BPO industry to adapt, not crumble under AI pressure: CX expert
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry won’t be dismantled by artificial intelligence despite market concerns about AI disruption affecting company valuations.
This counterpoint to recent predictions comes as the global BPO sector, currently valued at $302.62 billion, is projected to reach $525.23 billion by 2030.
Strategic value beyond cost savings
Writing in his Service Matters blog, Nicholas Clark of Boston Consulting Group argues that BPOs provide critical strategic advantages that pure software solutions cannot replicate.
“There are important, structural reasons why companies are unlikely to fully replace BPO with a pure-play software solutions,” Clark writes.
These advantages include risk transfer across operational, compliance, and transformation delivery areas. BPOs also facilitate offshore operations management and help optimize clients’ balance sheets by keeping physical assets off their books.
Adaptation imperative for BPO survival
While the industry may not face complete disruption, Clark identifies three crucial priorities for BPOs to remain competitive:
- Growing technical capabilities through AI partnerships and proprietary IP development
- Earning client trust to access and utilize customer data
- Optimizing pricing models to reflect AI efficiency gains
The industry remains highly fragmented, with the market leader controlling less than 10% of the total market. This fragmentation could lead to consolidation, particularly affecting BPOs that fail to embrace AI innovation.
The transformation pressure is real, as demonstrated by major industry players’ responses. Traditional BPO giants like Cognizant, Infosys, and Wipro, each generating $10-20 billion in annual revenue, are already seeing competition from AI-native companies achieving significant efficiency gains.
“Clients expect outsourcers to be adopting the latest AI technology and for this to be reflected in pricing,” Clark notes, warning that “BPOs that were too slow to respond to AI may find their business being taken by competitors that got a head start.”
This perspective offers a more nuanced view than recent industry analyses, including Andreessen Horowitz’s paper titled “Unbundling the BPO: How AI Will Disrupt Outsourced Work,” which had predicted more severe disruption.
While AI will certainly transform the industry, Clark’s analysis suggests that BPOs maintaining adaptability and embracing technological change will continue to provide valuable services beyond mere cost arbitrage.
The BPO sector has previously weathered technological disruptions, including robotic process automation and earlier AI waves. The industry’s ability to adapt while maintaining its core value proposition suggests it will likely navigate this latest challenge through strategic evolution rather than wholesale transformation.
