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Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review
THE WEEK IN REVIEW
The burgeoning contact center analytics market is projected to be worth US$2.9 billion by 2027, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.7%. According to market research firm MarketsandMarkets, this double-digit growth will be driven by the adoption of advanced technologies, demand for better customer experience, and the increasing adoption of cloud-based contact center solutions post-pandemic. The BFSI (banking, financial services, and insurance) sector would account for the largest market size during the forecast period, while the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region will lead the market with the highest CAGR between 2022 and 2027. The market is currently worth US$1.7 billion.
Not to be left behind, the global healthcare IT outsourcing industry is also expected to increase to $70 billion by 2028, sustained by a CAGR of 6.6%. Market intelligence firm Zion Market said that the growing demand for IT management systems for healthcare companies, back-office administration, and the life science segment will fuel the growth of the market for the next six years. Talent shortage, lower operational costs, and improved quality of care and clinical results are seen as the main reasons why companies would tap into healthcare IT outsourcing services in the future.
Meanwhile, Fiji’s attempts at entering the $2-trillion worth global outsourcing market can provide the country with a resilient economy while generating inclusive jobs. A report by International Finance Corporation and World Bank suggests expanding beyond tourism will “unlock” the country’s potential as an economic hub in the South Pacific. Economic Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said that outsourcing will help create good jobs that leverage the country’s young and highly educated workforce. Further developing Fiji’s outsourcing sector will also offer enormous opportunities such as a highly diversified economy and attracting more private sector investments. Over in the Caribbean, Jamaica is now being hailed as “the most important Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) location in the English-speaking Caribbean region.” Consulting firm Ryan Strategic Advisory stated that this is a perfect title due to the country’s prospects of greater investments in 2022. Several BPO firms — including Transparent BPO, itel, Ibex, Iterum Connections, and Ventrica — had already announced their expansions in the country. As a result of these, the outsourcing industry reportedly contributed US$780 million to the Jamaican economy while employment has risen 15% over the past year.
Despite suffering a two-year slump, India’s commercial real estate market is on track to recover, shored up by the IT-BPM (Information Technology-Business Process Management) industry’s projected cumulative leasing of 100 million square feet (sq.ft.) by 2026. Real estate firm Savills India said that the sector has been absorbing large amounts of office space over the last decade-and-a-half with its current share estimated to be more than half of the total office space leased in the last five years. Savills also reported that this expansion, as well as the implementation of remote and hybrid work models, could put Tier II and Tier III cities into prominence for expanding IT-BPM businesses.
Unintegrated and inaccessible data, too much agent complexity, and slow digital adoption could hinder customer experience (CX) and agent productivity in contact center facilities. In joint research conducted by contact center platform LiveVox and research and advisory group Omdia, only 59% of agents felt they had the right level of training and knowledge in the industry. The result? Customer experience varies across different channels and nearly half of customers have to call repeatedly to have their issues resolved. LiveVox CEO and Co-Founder Louis Summe said that “limitations harm agent productivity and morale” in the industry. Both companies agreed that the next phase of digital transformation must focus on creating a streamlined and agent-centric experience to enhance the performance of every contact center employee.
Call center tools are hot right now.
Leading the charge for innovations, information security firm Pindrop announced a new partnership with Google Cloud. Under this deal, Pindrop’s suite of fraud detection and voice security solutions will now be a part of the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program and will be available for download on the Google Cloud Marketplace. Pindrop CEO and Co-founder Vijay Balasubramaniyan said that this partnership puts them into a unique position “to offer customers something genuinely innovative” in the contact center market. Using Google Cloud’s secure infrastructure, Pindrop will also be able to deploy new voice security solutions that will give customers the ability to easily automate device-based interactions. At the same time, cloud-based financial close solutions provider Trintech and outsourcing agency IQ BackOffice had signed a strategic partnership focused on enabling finance and accounting (F&A) services. Through this deal, Trintech’s Adra Suite will be part of IQ BackOffice’s financial solution portfolio for BPO clients. IQ BackOffice VP of Business Development Ken Johnson said that this integration of services will allow them to meet and exceed their client’s F&A needs. Trintech Chief Revenue Officer Russ Hubbard added that this partnership will help IQ BackOffice “pivot resources away from mundane close processes and dynamically enable their clients to address key strategic business needs with agility.”
