India ranks first among enterprise CX decision-makers as their most favored choice for offshore customer management delivery for the second consecutive year. The results are based on the views of 712 interviews conducted with captive contact center decision-makers based in North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia during the second half of Q1 2023. It forms part of the broader 2023 Front Office CX Omnibus Survey, which will be published by Ryan Strategic Advisory in the coming days.
Several factors propelled India into first place this year, including the country’s legacy around customer management and the focus in recent times among Indian stakeholders to double down on high-quality digital CX management. Both are crucial considerations in the eyes of enterprise contact center managers.
India’s designation as the most favored offshore CX delivery destination was hard fought against second-place finisher South Africa. It is noted that India placed first among survey participants in the UK and Australia; it was also very competitive in the USA and Canada.
South Africa drops from first place in 2022 (when it tied with India) into the silver medallist spot this year. Still, South Africa was the runaway most favored offshore CX delivery point among those surveyed in North America, and the country was very popular among Australian and British respondents. It also performed competitively in Germany. Whether South Africa regains first place next year depends heavily on the country’s political and economic direction, especially as it relates to infrastructure management and foreign policy orientation. Going forward, these factors could greatly influence buyer perceptions in key demand markets.
The Philippines comes in as the third most favored offshore CX delivery destination for 2023. While not placing first in any of the nine demand markets sounded, the Philippines placed in the top five across all English-language countries surveyed. It was a strong second in Japan. After over two decades of offshore customer management support, this country maintains a strong level of resonance among buyers of CX services.
Poland dropped from second to fourth most favored offshore CX delivery point in 2023. Poland is the only European nearshore destination to crack the top five. Unsurprisingly, the country is very popular among survey participants from the UK and Germany. However, it also has a solid base of favorability from North America and Australia, which validates an anecdotal trend that has been developing of late around Central & Eastern Europe as a potential region for more offshore-driven CX work.
Tying for fifth place are multi-lingual powerhouses Malaysia and Egypt. Malaysia was the most favored choice in Japan and placed well in Australia. Egypt’s value was evident from its positive reception among respondents in the English-speaking demand markets. Interestingy, among respondents in Germany, Egypt was the most favored offshore CX delivery destination, besting the Czech Republic by a considerable margin this year.
Elsewhere, the lack of an American nearshore entrant in the top five was perhaps the most glaring change in this year’s offshore rankings. Mexico fell out of the top five. Although it enjoys high levels of favorability in the USA and Spain, Mexico fared relatively poorly in Canada.
In Africa, the ongoing strength of Rwanda as the most favored destination for French CX managers for the second year in a row should not be underestimated. This points to a potential niche language play for this burgeoning African BPO option.
The favorability related to the Caribbean was strong for Jamaica, Guyana and Saint Lucia, fortifying a trend toward Angloshore delivery. Increasingly, outsourcers fancy these markets as a means of attaining business continuity. In so doing, they effectively combine delivery from the English-speaking Caribbean alongside larger offshore deployments in India or South Africa to cater to end-users in the United States, Canada, and Britain. There were mixed results for Central American CX delivery destinations.
One of the most interesting results relates to three Balkan countries. There was a significant degree of favorability around Slovenia, Croatia, and North Macedonia, all of which performed strongly among continental European customer management professionals. Alas, other countries in the region offering CX services were not competitive for buyer favorability in 2023.
