future bpo trends

What do Future BPO Trends Look Like

Lets speak about future BPO trends : We have witnessed the havoc created around the world as the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded beginning in the first quarter of 2020.

A sense of doom and gloom pervaded as country after country adopted lockdown measures in order to curtail the march of the pandemic, sounding the death knell for many businesses and making many others realize how thin a line there is between success and failure.

The widespread impact included staffing shortages as well as inflation.

There were, of course, industries that gained as a result as activities in certain sectors picked up.

Pharmaceuticals and manufacturers of chemical compounds such as sanitizers are the obvious ones, as the demand for their products ballooned.

With a leadership team that has several decades of hands-on industry experience, oWorkers has evolved rapidly to adapt to changing situations and was successful in continuing support for most of its global client base.

How did the BPO industry respond?

The one industry that stood out in the gloomy scenario, without any uplift from an increase in demand for certain products or services, is the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, as exemplified by the oWorkers reference above.

It responded to the situation with maturity and alacrity and created alternate processes and systems through which it could continue to operate and support its clients.

Many clients, who had already implemented outsourcing as a strategic solution, relied on their partners for ensuring that their customers could continue to reach them and receive responses.

oWorkers has been a leader in the industry in creating a ‘work from home’ practice, along with upgraded communications and software technology enabling many of their staff to operate seamlessly from home.

This, today, has transformed into the ‘virtual’ work that most companies are accepting and adopting.

Some of this was made possible on account of the deep relationships it has nurtured with technology companies, giving it access to the latest developments and solutions.

Business outlook for the industry

That most analysts and pundits forecast continued growth for the industry augurs well for all players, though numbers could vary.

After all, a rising tide lifts all boats.

While a Gartner study published in August 2019 might have forecast the BPO industry to grow at a CAGR of 3.5% till 2023 over its then size of $154 billion, a Global Industry Analysts Inc. report published in August 2021 might project the industry to grow to a size of $215.9 billion in 2026 from $161.9 billion in 2020, translating to a CAGR of 5.2%.

A Grand View Research Inc. report published April 2021 projected the industry to reach USD 435.89 billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 8.5% during the forecast period.

Fact.MR published a study in March 2020 that forecast the global business process outsourcing to grow at an impressive 7.5% CAGR during the forecast period.

According to a report published by Statista, from a projected size of USD 330 billion in 2022, the industry is expected to grow to USD 450 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 6.7%.

The difference in the numbers between the different analysts is attributed to the somewhat varying definitions of what the industry comprises.

Regardless of the projected number, oWorkers continues to provide value to clients through sharp pricing. Many of its clients, especially from Western Europe and the US, testify to savings that touch 80% when compared to their costs before outsourcing.

They are also enamored by the oWorkers policy of offering a pricing choice between input-based and output-based models, with the client making the final choice.

What can the industry look forward to ? future bpo trends

Growth sounds great, but where is it going to come from? What are the trends that leaders foretell for the future of the industry?

Virtual assistants will become commonplace

The pandemic has released industry from the shackles of a workplace-based workforce. Though attempts had been made earlier, most experimenters kept reverting back to the tried and tested workplace model.

With workplaces out of reach, companies were forced to adopt the ‘work from home’ model, or perish. This has now evolved to a more established ‘virtual’ work model.

As the world becomes more competitive, companies are moving away from having to manage people to a model where they can focus mostly on generating revenues, profits, and the nuts and bolts of the business.

And, if they hire people, they expect that most of them should be connected with the business.

BPOs can look forward to a future where administrative tasks are increasingly outsourced by clients, including that of the virtual assistant, who was seen to work closely with senior leaders to get things moving for them.

Expect this trend, of virtual assistants, and related administrative tasks being outsourced, to gather steam.

Though considered routine, they are important for all companies as the base on which business is built.

As an employer of choice, a standing that has come after many years of hard work, oWorkers has the ability to attract talent without much effort or cost.

Candidates lining up at their workplace for roles is a regular occurrence, giving oWorkers the flexibility to staff client projects with the best resources, including virtual assistants.

One sure future BPO trends : BPOs will choose Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cloud

We can say without hesitation that one future BPO trends will be AI and cloud.

Digitization has been happening for a long time, with different companies following their own trajectory.

Additionally, while cloud services have been in existence for some time, many companies have continued to rely on in-premise technology installation for their operations.

Once again, the pandemic influenced many thought processes.

For one, it has helped in speeding up the process of digitization.

It became evident during the pandemic that companies at a more advanced stage of digitization were better able to handle the challenges foisted upon them, than the ones who were at an early stage of doing so.

