Nasscom, the Indian software and IT services trade association, has decided to get rid of the ‘BPO’ term from its vernacular, and instead will now start using business process management (BPM). We prefer the term business process services (BPS), which we think better reflects the full lifecycle of services around the business process. Either way, it highlights what we have been discussing for some time now, how far the erstwhile BPO market has moved on from the pure lift and shift days (see UK Business Process Services Market Trends & Forecast, 2012).
Outsourcing of people and assets (lift and shift) is just one element of a more complex BPS value chain that includes consulting, application provisioning, support and new delivery models like platform-based BPS, Business Process as-a-Service (BPaaS) and BP analytics. Many of the major suppliers are now split over how to define their BP operations, with some opting for BPM (Genpact), others BPS (Cognizant, IBM) and others still using the out-dated BPO term (HP, Capita, Capgemini). Atos wins the prize for the most elaborate name 'High Tech Transactional Services & Specialized Businesses', which encompasses its transaction processing and BPS activities.
Nasscom sees big data being the ‘next big thing’ for the Indian offshore BPM market. Big data is certainly a by-product of the platform-based BPS and BPaaS models. Mark Bretton, CEO of TCS BPO EMEA, told us recently that BPS functions are generating huge amounts of data, such as in areas like media, telco, travel and smart metering. The opportunity here is being able to offer data modelling, analysis, and business insights for practical application by the end customer.
BPaaS is emerging as a fast growing area of the UK market. But while there are plenty of opportunities, there are also various risks attached to this on-demand business model, which we discuss in detail our forthcoming BusinessProcessViews report UK BPaaS market challenges and opportunities.