Navigating the global outsourcing industry

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The offshoring market has exploded in recent years, catalyzed by the convergence of COVID, remote-work, technological shifts, and recessionary pressures. 

The outsourcing industry generated USD 245.9 billion in 2021

— GrandViewResearch

However, the outsourcing industry, typically spread across emerging markets, is notoriously hard to understand, difficult to navigate, and troublingly opaque.

Despite this, outsourcing continues to expand, sustaining an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.1% until 2030.

It now offers an increasingly diverse range of services, such as call centers, KPO, BPO, PEO, offshore staffing, virtual teams, freelancers, and virtual assistants, all offering access to a global pool of talent and cost-effective solutions. 

Choosing the right outsourcing partner can be challenging in such a large and competitive market. The Outsource Accelerator Directory provides the world’s most comprehensive outsourcing directory – cataloging 2,500 firms globally.

The Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index was built to objectively analyze and compare a set of highly disparate firms. The Time Doctor OA500 2023 is the culmination of that work and represents the Top 500 outsourcing firms globally.

OA500 report contents

1. Navigating the global outsourcing industry
2. About the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index
3. Introducing the Time Doctor OA500
4. Limitations of The Time Doctor OA500
5. About Outsource Accelerator
6. About Time Doctor
7. Key resources and links

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About the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index

The Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index catalogs, analyzes, and compares all known outsourcing firms globally. The index provides a great indicator of a firm’s reputation and prominence.

Following 18 months of rigorous development, the methodology provides an efficient way to track companies’ progress, conduct cross-company comparisons, and establish a reliable ranking system.

The Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index is a vital tool to assist decision-makers with granular comparison as well as a broad but objective assessment of the industry at large.

Unlike the Time Doctor OA500 which focuses only on the world’s top 500 BPO firms, the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index gathers, sorts, and assesses all known outsourcing companies globally.

Further, the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index is a vital tool in assisting the BPO decision-making community with a broad but objective assessment of the industry at large.

Introducing the Time Doctor OA500

Time Doctor OA500 is an Outsource Accelerator and Time Doctor-created index that ranks the world’s top 500 BPO companies in the world.

Here’s an overview of how the Time Doctor OA500 BPOs are ranked. You can also check out the entire Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index and Time Doctor OA500 methodology here.

Assessing and ranking BPOs

To start creating the index, Outsource Accelerator’s research team had to gather, assess, and collate around 2,500 BPOs worldwide. Through careful research, the team took months to develop a thorough and objective scoring methodology to rank these BPOs by their prominence.

The team had to collect several metadata points that pertain to different aspects of the company and piece them together to provide a holistic analysis. Using just one data point is misleading, and the aggregation of publicly available metadata is deemed more objective and reliable for this instance.

The Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index and Time Doctor OA500’s measures broadly fall into two primary categories: 

• Footprint. This refers to the BPO’s online visibility.
• Quality. Determined through a series of metadata points, including, domain authority, site traffic, employee reviews, LinkedIn engagement, and third-party analysis.

Company size and revenue

The size of a company doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the perfect outsourcing partner for most firms, but it’s a powerful indicator that still needs to be considered.

Assessing an organization’s size and revenue is the simplest way to evaluate its prominence – hence making it a part of the Time Doctor OA500 methodology.

Online prominence and reputation

Another factor that needs to be considered is the company’s online prominence and reputation. While these are two different factors, their metrics and indicators tend to match each other.

For the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index and Time Doctor OA500, some metrics that were used for the rankings include the following:

• Domain Authority (DA)
• Traffic analysis
• Metadata from LinkedIn, Crunchbase, ZoomInfo, and Glassdoor – among others

Employer brand and practices

Outsourcing is mistakenly associated with negative labor practices, including unfair wages and poor working conditions. One wrong partnership with a BPO with a poor track record can reflect badly on the outsourcer – it can even lead to legal and regulatory scrutiny.

In line with this, the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index highlights BPOs with decent employer brands and good company cultures. Some indicators include Glassdoor rankings, community-centric portals, as well as general media.

Exclusion of variable subjective factors

The Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index and Time Doctor OA500 aims to provide an objective and comprehensive BPO assessment. However, some variables need to be excluded, “especially in cases where the data is not universally available or is widely lacking in authenticity or relevance.”

These variables include:

• Geographical location
• Access to particular languages

Exciting, isn’t it? Stay tuned for the Time Doctor OA500 release next year!

Limitations of The Time Doctor OA500

The Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index uses multiple metadata points to assess visibility, size, quality, and reliability. In aggregate, these aspects infer overall Prominence.

In this respect, prominence does not determine fit to a particular client, vertical, or need. A limitation of the Index is that it cannot assist in interpreting the subjective attributes of a company.

The prominence index is not just the analysis of size (and consequential impact).  There are numerous other metadata points that aggregate to confer quality and reliability – however, inevitably, most big firms also have strong markers for these aspects.

