Call center and BPO mergers loom

Last year's global financial crisis has become a catalyst somewhat of the recent series of mergers the business process outsourcing industry has seen. Since the crisis effects have become evident, more and more established BPO brands have concluded that in order for them to survive or at least stay competitive, a "merger" is in order. Such were the experience of 3 well-known BPO companies in the Philippines. The most recognizable of all was Etelecare. Etelecare Global Solutions have been bought out by lesson-known Stream Global Services and is now known and published as Etelecare, a Stream Global company.



4 other BPO companies are in talks of mergers as well. Computer Hardware heavyweight DELL is working out on buying Perot Systems, an established BPO company with offices in Makati. While Xerox Corp. is looking in to finalize its purchase of Affiliated Computer Services a BPO company with office in Makati and Pasay. More recently, Sykes is also buying another call center company ICT. Industry experts acclaim this merger should become a blockbuster when concluded.

Never has an economic development on a global scale sparked such a trend in the BPO business. To an effect, the business process outsourcing companies like contact centers, transcriptions and back office were poised to take advantage of the financial crisis as many money U.S. based companies should be looking to outsource their non-core business processes to raise profit margins. However, competition amongst BPO heavyweights have forced other competitors to reassess their survivability and resort to mergers to keep up. As this trend is slowly becoming a norm in these economic conditions, it will not be a surprise if your call center or BPO companies are also considering such moves.

Posted in: Current Events