No matter what the angle or the time period, there has always been a death knell sounded over the future of offshoring.
Over the years, many would have had it believed that business process delivery from locales near and afar would succumb to the advancements in automation and artificial intelligence. Equally, there has been a school of thought in place among some influencers that this work is better serviced from domestic locales.
Despite vigorous debate, the reality is that the demand for offshore services around all aspects of front and back-office functions has never been more robust. A clear example of why this is the case relates to the number of destinations from which this work can be done. Not even two decades ago, it would not have been unreasonable to assume that four or five countries would account for 90%+ of these work volumes. Today, that number would be in excess of 50 countries, ranging from legacy destinations such as India, through to upstart geographies like Rwanda, Georgia and Honduras.
What is driving the continued (and growing) interest in offshore BPO delivery? That is a question that could be answered a million different ways; but, suffice to say that the primary driver is no longer cost. The days of ‘your mess for less’ are a thing of the past, and any outsourcer positioning their offerings to be delivered from an offshore destination for the cheapest price possible is doomed to failure.
Rather, buyers of business services that are seeking to leverage the offshore are seeking the chance to leverage skill sets and functional excellence that can be found in many countries throughout MEA, the American Nearshore, Central & Eastern Europe and APAC. This is in addition to rapidly improving infrastructures and business-friendly governments that are helping drive this competition for offshore business process delivery. This is not to say that value and affordability don’t factor into offshoring decisions – they are the sole factors.
These and many other topics are what you will discover over the pages of this special report put out by Intelligent Sourcing. As 2023 takes flight, savvy decision-makers will need to make tough choices when it comes to where their business processes will be managed. Using this document as a guide throughout that journey will be time well spent.
Peter Ryan
Principal Analyst and Founder
Ryan Strategic Advisory
