Asia-Pacific BPO market to touch $17 bn by 2015: Ovum

Asia-Pacific’s business process outsourcing market will reach revenues of $17.4 billion by 2015, according to a research firm, Ovum.

The firm predicts that the BPO business in the geography, will grow at a rate of 9.3% from $11.1 billion in 2010. Strong growth in emerging economies such as India, Greater China (which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong) and South Korea is driving the global market forward, as businesses in these regions wake up to the benefits of BPO.

According to an analyst of Ovum, Hansa Iyengar, developed economies will exploit these new BPO areas most, with emerging markets newer to the arena adopting first generation outsourcing such as customer care, payroll processing and help desks.

“BPO is gaining ground in areas such as HR, engineering design, and research and development outsourcing,” she said. 

As per the forecast, the BPO market in Greater China will grow by 16.1%, while India and South Korea’s market will increase by 15.7 and 14.6%, respectively. Australia and New-Zealand’s BPO market will show the most traction, with a growth of 7.4% over the forecast period.

According to Iyengar, to take advantage of the predicted growth in outsourcing, vendors will need to be aware that pricing of contracts is the major issue at the negotiating table in the current scenario.

“Enterprises are moving away from multi-billion dollar, single vendor deals, and spreading out their investments and risks. Vendors need to be prepared with a game plan to meet this segments demand for low-priced, highly-flexible and scalable solutions, which are accompanied by the option to customise offerings and personalised customer service,” she said.