For example, if you need an accounting specialist, a highly prominent firm focusing on customer service will not be a good partner. Equally, if a small business needs an accountant, then the world’s largest accounting firm is most likely not the best solution.  Big companies naturally generate a bigger, deeper footprint – but bigger is most certainly not better in most situations.  A company with 500,000 staff would simply not entertain a small client requiring only 1-2 staff – and even if they did, the fit would be far from optimal.

Equally, a client requiring specific medical sector solutions might be best served by a firm specializing in those services, or possibly a generalist firm could do a better job. And the staffing needs of a small startup are particularly unsuited to the services offered by the largest BPOs.  As such, the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index is not particularly useful in assessing the suitability of specific requirements. In contrast, the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index is an excellent tool for assessing the prominence of BPOs and comparing one to another.

The index cannot infer individual suitability or pass judgment on specific verticals, pricing models, or service delivery structures. As mentioned above, outsourcing is a broad umbrella term covering a diverse range of offshore models – including virtual assistants, call centers, BPOs, and KPOs. These different specializations are all contained within the index and ranked alongside each other – however, the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index does not attempt to assess or compare the various business models objectively. There is no objective way to assess whether the business model of a generalist is better than a specialist, a KPO is better than a call center, or an agency is better than a Virtual Assistant company. 

Due to the fact that data collection is based on broadly available metadata, the Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index does not offer 100% accuracy for individual firms. However, it is the best possible objective analysis of private and public global outsourcing companies across multiple jurisdictions.

For more information, refer to the OA500 Methodology White Paper.

About Outsource Accelerator: The independent global marketplace for the outsourcing industry

Outsource Accelerator is the world’s leading outsourcing marketplace and advisory. OA serves as the conduit between global outsourcing suppliers and businesses – clients – around the world.

The Outsource Accelerator website has over 5,000 articles, 400+ podcast episodes, and a comprehensive directory with 3,000+ BPO companies… all designed to make it easier for clients to learn about – and engage with – outsourcing.

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Founded by Derek Gallimore, Outsource Accelerator also offers a full spectrum of brokerage, implementation, and co-management services.

About Time Doctor

Outsource Accelerator proudly partnered with Time Doctor for the Inaugural OA500 2023. Building the OA500 was a huge project requiring significant research and development to ensure robust reliable results. We appreciate support from the industry to build this comprehensive outsourcing index.

Time Doctor enables BPOs and offshore teams to unlock their full potential by boosting productivity by 30%, increasing profitability, enhancing accountability, and providing complete peace of mind.

Time Doctor offers automated insights and ethical time and activity tracking software that measures employee performance without intrusion. With accurate data and real-time analysis, you can:

• Prove work completion, adherence to schedules and compliance with security
• Identify good behavior patterns, productivity gaps, and opportunities for improvement
• Improve processes, workflows, and technology systems based on data-driven insights

Transform your offshore or BPO team into a high-performing unit with Time Doctor. Time Doctor is the #1 trusted software for leading BPOs and offshore teams worldwide to drive business performance and achieve total peace of mind.

Transform your offshore or BPO team into a high-performing unit with Time Doctor.

Time Doctor is the #1 trusted software for leading BPOs and offshore teams worldwide to drive business performance and achieve total peace of mind.

https://www.timedoctor.com/

Time Doctor OA500 resources and links

• Time Doctor OA500 interactive directory – Top 500 firms
• Time Doctor OA500 2023 full report
• Complete interactive directory – 2,300+ firms
• Time Doctor OA500 methodology white paper 

Time Doctor OA500 2023

We are honored to recognize this year’s Top 500 outsourcing firms.

The Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index provides an objective means of assessing all outsourcing firms globally. The Time Doctor OA500 is the culmination of this work, representing the top 500 firms from over 2,500+ analyzed.

Top 10 Outsourcing Firms

 

1. Accenture

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing company that helps clients improve their businesses and share their vision with the world.

Read Accenture’s full company analysis ➡

3. Wipro

A pioneer in leveraging global delivery models, Wipro provides end-to-end solutions in the areas of cloud computing, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

Read Wipro’s full company analysis ➡

8. Infosys

Infosys is an IT-BPO company founded in 1981. The company provides comprehensive, technology-enabled business solutions to companies of all sizes across the world.

Read Infosys’s full company analysis ➡

Top 20 Outsourcing Firms

12. Concentrix

Concentrix is a top global provider of customer experience (CX) solutions and technology, improving business performance for some of the world’s best brands including over 100 Fortune Global 500 clients and over 125 new economy clients.

Read Concentrix’s full company analysis ➡

17. Task Us

TaskUs is a business process outsourcing company that offers back office support, customer experience consulting, and business process optimization services.

Read TaskUs’ full company analysis ➡

Top 50 Outsourcing Firms

Top 100 Outsourcing Firms

 

Get the full Time Doctor OA500 list

Want to know all 500? Download the full PDF report above. Or you can browse the entire Time Doctor OA500 via our interactive BPO Directory here.

Time Doctor OA500 resources and links

• Time Doctor OA500 interactive directory – Top 500 firms
• Time Doctor OA500 2023 full report
• Complete interactive directory – 2,300+ firms
• Time Doctor OA500 methodology white paper