The BPO industry continued its strong growth trajectory into the first half of 2022. The rush towards digitalisation continued to drive growth for the top BPOs, despite the challenging period of rising inflation and geopolitical instability. For most BPOs, the main growth drivers include their diversified portfolios (a mix of traditional + new economy clients), recent acquisitions to strengthen offerings, and the surging demand for digitalised services.

For H1 2022, twimbit observed these emerging trends in the BPO realm:

#1 – BPOs take on complex processes leveraging cutting-edge technology

BPOs are more than the sum of its parts, no longer serving the simple purpose where companies transfer their processes to BPOs merely to save costs. Instead, BPOs are attracting clients because of their ability to integrate cutting-edge technologies to transform processes, such as;

• AI (Artificial Intelligence),
• RPA (Robotic Process Automation)
• and natural language understanding.

Content moderation has emerged as a powerful growth engine in the last five years. By leveraging AI analytics, BPOs ensure companies comply with specific guidelines for each country. Multilingual analysts who review content for safety and carry out advertisement evaluations on paid ads are also present in BPOs. With the help of technology, the analysts review sponsored listings to ensure relevancy, cultural-context appropriation, and that they are error-free.

The development of immersive technologies, i.e., AR and VR, is another area in which AI data substantially contributes. By offering top-quality training data, providers help developers better detect objects, scenes and faces, which is vital in creating AR applications and virtual worlds. For instance, Concentrix is one of the leaders in AI data solutions – its AI community consists of more than 1 million linguists and annotators.

BPOs also utilise AI to enhance business processes, specifically financial offerings. The Cora LiveWealth platform by Genpact leverages AI to streamline an individual’s wealth and asset management process. The intelligent solution automates data extraction from financial statements with high accuracy, personalises portfolio analytics and ensures that stakeholders abide by investment policies. The result – organisations reduce 50% of operational costs and cut down cycle time by 70 days.

#2 – Bold acquisitions help extend offerings beyond fragmented experiences

BPOs continued their buying spree to expand digital capabilities, capitalising on the opportunity to offer CX services permeating the end-to-end customer journey.

In one of the biggest merger discussions, Majorel explored the possibility of merging with Sitel group (who just acquired Sykes last year) in June to accelerate their growth ambitions. However, the consolidation did not happen. Both companies have decided to give up on the merger as shareholders from both ends could not reach an agreement on the final structure of the transaction. Nonetheless, Majorel is still competitive, acquiring several companies in the first half of 2022:

• IST networks: CX technology services provider headquartered in Egypt
• Findasense: CX design and consulting company to help further expand Majorel’s Tech and Expert services line of business
• Alembo: BPO company from Suriname catering to Dutch-speaking markets

Apart from that, other BPOs have also acquired a few firms to tackle cross-selling opportunities and for further expansion.

• TaskUs acquired heloo, an outsource provider specialising in digital solutions and an expert in the e-commerce and gaming industries to diversify its client mix across Europe.
• Concentrix acquired ServiceSource, an international B2B digital sales leader, to broaden its service offerings and address growing client demand.

#3 – Broadening horizons to increase geographical influence

Outsourcing companies have sustained growth by expanding geographically, acknowledging the significance of gaining multilingual talents. The world’s largest BPO, Teleperformance, has added 20 new sites and a total of 7,000 workstations across Europe, Africa, the U.S., Peru and India.

TDCX, headquartered in Singapore, and currently accounting for more than 90% of the revenue from Southeast Asia, is also expanding. In the first half of 2022, TDCX expanded its operations in two key locations – the Philippines and South Korea.

• The Philippines – TDCX aims to strengthen its ability to serve the English-speaking markets (North America, Ireland, the U.K. and ANZ).
• South Korea – TDCX aims to extend its local language capabilities and increase CX shares in the market.

TDCX also added a new site in Hyderabad, India.

On top of that, Majorel is also broadening its physical reach via acquisitions and strategic partnerships. So far, in 2022, its reach has entered 9 new countries: Ghana, Greece, North Macedonica, Suriname, Turkey, Japan, Lithuania, South Korea and Thailand.

#4 – Inclusivity in practice: One for all, all for one

While serving its large network of clients globally, BPOs are well-aware that employees are the heart of their operations and services. Organisations make the time and put effort to make sure that their employees are well listened to and that the diverse workforce from different cultural backgrounds and experience levels feel included.

Outsourcing providers support employees with different lifestyles and needs by offering comprehensive employment policies. For example, Teleperformance’s Cloud Campus platform enables efficient hiring, training and managing remote teams. Almost 70% of its 420,000 employees are still working from home.

Concentrix places high importance on employee health and wellness. 47,000 of its employees are trained in mental health awareness, while 27,000 leaders were trained to identify signs of mental health concerns. The company has also recently acquired KeepAppy, a data-driven wellness platform to help its team better manage their mental health and well-being.

On top of that, BPOs also strive to improve society. By supporting humanitarian needs in collaboration with UNICEF, Teleperformance ensures that adolescents and children are not left behind. The company has signed a US$ 6 million contract over three years to aid the younger generation in India and the Philippines. The contract entails receiving long-term education, digital training and education fund. Also, as an initiative to help the survivors, Teleperformance assists with disaster relief programs, including the Ukraine incident – aiding with the provision of water, hygiene and education.

BPOs are performing well, despite the depreciation of the Euro against the U.S. dollar and the decrease in Covid-19-driven support contracts. They have been receptive to emerging technologies, remaining open and adaptive to experimenting with innovative ideas compared to other industries. In short, BPOs look to set the pace for accelerated growth over the rest of 2022.