowing them to execute as efficiently and effectively as possible. Billing is an important process, but not one that most companies should execute in-house. Processes like billing, which are not "core competencies" of a company, should be thought of as outsourcing candidates. But not just to get them off your books, but rather to optimize and execute faster and better than you did before.

Steve G, Billtrust - http://www.billtrust.com