The global knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) market is anticipated to grow at a considerable pace over the forecast period. Increasing need for enhanced flexibility in Service Level Agreements (SLA) is one of the major growth drivers. Rising requirement to process and analyze the vast amount of enterprise data and easy change management are also expected to drive demand for KPO services. However, stringent rules and regulations set by different governments regarding compliance and legal clauses may hinder this growth to an extent.
Owing to various advantages of outsourcing, most companies are looking for third-party specializations and analytical expertise for their businesses. Hence, high preference of enterprises to outsource businesses to third party service providers may bode well for adoption of KPO solutions in near future. However, highly competitive market scenario and increasing globalization may hinder the pace of commercialization of services and products.
BFSI capital markets require investment managers to better and faster strategic decisions. This factor is anticipated to drive demand for middle office outsourcing. It improves cost driven abilities of strategic platforms and allows investment managers to carry out business strategies more efficiently. This, in turn, is expected to have a positive impact on demand for knowledge process outsourcing in the forthcoming years.
Healthcare, BFSI, and retail are the major end users in the global market. Healthcare is anticipated to witness the most significant growth in outsourcing knowledge intensive services. Biotech and pharmaceutical are the sub-industries of healthcare sector for drug discovery and clinical research. Types of services carried out by KPO include consultancy, research and development, legal and medical services, intellectual property research for patent applications, business and market research, and training.
North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, Europe, and Latin America are the major market regions. Emerging economies such as Latin America and Asia Pacific are anticipated to witness impressive growth over the forecast period. Advantages such as favorable business environment, availability of trained professionals, high productivity, and low labor costs are some of the major regional drivers. These benefits are projected to encourage various leading companies to set up businesses in these developing markets.
India is said to have immense growth potential for KPO solutions and services. Presence of highly skilled professionals and workers with particularized expertise in engineering, law, education, publishing, media, entertainment, industrial machinery, textiles, automotive, aerospace, software, electronics, insurance, biotechnology, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and financial services is poised to bode well for growth of this region.
Healthcare is one of largest sectors in India in terms of volume and revenue. Employment rate in India has increased exponentially and the trend is expected to continue over the forecast period. Healthcare KPO solutions comprise medical devices, hospitals, clinical trials, telemedicine, outsourcing, health insurance, medical equipment, and health insurance. The Indian healthcare sector is growing at a fast pace on account of rising private and public expenditure and strengthening coverage among many other factors.
India’s advantage lies in its abundance of well-trained medical professionals. The country is cost competitive compared to Western nations and other Asian countries. Although India is a KPO destination for companies from Australia, U.K., and North America; growing number of enterprises in Europe is expected to give a fillip to market in the forthcoming years. Numerous U.S.-based including Caterpillar, Inc.; General Motors; Ford Motor Company; United Airlines, Inc.; Morgan Stanley; Reuters, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.; McKinsey & Company, Citigroup, Inc.; JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Motorola, Inc.; Koninklijke Philips N.V.; Sun Microsystems, Inc.; Texas Instruments, Inc.; Cisco Systems, Inc.; Oracle Corporation, Intel Corporation; Microsoft Corporation; Hewlett-Packard Company (HP); IBM; and GE have successfully ventured into India.
Global pharmaceutical firms such as Eli Lilly and Company, GlaxoSmithKline plc, AstraZeneca plc, Novartis, and Pfizer have moved part of their clinical drug testing units to India to tap into the country’s large number of highly skilled and low wage demanding labors. It can considerably accelerate the time to market for new drugs and can offer potential cost savings of up to 50.0%. This factor is expected to have a positive impact on the market over the forecast period.
Key vendors in the global knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) market include Wipro, RR Donnelley & Sons, Genpact, and Mphasis. Other prominent vendors include Cognizant; Adventity Global Services Pvt. Ltd.; Syntel, Inc.; The Smart Cube Limited; Mu Sigma; Aranca Research; Accenture; EXL Services; Infosys Limited; McKinsey & Company; Pangea3; Pulsar Knowledge Center; Oracle Corporation; SAP SE; TechBooks, Inc; Grail Research; Moody's Corporation; Tata Consultancy Services; WNS Global Services; Pipal Research; RocSearch; and IP Pro.
Investments in digitally-powered business processes through patented processes and operating models for end-to-end, including the back and middle offices can positively influence demand for KPO solutions. Research and development and business collaborations are also expected to propel business opportunities for the companies operating in this market.
