The global business process outsourcing (BPO) services market witnesses the presence of a few global players who offer technologically advance BPO service offering to their clients. These players invest heavily in research and development and cutting-edge technologies such as analytics, automation, and cloud computing in order to offer best-in-class services to its clients. Although the market has attracted several new players, the big players dominate the global BPO service market. There are basically two types of players operating in the market, one who are core players BPO providers such as ADP, LLC and WNS (Holdings) Limited, while others offer BPO services as a part of broader product portfolio (IT services, consulting and other technology products) such as IBM Corporation and HCL Technologies Limited. Some of these players focus on a specific region or country; for instance, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies Limited, and eNoah focus primarily on Asia-Pacific. However, the others have a global delivery network, for example, ADP, LLC, Conduen, and IBM Corporation.
Month & Year
Categories
Developments
May 2019
Product Launch
ADP, LLC launched its digital payment solution, Wisely pay, that helps employees to pay, receive, spend, and manage money. It also provides options such as peer-to-peer money transfer and digital wallet. The app is available on smartphone and tablets, on the App Store.
November 2018
Product Launch
Accenture launched SynOps, a human-machine operating engine that optimizes and synchronizes data, to help organizations transform and improve their business processes.
March 2017
Product Launch
WNS (Holdings) Ltd launched WNS Brandttitude—a cloud-based analytics platform to track and understand brand performance and customer behavior, respectively.
November 2018
Product Launch
IBM Corporation launched IBM talent & Transformation service, to help enterprises and their employees in efficiently learning the capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Month & Year
Categories
Developments
July 2018
Merger
BPO service providers—Agis and StarTek—merged to provide efficient BPO services to enhance the customer engagement; the merger will help both the companies to expand their portfolios with new and upgraded service offerings.
April 2017
Acquisition
The company acquired US-based Mortgage BPO Provider, Urban Fulfillment Services (UFS), in order to strengthen its position in the mortgage BPO market
Threat of New Entrants
The global BPO service market is expected to witness substantial growth in the forecast period. The established players in the market along with third-parties, hold a significant market share. The initial capital requirement for entering the market to build the infrastructure and process various transactions effectively and efficiently is moderate to high. Moreover, the requirement of expert individuals with moderate stringency of government regulations also makes the threat of new entrants moderate. Bargaining Power of Suppliers
The bargaining power of the suppliers is moderate due to high switching cost for the customer, as shifting the work allocation from one company to another, costs time and money. Additionally, shifting of existing employee base to a new base and system will require a change of management and training models which can lead to an increase in the expenditure for the organization; this factor also increases the bargaining power of the suppliers. Threat of Substitutes
There are various types of substitutes for BPO services in the market such as consulting firms, advisory firms, and freelancers. Currently, there are no substitutes for the BPO services, however, the automation and robotic process automation (RPA) has the potential to affect the BPO services market as companies are automating their systems and websites by providing chatbots and other services. This can lead to a low to moderate threat of substitutes in the near future. Bargaining Power of Buyers
BPO services enhance business processes by providing several services such as marketing, customer support, management, and operations. The bargaining power of buyers is high due to the presence of a large number of global players and third-party service providers. Moreover, the services offered by the BPO providers are almost similar, which results in high bargaining power of buyers. Competitive Rivalry
The competition among the existing players in the BPO service market is high, with companies investing heavily in new technologies and process management. Moreover, the BPO service market is increasing with the increasing number of businesses, industries, and the degree of digitalization. There has been an increase in the rivalry among the providers due to cost differences in the services which vary from region to region. The presence of various local service providers also plays a role in increasing competition among the existing players.
