Adapting to change, quickly. That’s always been at the core of the BPO business. In fact, outsourcers are now judged by their adaptability to changes in different markets, as they are expected to adjust more quickly than a business operating in that specific market.
Outsourcers are measured not by inputs, but outcomes, and are expected to make judgements rather than simply follow rules. Business growth, regulatory compliance, development and application of next-generation technologies – and even customer experience improvements – are all within the remit of today’s BPO. The shift towards a more sophisticated set of outcomes, rather than simply a set of low-cost operatives, enables services firms to focus on delivering strategically valuable business results. As a selling point, cost arbitration is of diminishing importance for the outsourcing market.
This gives the industry a real resilience in the current political, social and economic climate. When majoring on strategic outcomes rather than just cost-based calculations, a business process outsourcer can maintain their value-add within any market conditions from anywhere in the world – so long as employees have the domain expertise they need to set them apart.
This introduces a crucial flexibility to the outsourcing business model. Whether a customer wants to off-shore, near-shore or re-shore, the value will stay the same. Political and social pressures are creating a new focus on local employment in many locations. Companies offering to deliver a business outcome through outsourcing must be ready to deliver this outcome no matter where the need is or in what manner clients want it delivered. If businesses want, for whatever reason, to switch locations or change the demographics of their workforce, it is the job of global services companies to facilitate that change.
For a recent project in Abu Dhabi, for instance, our customer organisation wanted to employ local people. The dual criteria for success are that the service level agreements are being met – and that we are creating jobs for local people. The importance of being able to meet this second criterion is increasing, and is a key reason why a culture of training must run through the business. We were able to put together a workforce which is 98 per cent local, training staff to deliver the sophisticated outcomes that drive value for this particular client.
Ensuring that the same level of value – the sophisticated judgements, technology expertise and thought leading insights into their markets – can be delivered from any location around the world is the task of today’s global services provider. Business process outsourcing has already moved, metaphorically, over the past 15 or so years, towards developing next-generation technology and knowing the business of our clients better than they do. Outsourcers who survive, and thrive, over the next 15 years will be marked by their ability to continue this march towards value-led outcomes, whilst remaining agile across different delivery locations.
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