The information-driven global knowledge economy is creating new business opportunities on a daily basis. As India is fast becoming a knowledge superpower, it could emerge as a global KPO hub, and this will bring huge opportunities in the coming future.

To survive and thrive in the ever-changing globalized world, companies have to update their strategies accordingly. Earlier, economic factors relating to cost-cutting drove many companies to practice outsourcing strategies. This has been going on for the past 40 years, followed by more recent Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). However, now we are in the third state of shifting, that is Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), which involves outsourcing for high-end knowledge work. It is the new buzzword in the outsourcing industry. The broad areas include research work on analytics, market research, data management, intellectual property, equity and finance, etc.

Amidst global competitive businesses, the process time for introducing products and services has become smaller, followed by the ever changing customer demands with respect to quality of services provided. Organizations are compelled to adopt new systems and business models which will not only provide operational efficiency but also add strategic value to their products and services. Besides, the ageing workforce in the developed economies and consequent shortage of talent pool are also the key driving factors towards KPO. The services offered under KPO are much more research and analytical intensive, focusing mainly on front-office type activities primarily in business critical and strategic decision-making processes. In short, the crux of KPO is to provide value to the client, whereas BPO focuses on back-office tasks like customer service, financial underwriting. In the process, KPO provides great value for global companies seeking to leverage the productivity and economies of scale that a strategic outsourcing can provide.

"India is the fountain of all wisdom and knowledge" goes the ancient adage. True! This is now increasingly being reflected in the global arena with the country fast emerging as knowledge superpower to reckon within the area of knowledge-based industries. With the large base of talented professionals, India is the world's third largest brain bank with approximately 2.5 million technical professionals.

Global CEO Magazine, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, KPO, Business Process Outsourcing, BPO, Data Management, Intellectual Property, Business Models, Decision-Making Processes, Global Companies, Risk Management, Global Business, BPO Companies.