Quality Over Cost Behavior Contributes To The Growth Of The Global BPO Services Market

The global business processes outsourcing (BPO) market, estimated at around $217 billion in 2019, will grow to $279 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7%. Many companies nowadays try to choose BPO service providers according to the quality of work they provide rather than the cost of services. For instance, a survey by Grant Thornton revealed that service reliability is the most important factor to consider when choosing an outsourcing provider. In order to retain clients’ customers, BPO service companies adopted new strategies instead of conventional processes and improved the quality of their work. Shifting the focus from being product-centric to customer-centric, training representatives, and utilizing social media channels were also some of the changes in the processes of BPO services companies recently. This in general increased companies’ operational costs in the short-run, but in the long-run the quality work is expected to positively impact the growth of the business, thus contributing to the growth of the global BPO services market.

One of the companies that focuses on quality rather than cost is Capgemini. Capgemini focuses on ‘select care’ at its customer interaction centers and provides multi-channel environment, customer savvy agents, and tools and insights that primarily enhance customer experience. Additionally, collaborating cross functional teams also helps in the proper functioning of projects and the provision of quality work. For instance, the Danish Business Authority keeps its projects on course by assembling teams of both business and IT professionals, along with vendor staff. The collaboration involving multiple BPO companies with expertise in specific areas provides quality services in the end. Therefore, collaborations help companies benefit their clients with the highest quality of work, comparatively low cost, and short lead times, contributing to the growth of the global BPO services market.

The emergence of startups as major clients of BPO service providers is another driver of the BPO market. Driven by cost efficiency and the necessity to focus on core operations, startups have started outsourcing non-core operations such as finance and recruitment to specialized agencies and companies. As an example, outsourcing of finance and tech operations helps Leverage Edu, an India-based EdTech startup connecting students with mentors, save approximately 40% of its capital through outsourcing. The increasing number of startups is also expected to positively impact the market. The number of startups in India is expected to increase to 10,500 by 2020, an increase by 4,000 from the current number, thus depicting new opportunities for the BPO services market, with client expansion and increased revenue generation.