Marketing Analysis Framework of Business Process Outsourcing in China

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1 Marketing Analysis Framework of Business Process Outsourcing in China WANG Xindi, GUAN Zhongliang School of Economics and Management of Beijing Jiaotong University, P.R.China, Abstract Business process outsourcing (BPO) in China is really an emerging business, but due to China fast growing and internationalizing economy, the BPO market will be developed quite rapidly. In this paper, we track over the BPO investment preferences and trends in China, and provide an insight into the marketing analysis framework of BPO, which include three main dimensions such as model, landscape and industry. We focus our analysis of the overall competitive landscape within Finance & Accounting, Human Resources, with a discussion on the BPO model. This paper s results will be benefit to further study of how to analyze BPO market in China. Key words Business process outsourcing (BPO), Marketing analysis, Framework 1 Introduction Business process outsourcing (BPO) in China is really an emerging market, but it is the most attractive sector within the China services market, and business growth is not only driven by the increasing number of multinational corporations that entered the China markets, but also quickly growth of the local companies. "China always had the allure of a potentially large market due to its sheer size and rapid economic growth. In this country, however, the traditional paradigm of outsourcing to save on costs does not apply, as the labor cost is already quite low. BPO and outsourcing vendors wanting to penetrate the Chinese market thus need to demonstrate ability to help Chinese companies improve process efficiencies; demonstrate how outsourcing can help raise the bar toward improving quality; and help the companies set a benchmark that catches up with international standards and compliance," observes Conrad Chang, senior analyst, BPO Services, IDC Asia/Pacific. How to analyze BPO market share in China? It is important to found a BPO marketing analysis framework combined best practices to business environment in China. 2 The Overview of BPO Marketing Analysis Framework BPO is the most attractive sector within the China services market, and business growth is not only driven by the increasing number of multinational corporations that entered the China markets, but also quickly growth of the local companies. But the current Chinese internal business environment is still the biggest inhibitor, it is important to found a BPO marketing analysis framework combined best practices to business environment in China. According to analysis of business in China, we provide the marketing analysis framework of BPO in China with three dimensions, which include BPO model, BPO industry, BPO 478

2 Landscape (see figure1). Organizations have historically reduced costs by outsourcing non-core, non-strategic processes to third parties providing higher quality and lower cost services to multiple organizations through the implementation of best practices and scaled delivery. Unlike simple Outsourcing, BPO focuses on non-core business processes that are much more complex and intertwined into the organization such as Human Resources, Finance & Accounting (see figure 2) and Purchasing. The immediate attractiveness of the BPO opportunity is that the number of non-core business processes residing in today s corporations is immense. Not all of these processes are common across multiple verticals, thus creating a very complex framework of potential BPO market opportunities across and within industry verticals. Further, within each BPO category resides a set of process elements, many of which are significant in and of themselves (such as payroll processing). Each process element varies in degree of strategic importance and human capital requirements within the corporation. The emergence of today s BPO model has been contingent upon two significant historical developments the continued evolution of Information Technology and the recent global economic downturn. Information Technology has been instrumental in enabling the outsourcing of higher profile and more complex business functions. Critical components, such as enterprise software and Internet technologies, have enabled the streamlining and standardization of business processes and have provided the foundation for third party providers to deliver the same processes i) more efficiently than the corporation, ii) at a lower cost than the corporation, and iii) to multiple organizations concurrently. The economic environment is altering the priorities of many executives from top-line investments to bottom-line efficiency and driving evaluation of more strategic business processes as outsourcing opportunities. This emerging trend leads us to believe that BPO is among the most compelling alternatives for corporations to significantly reduce ongoing operating costs. Executives are also realizing the long-term strategic potential of BPO. Corporations can focus on scaling the core competencies of their businesses through organic growth or acquisitions, while third party providers supply incremental non-core business function requirements. The result is a more nimble and competitive organization. 3 The Discussion of the BPO Model As the BPO industry has developed, nearly every business model imaginable has surfaced. Reflecting on the key success factors in the IT Services industry, and the evident differences in the BPO and IT Services business models, we focus on the long-term strategies that we believe will better position BPO organizations for future success. 3.1 The bottom up model 479

