Asian countries to dominate global BPO

MANILA, Philippines – Asian countries, including the Philippines, are touted to dominate the global outsourcing industry, forecasted to reach a $1.3 trillion by 2020, according to an Indian executive.

Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, vice chairman and chief executive of India’s Zensar Technologies, said Asia will capture about 80 to 85 percent of the total market by 2020.

“The future of outsourcing belongs to Asia and we see the region capturing between 80 to 85 percent of the industry. The market is open to all kinds of players and whether you are from India, the Philippines, China or Malaysia—you must seize the opportunity to grow inroads in this huge market,” said Natarajan.

The remaining 15 to 20 percent of the market would be shared by Europe, Latin America and other countries, he said.

In the global economy, the 10 percent share from Japan and Europe will be taken up by Asia as more investors look in the region for business—another boost to Asia’s rosy future in business, he added.

While outsourcing giant India moves toward higher-end services, second-rank Philippines can expand into vertical or domain services while China can focus on low-cost products for global clients and domestic “outsourced onshoring” services, he said.

Realizing this, outsourcing firms in the Philippines and in other Asian countries should innovate by investing heavily in training people and optimizing processes to meet future demands from clients, Natarajan said during an industry summit Tuesday.

Natarajan noted China has started on this and has invested on skills and English-language training and putting up the necessary infrastructure to support outsourcing. Combined with capacity to scale up its labor force given its population, China is touted to become a significant player within the next five or ten years.

Natarajan, however, stressed the Philippines should not be threatened by China and other countries as long as it can diversify into niche markets for higher-end services and continue to evolve its talent and process offerings to match market demands.

“It is inevitable that more countries, not only China, will join the outsourcing industry. Given its good position, the Philippines can further innovate so it gets a significant slice of the market pie,” said Natarajan.

Synergies from collaboration and partnerships with other countries will also prove a “winning strategy” for any country in Asia to become a successful industry player a decade from now, said Natarajan.

The Indian official said he will urge the formation of a regional body composed of BPO executives from different countries to usher the collaboration among Asian countries. –Anna Valmero, INQUIRER.net