Opportunity in the midst of crisis

Predictions about the future are both easy and hard. Easy because no one can prove you wrong; hard because if you run a BPO business, as I do, you will end up making resource allocation decisions based upon your view of the world and being wrong will not be without consequences.

However, having been a keen follower of Indian BPO over the last several years, I am bemused at reactions to events in western economies. These have ranged from projected revenue declines, to job losses, to the ‘Obama Effect’ (whatever that might be), to hiring freezes, sabbatical programmes, redeployment of staff, etc. It is easy to panic in the current environment because the world economy looks quite dangerous right now. Despite that, my view is that the opportunity for Indian BPO has never been better.

It is, however, a different opportunity from the past and will need a very different response than before. Not everyone will be able to react swiftly enough but the companies who do so will be able to move their businesses to a different level of evolution. To me the opportunities far exceed the threats.

BPO will grow

There is no doubt in my mind that Indian BPO has the solutions to many problems that western companies are facing. Most western companies are seeing falls in revenue, some pretty dramatic. The only way to respond to a fall in revenue is to cut costs. Offshore BPO is one of the best and proven ways to restructure costs in a thoughtful and deliberate manner.

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