Knowledge process outsourcing
- 1. owledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) involves the transfer of knowledgeintensive business processes that require significant domain expertise, to other geographic locations. For global corporations looking to move their higher-end research like market research and equity research, analytical based services, engineering design, IPR, legal services, remote education and publishing, India is currently the location of choice. A number of global organizations have opted for the captive KPO route, instead of relying on third-party KPOs, to protect their IPRs and patented material. These include JPMorgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and McKinsey. Several pharmaceutical companies have set up captive drug-discovery centres in India. The KPO market The global KPO industry stands at US$ 1.2 billion today. According to the Global Sourcing Now report, this is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 45% and will touch the US$17 billion mark by 2010. India is well positioned to capture 70% of this market, translating to a market size of U$12 billion. The NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies) estimates the KPO market to grow by gargantuan proportions to US$ 15.5 billion by 2010. The number of Indian KPO professionals is set to leap from 25,000 to 250,000 employees by 2010. Unlike the benchmarked NASSCOM ranking of Top BPOs, there is no listing of the KPO companies. Another impediment is the fact that a number of KPO companies in India shy away from disclosing their revenues. What we have instead is a mixed bag of parameters like revenues, number of em-ployees and market leadership in certain sectors. We have not included big firms like Wipro, Infosys or HCL which have large BPO outfits but whose KPO efforts have been relatively minimal. 1. Genpact: Formerly GECIS, Genpact had revenues of US$ 493 million in 2005. The relatively small KPO unit is a complementary arm to its main BPO business. Genpact’s KPO specializes in competitive intelligence, campaign management, program tracking, customer relationship management, customer value mapping, research, database generation, and others. The KPO has staff strength of 1200 people, of which more than 90% has advanced degrees. 2. Evalueserve: Based in Gurgaon, it has 650 people engaged in market research and business intelligence. Nearly 45% of the company’s revenues come from math related projects. Evalueserve has a research firm called Global Sourcing Now, which specialises in high-quality research reports. 3. Ugam Solutions: Ugam Solutions entered the area of market research analytics in 2001, much before the term KPO was coined. Their business involves the study of consumer minds, their behaviour and habits, for evolving a basis for business development initiatives of global companies. It has now grown to a 400-member organization.
- 2. 4. WNS: A Mumbai-based BPO, WNS has just started its KPO division for market research with 300 people. It operates in the knowledge services business segment and offers high-end services such as market, investment and business research. 5. 24/7 Customer: This BPO was listed in the Leaders category of IAOP’s (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals) Global 100 list. Its KPO focuses on customer analytics, where it studies consumer behaviour and analyses data pertaining to related activities such as campaigns and marketing activities. 6. ICICI OneSource: Acquiring a US-based research firm, Pipal in 2004, ICICI OneSource offers high-end customised business research and collections, analytics and information services. It had revenues of US$ 42 million in 2003-04. 7. EXL Service: This BPO acquired Inductis, a leading strategy and analytics company serving the financial services and insurance industries, in June 2006 to form an independent subsidiary. Inductis had revenues of US$ 20 million in 2005. The new entity will focus on consulting, research and analytics. 8. Copal Partners: Founded in 2001, Copal Partners provides company and sector research to its clients, which include Wall Street investment banks, hedge funds, private equity firms and private and public corporations. It was formed by professionals from McKinsey & Co., Citigroup, and GE Capital. In 2005, it entered into an agreement with Reuters to provide financial institutions with customized company research and sector analysis. With revenues of US$ 6 million, it plans to expand to 400 employees by the end of 2006. 9. Pangea3: Based in Mumbai, Pangea3 provides services areas such as patent research, analysis and prosecution support; document review, litigation and due diligence; contract drafting management and administration; legal research and business information research. With an employee strength of 100, its revenues are expected to be US$ 2.5 million this year. 10. TechBooks: This is a leading KPO in publishing and services publishing houses such as Cambridge University Press, Blackwell, Hall, Pearson and Tata Mc-Graw Hill in providing electronic content services and solutions. It plans to get into e-learning services with broad application in the corporate, government and education markets.