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Offshore
Outsourcing: What's Working, What's Not
The
globalization of services, as represented by the sustained growth
of business process outsourcing (BPO), continues to thrive. In
this special report prepared in collaboration with consulting firm
A.T. Kearney, Knowledge@Wharton explores several emerging trends
in the BPO landscape. Among them: new competitive models that BPO
providers are using to drive growth; the shifting geography of BPO
locations; and the challenges and risks that constitute life after
BPO.
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| As
the BPO Business Grows, There's a Greater Focus on Metrics and
Measurement |
Until
recently, many CEOs were grappling with issues such as whether to
send back-office operations offshore to third-party providers of
business process outsourcing (BPO) services, or to perform such
operations in their own offshore captive centers. Today, as more
and more firms move toward hybrid models of offshore outsourcing,
they are looking at new management techniques, such as
"virtual prowling," according to experts at Wharton and
consulting firm A.T. Kearney.
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| How
Some BPO Providers Seek To Build and Protect Their Turf |
As the
business process outsourcing (BPO) industry evolves, large
providers and niche operators are repositioning their
organizations to stand apart from the purveyors of plain-vanilla
call center facilities. Their goal is to speed up growth while
creating barriers to entry for their rivals. In this article,
Knowledge@Wharton examines the approach that three companies -
Office Tiger, WNS Global Services, and Equinox - have taken to
build and protect their turf.
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| How
Should Companies Deal With Life After BPO? |
Once a
company has decided to move some jobs overseas as part of a
business process outsourcing (BPO) arrangement, it faces two major
challenges. The first involves dealing with the external partner -
whether it is a third-party provider or a captive BPO center - to
ensure that work performance does not suffer. And second, it must
take effective steps to redistribute work among the employees left
behind. Experts at Wharton and elsewhere - including the CEO of a
company that has sent work offshore - offer lots of advice on both
issues.
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| Move
Over, India: The Shifting Geography of Offshore Outsourcing
Creates New Challengers |
India took
an early lead in establishing itself as a center for offshore
outsourcing. Now, however, according to experts at Wharton and
elsewhere, as many as 40 locations - including cities in the
Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America - are vying to
attract BPO work. The next big phenomenon will be the emergence of
a hub-and-spokes model in the globalization of services, says one
Wharton professor.
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