A collaboration between BPO provider iQor and data cloud company Snowflake has also been announced to the public. In a statement, the two companies explained that this deal will help drive efficiency and consolidate data into a single secure cloud environment. This means that all iQor data will be indexed and accessible through Snowflake Data Cloud, allowing the organization to have insights and analyses from a reliable single site and share them with their clients. iQor President and CEO Gary Praznik said that this partnership will provide them with “enhanced data analytics as part of our already robust digital processes” within the company. iQor is also expanding its footprint through a new contact center in Pennsylvania, United States (US). Located in the city of Allentown, the 30,000 square feet of office space reflects the firm’s commitment to investing in its domestic infrastructure and generating positive benefits for employees, clients, customers, and communities. The new Class A office space also provides employees the flexibility to work in the office or at home, especially now that the firm is implementing a hybrid arrangement for their employees. Praznik said that they are looking forward to hiring a skilled group of Allentown candidates that will help “provide meaningful customer experiences to top brands seeking domestic customer experience offerings.”
In funding updates, call center automation software vendor Replicant raised $78 million in a Series B funding round led by growth equity firm Stripes. According to a report from TechCrunch, the company’s post-money valuation is now at $550 million. Replicant co-founder and CEO Gadi Shamia said that they are planning to use their new capital “to ramp up investment in our customer success team to onboard new customers.” Specifically, the firm is planning to double its research and development team this year, increase its marketing investments, and launch an additional professional development program for the employees using the new fund that they gained from investors.
Meanwhile, European Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) firm Ringover rolled out a mass recruitment drive to expand its international presence after its bullish growth last year. Ringover Country Manager for the United Kingdom and Ireland Ross Slogrove said that they need “even more talent” to help the company reach its customer service goals. The France-based firm opened over 40 job positions for telecommunications as well as account executives, SDRs, and marketing executives, among others. The recruitment drive comes as the CCaaS industry becomes more crucial than ever for all businesses around the globe.
Speaking of recruitment, Indian job market activity rose six per cent in March, following two years of lockdowns and quarantines. Career and recruitment platform Monster.com said that employment activities in the country’s major cities have been steadily picking up with Mumbai’s hitting 21%, Chennai and Hyderabad both seeing a 16% increase in recruitment. Significantly, roles in the IT hardware and software sector marked a double-digit growth, alongside the emergence of metaverse applications. Companies are also opening more positions in human resources, finance, and accounting departments. South Korea is also experiencing a “tech wave” as 46% of fresh college graduates with non-IT majors said that they are interested in getting a job in the IT industry. According to a survey from hiring platform Saramin, 49.9% said that they want to be in the IT field because of its high demand for manpower while 42.4% said that they wanted to get better salaries. Among all segments, web development was the most common IT job that respondents wanted to work for with non-tech majors taking a training course to learn how to code.
The return-to-office and hybrid work trends are forcing most US companies to confirm long-term plans to either expand or contract their office spaces. According to commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE, 39% of companies are expanding their portfolios over the next three years as they welcome their staff back to their offices. Conversely, 52% of survey respondents are reducing their offices as they implement remote work. CBRE Global President of Advisory & Transaction Services Manish Kashyap said that despite laying out all these plans, employers still need to study their new work patterns and experiment with various ways to support productivity and employee satisfaction in their workplaces.
Time to redefine “the office.”
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
NEWS THIS WEEK
09 May 2022
- Slow digital adoption, inaccessible data hinder CX – read article…
- India’s IT-BPM sector to take up 100Mn sq. ft. of office spaces by 2026 – read article…
- Pindrop partners with Google Cloud – read article…
- US companies are reshaping their offices for hybrid work – read article…
06 May 2022
- iQor opens new contact center in Pennsylvania, US – read article…
- Trintech, IQ BackOffice announces strategic F&A partnership – read article…
- Jamaica is now the “most important” BPO location in the Caribbean – read article..
- Nearly half of non- IT grads in South Korea want to enter the IT sector – read article..
05 May 2022
- iQor partners with data cloud company Snowflake – read article…
- Conduent stock down 14.21% – read article…
- Replicant raises $78Mn in a Series B funding round – read article…
- Contact center analytics market to reach $2.9Bn by 2027 – read article…
04 May 2022
- Cloud-based contact center firm Ringover launches recruitment drive – read article…
- Indian job market recovers, IT roles register double-digit growth – read article…
- Outsourced healthcare IT industry to grow to $70bn by 2028 – read article…
- Fiji’s outsourcing industry revenues to prop economy – read article…
