KPO: India would always be No.1

With the KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) industry witnessing a staggering growth, global financial services industry continues to remain in the forefront even as the waves of outsourcing shifted from ITO to BPO and now to KPO.

A report released by KPMG released at the Nasscom India Leadership Forum 2008, views the potential within this segment of the market.

The report states that numerous factors such as availability of high quality and often certified talent, global recognition of standards, qualifications, skills and experience and improved remote project management capabilities would drive the KPO phenomenon.

This phenomenon would have far-reaching results for the financial services domain in the next three years.

Off-shoring strategies are expected to embrace new locations, and myriad global insurers and banks are set to adopt KPO strategies.

Also, more rigorous regulatory and compliance control are likely to be demanded, as KPO providers deliver more complex services.

While speaking to Cybermedia News, Edge Zarrella, Global Partner-in-Charge, IT Advisory at KPMG, gave India’s stand in the scheme of things.

“KPO is all about wisdom. India would always be number one in KPO for many years but other smaller countries would be catching up. Asian countries control one thing—youth of the world. In 2020, the average age in India would be 22!,” Edge said.

Elucidating on the study, Zarrella stated, “Our study looks at the financial services space which is driving the KPO revolution. Along the way we aim to show that KPO is a business phenomenon in its own right, not merely an elaboration of Business Process Outsourcing.”

The report has been prepared by conducting primary interviews and accruing inputs from third party KPO providers and some key captive companies in the financial services domain.

The methodology involved three stages: pre-evaluation, which saw primary research being conducted by circulating a questionnaire of KPO to the respondents; evaluation—where a thorough domain-specific questionnaire was prepared for in-depth discussions.

In the third and final stage—analysis—information were gathered and assimilated and trends were identified in the global financial services and KPO industry.