Is the Indian BPO industry beginning to move into a mainstream position from being in the non core, call centre dominated fringes of global BPO? If so, the stakes are that much higher because there is much more to lose by not paying heed to roadblocks. We have seen the Indian BPO industry grow, mature and consolidate. While it certainly deserves all the attention it is getting, has the industry moved beyond simple call centre or tech support work that it started out with? Is it ready to take on large chunks of back office operations that will make a dramatic impact on client organisations? Emerging trends – leading indicators? I believe that the last 6 months have seen some very important shifts in the BPO landscape.

Some of these changes are subtle but nonetheless, directionally significant. More than non-core processes I recently saw a half page advertisement in the Times of India from a leading Indian BPO, for MBAs, economists, financial analysts, accountants, PhDs, mathematicians etc. for quantitative research and analysis. Even without knowing further details, this highlights some important facts – firstly, this is truly high end work; secondly, this is a big win for the company (justifying the cost of such a large advertisement); thirdly, this represents core processes – activities like financial research are the heart of any trading business. The inescapable conclusion is that something has certainly changed from the supply side. And if the client is willing to move this type of work into India, then something has also changed from the demand side. Cynics might point to a number of boutique research companies who have been around for the last two years.

However, all these companies are tiny, niche operators who get by on small pilot contracts. This is the first public evidence of scale that I have seen in mainstream high end work like financial research. Captives – no longer the obvious solution The recent sale of GECIS, following earlier deals done by Swissair and BA (i.e. sale of captive units) are causing clients to seriously question the captive model for large outsourcing deals. In part, this is due to the emergence of credible third party BPOs who have moved beyond call centres and demonstrated their ability to handle complex, end to end processes. It is also partly due to the realisation that cost centre mindset in a captive will never achieve the operational efficiency of a focussed, well managed, profit driven third party supplier. India – integral to a global organisation