An article in the San Francisco Chronicle highlights an important emerging trend in the realm of business process outsourcing (BPO).
As countries that provide BPO services become more experienced and their workforce becomes more skilled, they can become more specialized and move up the value-chain. This allows for performing of more complex tasks for greater financial reward.
Improvements in communication technology make it possible to outsource more and more complex business functions. Knowledge process outsourcing is a subset of BPO and refers to the offshoring of these more complex business tasks.
From the Chronicle article we can get a sense of how current economic conditions are forcing small businesses to turn to this particular brand of outsourcing:
The recession has heightened interest in Web-based hiring halls such as oDesk, eLance, Guru, and crowdSPRING. Small businesses looking to expand without hiring full-timers are finding more professionals willing to work as independent contractors doing Web design, programming, marketing, videography and similar trades.
A San Francisco Bay Area entrepreneur needed the services of a web developer and was given a quote of $15,000 from a local Silicon Valley-based contractor:
… then he read about eLance, a contract work site based in Mountain View, and decided to contact some of the highest-ranked Web designers on that site. A company in Bangalore bid $3,000 to do the job and performed it to his satisfaction.
a screenshot of oDesk interface--measures such as monitoring keystrokes, mouse movements, and a webcam that takes images at random ensure vendor productivity
As Fiji takes its first steps toward building a BPO sector, it would be helpful for stakeholders to keep in mind the end-goal. Specialization is about the only way that a small nation like Fiji could go head-to-head with larger BPO service providers like India or the Philippines.
Industry leaders should identify a niche quickly and make sure the local workforce is adequately trained to take on the more complex roles that specialization demands. Moving up the food-chain in this manner will hopefully create experienced professionals who can bid on the types of contracts mentioned in the Chronicle article.
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February 11, 2009 at 3:56 am
SEO Consultant
Nice post! Great information. I agree that business process outsourcing is the core of the business today. And companies that offers great services and benefits which is beneficial to the business industries. Thanks and keep posting.
February 12, 2009 at 5:13 am
Tomasi Vakatora
There is a whole range of BPO services from very simple tasks to highly technical and complex tasks. From a starting point where Fiji is now, simple tasks as customer services using voice for which we are credited with neutrality would be advisable.
Moving up the value chain depends a lot on having a pool of skilled personnel to draw from, which we in Fiji do not have at the moment. Hopefully the new ICT institution being built at USP will address this problem.
But there are some small operators in Fiji who are now doing software development for overseas clients. It is a start that shows there is potential in Fiji.
From an infrastructure point of view, we will always be looking at providing the type of connectivity that boost such activities.
February 19, 2009 at 12:57 am
coconutwireless
Like you said, the potential has been demonstrated and a start has to be made somewhere.
People like yourself are keenly aware that in order to compete against the likes of India and the Philippines, we have to establish a niche or specialization.
As for a highly-skilled workforce, we just have to hope that when we reach that point individuals would choose to keep their skills in Fiji.
It’s not an impossible task. Twenty years ago, highly educated individuals were lining up to leave India, now the migration trend has reversed quite a bit as people would much rather try their entrepreneurial luck in the ‘land where nothing ever changes’.
Thank you for your comments.
March 9, 2009 at 8:14 am
John F.
Thank you for keeping us posted with relevant information!