Call Recording Featured Article

Everything from homes to vehicles to network resources to productivity software is moving to an on-demand model these days. And BPO, which involves contracting a third party to handle various business processes, is no exception.

That’s the word from Rajendra Deshpande, the CIO of Serco Global Services, who wrote about it in his article on Cyber Media Ltd.’s Dataquest site. In it he noted that business-process-as-a-service enables companies to access such shared resources as applications, infrastructure, and workers.

This approach to outsourcing is fundamentally different from the traditional model because it seeks to converge cost optimization at the operational layer, software-as-a-service concept at the business application layer, and infrastructure-as-a-service construct at the technology infrastructure layer in a unified fashion, writes Deshpande, adding it also relies heavily on automation. Indeed, a Firstsource Solutions Ltd. blog from last February explained: “As an increasing number of organizations aim to focus on core competencies, solutions that streamline processes become vital. To facilitate this, a number of processes are automated through programs on proprietary platforms. These platforms often require heavy infrastructure and resources to implement and maintain process efficiency. However, with the advent of the cloud such processes can be moved to outsourced models, packaged and delivered as BPaaS.”

That not only offers more affordable and agile solutions, and allows businesses to focus on their core competencies rather than managing these contracts and resources, he says, it also provides the business with a one-stop solution.

The business-process-as-a-service space is poised to grow from $84.1 billion to $144.7 billion next year, according to the Firstsource piece, which attributes these numbers to Gartner (News - Alert). And The Accenture 2015 High Performance BPO Report says: “BPO is in the midst of a dramatic and rapid evolution—from a commodity and transaction-based focus to one centered on insights and business outcomes. The key to a value-based approach is not just capturing the data, but using automation, analytics and deep industry expertise to generate insights and foresight—which then enable companies to make better business decisions, reduce costs and increase revenues.”