Secondly, cloud technologies, with access anytime, anywhere, are replacing the more traditional in-premise solutions that had more limited options for access.

With the growth of technology, the security concerns companies had regarding their data have mostly been addressed, making them more open to the adoption.

Throw AI into the mix, and you have a winning solution. Not only are BPO providers adopting AI solutions for client projects, but they are also winning mandates from clients interested in implementing AI models. 

They are doing the development of these models with the help of Machine Learning (ML) and processes like data annotation.

BPOs can expect digitization, AI, and the cloud to occupy a more prominent position in their delivery model.

With its ISO (27001:2013 & 9001:2015) certifications, oWorkers recognized the need to protect client data early and continues to provide a physical workplace that works on the same principles.

Also being GDPR compliant makes oWorkers a complete package for clients concerned about the security of their data.

Social Media

Ever since social media platforms came into their lives, human beings cannot seem to get enough of them.

The usage of social media has grown rapidly, with a variety of platforms, each with a niche use case, proliferating.

And, if human beings are flocking to social media sites, can companies be far behind?

After all, the final buyer, or buying decision maker, is a human being, not the inanimate being known as a joint stock company.

And, if they are flocking to social media sites, they will need help in navigating through the complex and winding lanes and alleys of these platforms where each comment and interaction has the potential to get a life of its own, taking it beyond the scope of management of the original creator.

BPOs can expect an increase in the need for management of social media presence to increase.

Not only will it include participation on behalf of clients but, perhaps even more so, there will be a need to play watchman for the social media spaces of their clients, to ensure that open participation stays within defined norms and does not become inimical to the interests of the client.

Social media works 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Participation on social media can happen from anywhere in the world where the network reaches, which, today, is almost everywhere.

Monitoring social media also requires 24×7 availability. oWorkers is equipped to provide continuous service support to clients, in each of the locations they operate delivery from.

Consumer franchises will prefer omnichannel communication

Even though contact details are available at one’s fingertips, with each person carrying a web-enabled device in his/her hand, people no longer seem to have the patience to connect with a company’s preferred channels for customer communication to get their message or query across.

They are likely to fire away at any sign of the company’s presence and expect the recipient to pick it up and respond appropriately.

In many cases, they are using ubiquitous social media platforms for this communication. Sometimes they send emails or call the provided numbers.

They also expect that if they sent a message through social media, when they call the contact center number, the agent should be aware of the fact that they had initiated a query through the social media world and be in a position to provide an answer.

Companies are increasingly implementing omnichannel customer experience technologies to present an integrated and seamless front to the customer.

BPOs can expect that the reliance on omnichannel will continue to rise, especially for consumer businesses, and, with it, their need for support from BPO partners to handle it.

With its ability to provide support in over 20 global languages, oWorkers not only supports omnichannel communication, but omni-language communication too, and enables its global clients to serve their customers around the world.

Data-driven decision-making will be the norm

As more information is being collected and stored, greater efforts are being made to unlock the secrets stored in this data, for deeper insights into customers and products and for better decision-making.

Business process outsourcing companies are generating huge volumes of data as they work on client processes and interact with their customers.

They are deploying tools to unlock the information hidden in this voluminous data so that they can add value to their clients’ business.

BPOs can expect clients to look for information hidden in their data so that they can take better decisions.

As more work and processes get outsourced, more will be the need for analytical data insights.

From availability with lag, they can also be expected to move towards the extraction of information in real-time.

The solutions oWorkers offers are scalable, including the ability to hire larger numbers when required, such as during times of unexpected volume spikes.

It has demonstrated the ability to hire an extra 100 resources with a lead time of only 48 hours.

Conclusion

These are forecasts for future BPO trends, and it will remain to be seen to what extent they come true. It must be said that being the distillate from views expressed by leaders, they can be expected to hold good, some to more and some to a lesser extent.

In any case, when operating in a space, it is advisable to take decisions based on information, rather than pure gut feel and hope. As they say, hope is not a strategy. 

Analysis, knowledge, and information are.

Of course, each company is unique. It has a unique proposition, trajectory, product mix, and client list. 

Hence, each company needs to apply this crystal-ball gazing within the context of their own company.

Like a bpo company like oWorkers, which works for global corporations from around the world, including IT companies and unicorn marketplaces.

It works with employees, not freelancers and contractors, like some of its competitors. This permits the building of skills as well as relationships, demonstrated in the score of 4.6, out of 5, that many of their employees, both past and present, rate them on external platforms like Glassdoor.

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