knowledge industry

If BPO was the first wave of offshoring and has now matured as a business model, then knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) is rapidly emerging as the sequel success that’s keeping the outsourcing story firmly in corporate radar screens. The figures are impressive indeed.Estimates are that the global KPO industry is likely to be annually worth almost $17 billion and India is once again poised to capture more than 70% of this pie. Almost 2.5 lakh professionals are expected to be working in India’s KPO industry. India expects KPO to clock a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 45% as against 26% for non-KPO outsourcing business. And once again, lower costs and a high quality knowledge pool are proving to be invaluable advantages for the country. The project management experience gained in BPO is adding immeasurable value in delivering KPO offerings.Individuals who choose to live in one place but provide their inputs to a process somewhere else. For example, a mathematics tutor in India could be providing tuitions to American children over the internet, or a specialised professional may be employed by a global corporation to be a part of a global team, but the market being addressed by the team could well exclude the market in which the individual lives.Therefore, KPO will not be a distinct industry, as is BPO. Consequently, the accepted management paradigms and principles that apply to BPO will not apply to KPO. BPO is about size and volume and efficiency. In contrast, KPO will not be about size but depth of knowledge, experience and judgment.We would like to conclude by saying that KPO is a huge opportunity for companies around the world to include professional talent from around the world in meeting their business objectives. However, it is not an extension of BPO. While costs in India for highly qualified knowledge professionals are far lower than in the US and in Europe, this would not be the key driver in including Indians in the global economy. The key driver of KPO would be access to the vast professional talent in India.math