Global BPO market seen growing 6.3% in 2011

Despite the slowdown in developed economies, the global business process outsourcing market is expected to grow by 6.3 percent this year and by 5 percent next year, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

In the research firm’s latest report, Gartner research vice president Cathy Tornbohm said emerging markets were fueling the continued growth of the worldwide BPO market.

“Emerging markets are faring far better and, generally, multinational companies continue to look to BPO as a means both to reduce costs and to buoy their business operations during the protracted return to a growth environment,” Ms. Tornbohm said in a statement posted on Gartner’s official website.

“We also see an increase in transaction volume, especially in payroll, recruiting, accounts payable, and customer data analytics and knowledge process outsourcing activities,” Tornbohn added.

Expected growth in the Asia-Pacific region remained robust, she said, leading all other regions at 17.9 percent by the end of the year.

Through 2015, the highest demand would be for customer management services, human resource outsourcing, billing and supply management.

Geographically, most of the growth is seen coming from India, Australia and China, driven mainly by the scalability of BPO service providers in the region, the use of best-of-breed processes and technology, faster time-to-market, and improved quality of service.

“While growth remains strong in developing economies, the United States, the world’s largest BPO market, presents a mixed picture for the global market,” Tornbohm said.

Unlike the Asia-Pacific region, the North America BPO market is seen growing slower than the global average at 3.8 percent this year.

Despite the uncertain US economy, confidence in global businesses is still relatively high.

The United States, the world’s largest and most established BPO market, is the Philippines’ biggest client for BPO services.