Good news for the economy: Small business outsourcing 
has gone mainstream thanks to the increased use of automation technology -- computers, software and the Internet powering cost-efficient outside service provider teams.
Bad news for outsourcing service providers: Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are proving to be slow on the uptake.
The basic premise of business process outsourcing (BPO) is that companies focus on their core competency and move their non-core business processes to outsourced services providers, thus allowing for optimal use of a company's time and resources. Outsourcing reduces the costs involved in maintaining trained employees in-house as well as the costs of systems and software needed to process various functions.
