The Global State of Business Process Outsourcing Report
How AI is Redefining the Future of Business Process Services
BPO Is Being Repriced Faster Than the Work It Delivers
Demand for BPO remains strong, however, contract values are falling. Capital markets are discounting providers seen as too dependent on labor, even where operational indicators have improved.
The report shows what's driving the gap and how providers can pull clear of it.
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Buyers Want More Output Without More People
The mandate is easy to state and hard to deliver - more work, more scope, more innovation, and none of it carried by a bigger team. The service levels that have run BPO for two decades were never built to prove that kind of value. They confirm the activity while the operational pain goes untracked.
The report breaks down what buyers expect next and where today's contracts come up short.
In an AI-Led Market, What Is BPO Actually Being Paid For?
As AI takes over routine work, the metrics that defined BPO for twenty years stop explaining where value comes from. Buyers want providers to lead on AI. Most admit they aren't ready to govern it themselves. That gap is the opening for providers who can prove outcomes instead of activity.
The report lays out the new control model that makes the shift possible, and the industry KPIs that prove it worked.
Let’s Dive In
Why is BPO being repriced faster than the work it delivers? Where is the old SLA model hiding operational pain that buyers can already feel? And as AI takes on more of the work, what should providers actually be measured and paid for?
This report shows what's shifting beneath the BPO market and what it takes to prove value in an AI-led model. Use it to sharpen how you govern, source and invest in business operations through the year ahead.
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Meet Our Team
Stanton Jones
Distinguished Analyst
Stanton Jones
Stanton helps enterprise technology leaders, IT service providers and buy- and sell-side professionals make sense of the global IT services sector. Stanton's weekly briefing - the Index Insider - is read by thousands of industry stakeholders each week.
Michael Dornan
Principal Analyst
Michael Dornan
Michael Dornan is a Principal Analyst in Provider Services based in the UK. He is responsible for ISG’s Buyer Behavior research program, helping providers navigate changing market dynamics, identify unmet enterprise demand, and position services and solutions that align to client needs.
Shafqat Azim
Partner
Shafqat Azim
Shafqat Azim is a Partner in ISG’s Digital practice and leads ISG’s Technology Modernization, M&A and Global Security practices. He brings more than 30 years of business and IT experience to the firm, including international business management experience in Southeast Asia and Europe. He leverages his personal expertise, experiences and successes, enabled by and ISG’s competencies and solutions to help Fortune 1000 global service providers and end client enterprises adopt and scale digital strategies and innovative business/technology models.
Angela Kreiter
Principal Analyst
Namratha Dharshan
Chief Business Leader, ISG Research
Namratha Dharshan
Namratha Dharshan leads Global Content for Services within the ISG Provider Lens® program, bringing more than 22 years of extensive research experience with a focus on BPO, GCC, AI and Analytics and CX. The ISG Provider Lens® program is designed to deliver research on service provider intelligence. As part of her role, Namratha directs a global team of analysts and is responsible for content delivery of more than 50 Provider Lens® research reports. She is also a principal analyst, authoring thought leadership and service provider intelligence reports with a strong emphasis on BPO, particularly CX and contact center services, and GCC. Her portfolio also includes horizontal service line reports such as finance and accounting and industry-specific reports for insurance. In addition to her research leadership, Namratha is a member of the Senior Leadership Council for India Research, representing ISG’s India-based team of over 120 research professionals. She is also a co-speaker on ISG’s flagship quarterly ISG Index call, offering insights into the health of the outsourcing industry, with a focus on BPO and GCC.
At ISG, Namratha is the product owner of the Star of Excellence program, an initiative that analyzes enterprise feedback on providers. The CX program recognizes providers that deliver exceptional experiences to enterprise clients.
Namratha is also a strong advocate for women employees. She served for four consecutive years as a judge for ISG’s Women in Digital program and now acts as a regional sponsor. She was instrumental in launching She-Rise, an internship program for women returning to work after childbirth and freshers from college.
Alex Bakker
Distinguished Analyst
Alex Bakker
Alex leads the Primary Research Team where he focuses on study design, panel research, and interview based research for ISG. In addition to leading the Primary Research practice at ISG, Alex also serves as the lead analyst on provider pursuit effectiveness, and helps IT service providers understand how they can improve performance in the competitive process.
Prashant Kelker
Partner, Americas Consulting, and Chief Strategy Officer
Prashant Kelker
Prashant Kelker is Partner, Americas Consulting, and Chief Strategy Officer. A globally recognized thought leader in AI and technology-led transformation, Prashant is shaping the firm’s strategic blueprint and bringing together all advisory capabilities to guide clients through the convergence of AI, digital technology and enterprise operating models.
He led the effort to make ISG the first sourcing advisory firm to establish a reference architecture for applied Generative AI with the 2023 ISG State of Applied Generative AI Market Report and played a key role in the development of our highly successful ISG NEXT operating model in 2020. Prashant joined ISG in 2012.
Before joining ISG, Prashant was a Technology Director at Accenture, where he won and established several new accounts and created digital offerings on mobility and predictive analytics. He earned an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore and a BE in Electronics from Bangalore University in India.
Robert Stapleton
Partner
Robert Stapleton
Robert, in his role as a Partner in the Oil & Gas vertical, delivers extensive sourcing delivery expertise. He has lead clients across a broad cross-section of areas including sourcing strategies and assessments, shared services, performance management, financial management, relationship management, contract negotiation and management, application development and maintenance, enterprise telecommunications and networking, and business process services.
