This year will be the year in which Business Process
Outsourcing (BPO) takes "massive strides" in the UK, rapidly
catching up with the IT outsourcing market, says theNational Outsourcing
Association(NOA).
In its annual survey of upcoming trends among NOA board members,
the NOA found that 2007 will also see the continued rise of the
standardisation of BPO products, as the NOA has found that users
are increasingly refusing to consider non-industry standard
solutions.
Service delivery based on ITIL and programme and project
management standardisation reduces risks for users, as they gain
increased confidence in the supplier if the supplier can
demonstrate that they follow and deliver through industry best
practice standards, said the NOA.
More predictions from the NOA’s annual sourcing predictions
include more outsourcing contracts being judged by soft standards,
with a greater focus on the outcomes of the contract and less focus
on the process (as these practices are moving to a greater degree
of standardisation).
In addition, said the NOA, France and Germany are catching up.
The NOA predicts that in 2007 the combined markets of France and
Germany will overtake the UK outsourcing market. The US outsourcing
market is likely to slow in 2007.
In some sectors, there will also be greater regulatory pressures
on firms. The
MiFiD regulation is one example in the
financial services industry, which is an attempt to create a
pan-European, unified, competitive and transparent market.
Nigel Roxburgh, NOA research director, said, "Turning to ITO and
BPO service providers for assistance is one option that many
organisations will evaluate and adopt in order to comply with new
regulations, especially MiFiD, which comes into force in November
2007."
The NOA also says that outsourcing firms from China and other
countries will move into the UK market, following the success of
Indian firms.
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BBC outsourcing its business processes to India
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