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KPO boom boosts demand for docs, lawyers & teachers
Mayur Shekhar Jha & Meenakshi Verma
NEW DELHI 20 SEPTEMBER
GONE are the days when outsourcing was all about graduates with good com¬munication skills.
With knowl¬edge process outsourcing (KPO) being the new kid on the block, a host of technically trained profes¬sionals are now in demand. India Inc is now calling lawyers, soft¬ware engineers, academicians and even doctors for its ever growing Outsourcing industry. The KPO industry is poised to grow_,at 45-50% annually in the ext five yean, say industry ex¬perts. A Rs 6,000 crore industry worldwide, KPO accounts for "al¬most a sixth of the entire out¬sourcing industry. Says Navyug Mahnot, chief executive officer of QAI, a Mum-bai-based consultant for BPOs, "KPO can give new dimensions to the outsourcing industry, par¬ticularly in India, which is a highly sought after destination. Factors like recruiting, training and retaining the right profes¬sionals and robust processes and infrastructure will boost the growth of the industry in India." Perceiving the potential of KPO, many leading BPOs have al¬ready diversified to set up specific knowledge-based processes, and others are considering possibili¬ties.
Companies such as Exevo, EXL, Scope e-knowledge centre, Eyalueserve, Inductis and Pangea 3 have set up KPO shops, offering a wide range of expertise. At present, knowledge based outsourcing is prevalent in areas such as intellectual properties (IPR), data search, integration &• management, research & infor¬mation services in human re¬sources (HR), business & market research (including competitive intelligence), engineering & de¬sign services, paralegal & medical (content and services), pharma¬ceuticals S- biotechnology and network management.
