With the new year, a lot of companies around the world are looking into revitalizing or significantly revamping BPO services to suit the new global economic turn. Restructing is also needed amidst new disaster management concerns within countries that historically offer BPO services.
In this atmosphere, it is important to know exactly what the new trends are in the BPO industry that are emerging in the global sphere.
Read on to find out about the top trends that we think are most likely to be prevalent this year.
- Reluctance to Engage Multiple Vendors
More than anything, companies this year are trying to downsize on the cost and logistics that come accompany multiple vendors. In an effort to reduce the number of vendors, companies are now likely to offer larger projects to multi-service providers who can handle cross-processes in-house. This also helps larger outsourcers simplify the delivery process, as they only have to worry about a single delivery for multiple services at this point. Moving forward, multiple deliveries will not be preferred as failure of even one could result in a significant loss.
- The move to the Philippines
With a rising English-speaking, educated workforce and dirt cheap rates, Philippines is rapidly becoming a top 10 worldwide outsourcing destination. The outsourcing of services to Philippines will continue to grow over the next few years, potentially at the cost of moving away from present outsourcing hubs in some Indian cities. However, poor infrastructure in Philippines may not be able to support such a large shift, which may discourage several outsourcers. The Philippines government is looking to rectify this situation as the movement of outsourcing to Philippines will bring many jobs and boost the economy from its current state of unemployment and under-employment.
- An Emphasis on Security
Large firms will continue to putting stringent security measures with any of their outsourced products or services, especially with the growth of Internet of Things (IoT). Any security breach is a vulnerability that might cost a firm a significant amount of their profit, which most large global players want to avoid. In fact, security and cyber-security services will have to become integral parts of any outsourcing operation, and may become outsourced services and products in and of themselves. The advent of security solutions as part of outsourced services will also probably see a rise in regulations and lead to the advent of increasingly stringent quality and security testing or compliance processes.
- Moving to the Cloud
This move, though taking place with most major players at the moment, is still a problematic one due to not-very-resilient Cloud solutions as well as security concerns. Though players like Amazon have made the move to the public cloud relatively successfully, it is likely that other companies will view the option with a lot more incredulity at this time. However, the migration to cloud is by and far seen and acknowledged to be an inevitable and a necessary process, so there is considerable demand for Cloud solutions right now.
- Surge in Service providers
Large corporate product providers like Cisco are looking at expanding their service offerings due to emerging digital technology and more automated processes. The increase is partly due to companies themselves looking to increase their managed services capabilities to meet increasing customer demands. A general move towards integration also means that product providers will now be expected or asked to provide services tailored around their products, as larger clients do not want to deal with multiple vendors. Not providing services or expanding service capacities can lead to a significant loss of revenue and market position for most companies.
- KPO- Knowledge Process Outsourcing
According to DataMark, Knowledge Process Outsourcing is going to see an almost meteoric rise in the coming years, predicted to be at 23% by 2019. The move to outsource previously un-outsourcable products like high levels of knowledge and research is rising with an increase in significantly well educated workforce in outsourcing destinations. While research and analysis may happen off-shore, there are also firms with the capacities to provide contact with subject experts within the country and elsewhere by outsourcing client support and related services.
- RPA- Robotic Process Automation
While RPA is hearalded with warning bells to most BPO workers, they have little to be concerned about at the moment as most companies are finding it difficult to implement RPAs effectively. A skilled workforce is required to undergo successful RPA integration, and it does not exist yet. That said, RPA is significantly lowering costs and most clients are looking for a shift. Experts at KMPG predict that while RPA can completely eliminate many low-skill jobs within the industry, it can also create jobs for skilled labor for the maintenance and handling of RPA systems.
These are our top trends for BPOs in the coming year, and some of these to become a reality, it might take more than a year. However, companies and their clients are certainly taking steps in the direction of migrating to the cloud and trying to optimize their processes with RPA, and these trends shouldn’t be ignored by people in the industry today.
Read: Why you should go for BPO Call Center Software?
