Global Paradigm Shift for Call Center Industry

Recent Developments have shown that there could be a change in the way global outsourcing industry might change in the next decade. Rising labor costs in India and falling labor costs in the US may actually change the thinking of huge US companies in need for BPO and call center outsourcing services.

Labor cost in India is rising due to inflation. It has been recently reported that food prices have reached three month record high in 2011. With the rise of prices, the cost of living and labor has also increased. Interest rates, set by the Indian state bank, for borrowing and investment have gone up and subsequently the prospect of internal borrowing for growth is becoming a bad idea increasingly.

Therefore the growth prospects of the above $70 billion BPO and call center service industry in India might slow down. Furthermore the 8% of economic growth has doubled the amount of monthly paychecks and therefore the labor rates might not be as cheap as before.  

Meanwhile the European and US crunch or economy slumps lead their way well into 2011 where public spending is being cut. The cheap US loan rates available to the Indian call center service and BPO industry are not as readily available to harbor Indian growth. The US economy and employment continues to go down leaving talented labor workforce to sit jobless at home and in search of work.

There is an increase in the use of at home outsourcing in the US. This is where individual citizens in the US can manage small time call center service work from the comfort of their homes. A strong reason in support for this is that there is a strong debate arising if hiring outsourcing individuals should be done in near shore locations so that local representatives can give a touch of being close to global customers. 

Companies in the US are now looking for near shoring and thus bringing off shoring back at home. A very slow but considerable move towards near shoring could mean that the growth of this worldwide industry will still be positive but without past assurance of strong growth disparity geographically. The fruits of Outsourcing therefore are finally coming back to the US economy when it is in trouble and means to create its jobs when they are less.

Creating jobs at home means that you don’t have to pay for BPO office space, equipment and work expenditure that you had to account for as indirect off shore payment expenses. Before paying their employees; the offshore companies providing BPO and call center outsourcing services need to account for their office expenses, rent and self profit before passing on the profits as representative salary. But in the case of the US - near shoring individuals at home, there have to be no business intermediaries and therefore the profits will go to the call representatives directly and this is good for the individuals.

Near Shoring might suit more, self responsible individuals, who can be professional, have education and good experience. In case of standardized huge scale projects, Centralized Offshore BPOs in developing nations still might be the best option. The actual trends can only be observed in a matter of a few years so for now it seems that it works well for all.