Ovum reveals key findings of Front-Office BPO 2014 Trends

 Technology and services markets are changing fast. According to the latest Front-Office BPO 2014 Trends to Watch report, Ovum expects contact center outsourcing vendors and their clients to diversify their services, for the use of home-based agents to increase in the US, for healthcare to become the prime vertical opportunity and for a new offshore dynamic to emerge in 2014. The offshore service dynamic in 2014 will see renewed interest in certain mature locations and new possibilities in emerging countries.

Peter Ryan, Principal Analyst, Global IT Services and Author of the Report, said, In 2014, the tight margins related to the provision of traditional front-office services will be the most frustrating aspect of doing business in the contact center outsourcing space. Ovum’s annual CRM Outsourcing Business Trends survey indicated that budgets would either remain flat or decrease in 2014.

Ryan further added, 2014 will see options for outsourcers to avoid ceding excessive amounts of margin, of which the most obvious is to deepen their functional capabilities in conjunction with their more traditional offerings, rather than broaden their outsourced offerings.

The trend of using home-based agents will mainly be concentrated in the US. Ovum’s research found that, in Australia, Canada, and Western Europe, deployments would be maintained or decreased.

Ovum predicts healthcare will emerge as the prime vertical opportunity mainly in countries where the government plays a majority role in healthcare. Another trend emerging is the new offshore dynamic: mature locations such as India and South Africa have vaulted into the four most popular locations for offshore delivery of contact center services