2008 will be the year in which Knowledge Process Outsourcing
(KPO) takes massive strides in the UK, predicts the
National Outsourcing Association
(NOA) in its annual survey of upcoming trends.
KPO, the outsourcing of high value-add functions, such as
research and development, is set to capitalise on the increasing
popularity of, and trust in, business process outsourcing (BPO).
The NOA says that now that companies have observed the
benefits of trusting
others to perform functions such as payroll, they have also
started to place faith in external organisations to carry out
mission critical operations.
The looming credit crisis will likely lead to an upturn in
outsourcing adds the NOA. It argues that a downturn in the economy
and possible recession will see increasing numbers of C-suite
executives view technology and outsourcing as solutions to the need
to slash overheads and minimise any negative impact on the bottom
line.
However, among the other predictions made by NOA is the
suggestion that
virtualisation will challenge traditional IT outsourcing (ITO).
NOA says that 2008 will be the year of the actual delivery of
virtualisation, grid computing and thin client services, which may
initially reduce the number of ITO contracts as internal IT groups
look to this technology to solve cost and delivery problems.
However, NOA warns that the transition from client server
applications to “virtual” may be more problematic and costly than
expected, whereas outsourcing suppliers have the expertise, skills,
models and tools that will allow them to offer these services
effectively and cheaply.
Another key trend will be Business Oriented Metrics which NOA
says will come to the fore, especially within BPO deals. Focusing
on metrics that assess how the outsourcing deal directly impacts
the business will allow decision makers to understand how
outsourcing affects the organisation’s bottom line.