The surge of the COVID-19 outbreak for the past 2 years has led to a continued global rise in inflation, staffing shortages and widespread disruption of the global economy. Yet, the outsourcing industry has so far proved to be resilient in times of turmoil. According to a Statista report, the BPO industry is projected to reach US$330 billion by the end of year. This includes a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.69%, leading to a market volume of US$450 billion by 2027.
The growing number of calls and customer service centres in Asia Pacific and North America also creates a significant impact on market development for outsourcing organisations. Other drivers expected to fuel further growth include the rise of next-generation services such as big data analytics, cloud services, as well as robotic process automation (RPA).
As another year unfolds with further opportunities, here are some of the outsourcing trends you may want to look out for in 2023:
1. Increased demand for virtual assistants
Since the pandemic, businesses are looking to hone their workflow management in order to focus more on generating profits and revenues. Administrative assistants, such as virtual assistants are starting to gain popularity for small businesses and startups to help with their daily operations. Outsourcing administrative professionals taking over mundane and repetitive tasks such as data entry, marketing services and customer service ensure a highly efficient and effective process in the organisation. According to a report by Best of Budgets, hiring virtual assistants through offshore outsourcing can reduce operating costs by 78% and increase productivity by over 13%, explaining the increasing demand for virtual assistants.
2. Artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and cloud services
Due to the implications of limited physical contact during the COVID 19 pandemic, consumers are now highly reliant on digital technology. Businesses need to amp up on digitisation more than ever. In turn, outsourcing companies need to be adept and keeping up with the latest technology in order to build and provide a seamless experience for their clients. Robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud services are essential differentiators for outsourcers looking to gain competitive advantage. These forms of automation and digitisation are likely to go beyond the fringes of in-house business processes and become core business features of outsourcing contracts for various industries especially healthcare, travel and IT services.
3. Omnichannel Communication
One thing that would continue to be of importance for customers, are personalised interaction and consistent experience with a brand through various communication channels. As a result, omnichannel communication has now become the new norm where omnichannel business tools are required to improve customer experience throughout all their communication channels. Omnichannel communication capability is one of the top outsourcing trends that is projected to continue on in the coming years.
2023 is sure to bring lots of surprises that even our predictions can't foresee. At the same time, these BPO trends are predicted to play a crucial role for businesses in making informed decisions to apply best practices in line with their organisational goals and success. The very best advice to keep is to understand your target clients needs, be consistent and shape organisational operations to serve as efficiently and effectively as possible to get the best customer experience.
As an experienced outsourcing specialist in the travel industry for over 20 years, ATI has delivered exceptional customer experiences from building and operating omnichannel support centres on behalf of our clients, to utilising automation and digital technology as a crucial business tool to assist business processes our clients may need help with. Trusted by clients across the globe including Expedia, Booking. com, Flight Centre Travel Group, Travelport and Amadeus, ATI provides a pathway to scale resources quickly and efficiently for organisations in the travel industry. To learn more about our products and services, don’t hesitate to get in contact with us or learn more about all of our offerings here.