3 The bottom up approach involves building a BPO business around less strategic processes, such as bill payment within Human Resources and accounts receivable management within Finance & Accounting. Many successful businesses have been developed through the application of technology to very specific business processes. However, we believe that the underlying foundation for the success of this BPO business model is significantly limited to first mover advantage. The types of business processes involved are the furthest along in the commoditization process and have either reached or are approaching market maturity. Nevertheless, many BPO businesses have used their first mover advantage to establish significant viability in the marketplace. We believe BPO companies utilizing the bottom up approach (particularly those struggling to gain scale) will have difficulty prospering in the long-term due to reliance upon less strategic and easily commoditized processes. To survive, bottom up BPO companies should i) position their core services for eventual margin pressures by continuing to utilize technology to eliminate human capital requirements, ii) utilize lower cost labor for existing standardized human capital-based processes, and iii) leverage existing customer relationships to add higher value, higher margin services. 3.2 The top down model The top down approach involves re-engineering entire business processes within a client s organization. The optimal top down BPO model is the outsourcing of all the transaction and process-related people and tasks within a general & administrative function so that the client can place more focus on strategic ideas with a significant reduction in non-core staff. While the value of this model is evident, it is nevertheless extremely difficult to deliver in practice given i) the high comfort level required by potential clients that an outsourced process will provide at least the same quality of service at a lower cost, ii) sensitivities around job security by the personnel involved in the business process within the organization, and iii) concern over the handling of highly sensitive data by a third party. In today s market, top down BPO services have primarily resulted in the transfer of all or a portion of the people, assets and associated process knowledge to the BPO provider, which in turn provides the service back to the client at a lower cost with the intention of progressively streamlining the operation. Because this type of arrangement requires assurance of business continuity and a reputation for service excellence, companies are among a limited number of firms with the requisite reputations and resources. The small and medium sized ( SME ) corporate market is a much more attractive avenue for top down players to offer technology platforms built around business process knowledge that are scalable to many clients. Technology-intensive BPO creates a level of standardization that allows smaller corporations to leverage high value business process capabilities that were previously not available due to cost limitations. The result is the ability for smaller firms to focus on their core competencies and grow their business with very thin general and administrative staff, without sacrificing control or quality. 3.3 The Offshore model BPO has the potential to replace the IT Services industry as the largest user of strategic offshore resources. The offshore model will impact the BPO competitive landscape in many of the same ways seen in the IT Services sector, including i) rapidly declining service margins beginning with low value services expanding into higher value services as the industry matures, ii) companies with a large concentration of low value services with limited offshore capability will be squeezed out of the marketplace, and iii) corporations will be increasingly willing to allow offshore services to be delivered by their third party providers. IT Service companies that are structured around pure cost savings have met with limited success in the US and European marketplaces. We believe that offshore focused BPO firms need to place priority on gaining customer relationships and front-end domain expertise through acquisitions and partnerships, to establish credibility rapidly in key marketplaces globally. As such, many venture capitalists and private equity firms have recently shifted from a strategy of invest offshore, grow onshore to one of invest onshore, grow offshore. Long-term, the labor arbitrage play of the offshore model (at least as it relates to a particular country or region) is likely to diminish. Development of offshore capabilities in the short-term will be key in providing high quality and low cost BPO services and essential in the 480

4 development of long-term client relationships. Successful BPO firms must, however, balance the conflicting strategies of offshore model utilization and the development of technology to reduce offshore human capital in the long-term. 4 The Analysis of Two Important BPO Landscape Our focus is primarily on areas we believe offer the most compelling opportunities due to the potential market size, mixture of high and low value processes and applicability across multiple industry verticals namely Finance & Accounting and Human Resources. 4.1 Finance & Accounting Finance & Accounting ( F&A ) is one of the least developed and most fragmented categories within BPO and is the area we believe offers the greatest opportunity. Businesses have developed, with varying degrees of success, utilizing the bottom up approach by focusing on lower end processes within F&A such as Accounts Receivable ( A/R ) and Accounts Payable ( A/P ) management. Inherent to the BPO movement is the desire for corporations to focus on core competencies and strategies. Within F&A, this means outsourcing a variety of processes in order to allow the CFO to leverage a leaner staff and focus on more strategic matters. Given that F&A has historically been the highest profile General & Administrative function, executives will require significant comfort in the proposed BPO provider s knowledge, reputation and prior successes at all levels within F&A. We believe that the corporations and individuals with significant experience as providers of high value F&A services, offer the best foundation to build toward this goal. As the BPO model evolves, we expect customers to migrate towards single source providers of F&A BPO services. Therefore, in order to succeed, BPO companies need to build out a full scale F&A offering. Companies solely focused on low value processes will move up the value chain while companies concentrating on high value processes will need to fill in their offering through acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships. 4.2 Human Resources Human Resources has led the surge into strategic non-core BPO. Large corporations are currently outsourcing their HR functions to established companies. The emergence of Internet-based HR platforms, or ehr, is beginning to impact the dominance of traditional HR. Technology is enabling early stage firms to offer basic HR services at break-even prices in the hopes of up-selling clients to higher value HR service offerings. For example, ehr offers typical Professional Employer Organization ( PEO ) services through a technology-based platform with a base package of payroll and benefits administration, but also offers clients the option to add higher value services such as Web-based recruiting and training. We believe there is a compelling opportunity within the China market for business combinations between technology-intensive ehr companies and PEOs. Historically, PEOs have had little incentive to streamline their offerings through the use of technology given their stable customer base. Conversely, technology-intensive ehr businesses have experienced difficulty in establishing new clients. ehr firms bring PEOs the ability to transform their current operations into a more efficient and higher margin business, and enable them to move towards becoming full service HR providers by offering higher value services to their clients. PEO firms bring the ehr firms a captive customer base. We see fewer attractive investment opportunities in emerging companies operating in the HR space. Firms with the best chance of achieving significant scale in today s environment will already have a developed and proven technology platform, substantial client base and high value and/or vertical specific process offerings. 5 Conclusion The BPO opportunity is real. Many companies have the foundation to achieve success in the BPO marketplace, but few are currently positioned to be long-term market leaders. We believe there are 481

5 significant opportunities in the China BPO market landscape, strategic investment and new entrants. In HR, many pieces of the puzzle currently exist and M&A activity will most likely play a larger role in defining the competitive landscape. Other sectors, such as F&A, are particularly attractive marketplaces for emerging companies and strategic investments in companies that develop compelling technology around business processes. In general, we believe that BPO firms that i) are built around deep process knowledge and experience, ii) are focused on providing full service BPO offerings, iii) utilize technology to streamline business processes and reduce human capital requirements and iv) utilize offshore labor for human capital intensive processes will be best positioned to succeed in the future. References [1] Global Information Inc., Overview of Business Process Outsourcing Vendors in China, 7(2005) [2] John Parkinson, Is Business Process Outsourcing Killing Itself, Columns, 10(2005) 482