Europe's BPO spend seen growing at 15%

European BPO spending will rise from Euro 11 billion in 2006 to Euro 18.9 billion in 2011 "" a five-year CAGR of 11.5 per cent, according to a Forrester report.

The report, titled 'European Business Process Outsourcing Spending Forecast: 2006 to 2011,' "" covering enterprise spending growth in the 25 EU countries as well as Norway and Switzerland "" highlights the upcoming trends in expenditure on BPO services.

Citing BPO spending trends with geographical as well as service category perspectives, it states, "Though the BPO CAGR is pegged at 11.5 per cent, uptake and spending in Europe is spread unevenly.

Rather, almost the entire spending on BPO comes from Western European countries as less than 0.5 per cent of total spending in 2006 comes from Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries, and this trend will not change in the five years that follow."

The report adds that firms in IT-advanced countries like the UK, the Netherlands, and the Nordics, and in the large economies of France and Germany are spending relatively more on BPO.

Besides, firms in Austria, Belgium, Spain, and Switzerland will spend more than Euro 100 million on BPO per country in 2011, with a CAGR in excess of 10.5 per cent.

"In the six BPO service categories, HR BPO takes the lion's share of Europe's BPO spending, and is closely followed by financial services back-office BPO. With a third of the total spending in 2006, HR BPO service type has the biggest spending share now, and even up to 2011," the report highlights.