Every business could use a little help from time to time. Growth can be painful and challenging, and at some point, your small business will face the question of how to deliver the highest-quality service while handling all of your other responsibilities. The good news is that you have options! Business process outsourcing, or BPO, can provide you with the flexibility and agility you need. However, staff leasing also seems like a promising solution to your needs.
The choice here has also become embodied in the question of where to outsource – India or the Philippines? Both offer outsourcing solutions, but they’re far from equal. India is actually the best choice, but why might not be completely clear.
We’ll explore what you need to know in this four-part series. In the first part, we’ll explore India’s long history in outsourcing, as well as key reasons it remains the industry leader.
India’s History in Outsourcing
While India might be synonymous with outsourcing today, the truth is that the nation has been providing solutions and services for businesses for a very long time. It all began back in the 1990s when global airlines realised it would be more cost-effective and affordable to outsource back-office services to India, rather than keeping them in their home countries.
Not long after the airline industry found the benefits of outsourcing to India, technology and IT companies followed suit. Then the financial industry realised the advantages here. Some of the world’s most recognisable names are responsible for starting the trend, including:
- Texas Instruments
- British Airways
- American Express
- GE
- Swissair
The 1990s marked the beginning of globalisation, a trend that India’s government was eager to capitalise on. In fact, all successive governments have pursued aggressive policies in terms of privatisation, infrastructure development, and technological adoption designed to keep India at the forefront of the outsourcing industry. By the end of the decade, the government had introduced policies that effectively made India the most powerful player in the telecom industry.
After the 1990s
While India cemented its lead in the outsourcing industry in the 1990s, the nation continued to make strides afterwards. The 2000s were marked by major milestones. Some of the most important of these included the following:
- Critical developments in telephony, fibre optics, and satellite communications
- The rise of affordable, fast, Internet-based communications
- The development and implementation of data transfer technology
- A liberalised stance that welcomed private companies and broke up nationalised monopolies
From that point on, India has continued to make significant investments not just in technology, but in governmental policies that support and encourage growth in all industries. This business-friendly stance, coupled with a deep commitment to becoming a valued partner in the global economy, has helped to cement India’s ongoing role as a leader and innovator.
India Leads the Outsourcing Industry
India is and has been the leader when it comes to outsourcing. That’s true whether we’re talking about business processes, web design, software development, or something else. The subcontinent’s incredible talent pool, affordable wages, and high level of education and professionalism combine to make it an ideal choice for small and medium businesses looking for the help they need to grow, but also enterprise-level organisations and Fortune 500 businesses, too.
Of course, there’s more to this decision. You need to know why and how India leads the world. You’ll find this is true in many critical areas, including:
- India has dedicated undersea cabling ideal for maximising bandwidth in delivering business processes as a service (BPaS). After all, business today moves much faster than ever before. You need the right technology to enable agility, speed, and accuracy in communications, information sharing, and decision-making.
- India is home to 6 of the top 10 service delivery destinations, including Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune. Each of these areas is like a mini-Silicon Valley, home to high-technology companies small and large, and replete with highly-trained technology professionals.
- India is home to Amazon’s largest software centre outside the US, and more eCommerce companies are migrating to the nation daily. That has spurred yet more growth and development in the eCommerce space, as smaller firms look to larger ones for guidance on outsourcing and growth-related strategies.
- Best Buy, Telstra, and Aegis have all relocated hundreds of jobs to India in recent months. This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, with more companies looking to outsource their business processes to a trusted partner.
- India is perceived as “the quality play” due to the professional, educated, trained individuals available. After all, there’s a huge difference between outsourcing your processes to someone you trust to support your brand and deliver positive outcomes to clients and customers, vs staff leasing.
- Indian professionals are recognised for their ease in adapting to new ideas, learning new technologies, and keeping up with the latest global business trends. That agility and commitment to moving forward ensure that companies outsourcing their processes to India reap those same benefits.
- The Indian government aggressively supports outsourcing, particularly in the world of software development, and continues to invest billions of dollars annually in building networks and establishing the infrastructure necessary to support this industry.
From the information above, it should be clear why India continues to be the world leader when it comes to outsourcing.
A Glimpse of the Bigger Picture
India has been a leader in outsourcing since the 1990s and remains committed to holding the course. This despite the rise of other nations offering outsourcing services. One of the most notable contenders in the Philippines. On the surface, the Philippines seems to offer many of the same advantages you’ll find in India, but the truth is that Indian outsourcing is superior.
In the second article within this series, we will address the key benefits of India over the Philippines to help ensure you’re able to make an informed, accurate decision regarding your business processes, whether that’s customer service, accounting, digital marketing, or something else entirely.