BPO - Business process outsourcing is a name that is thrown at every ICT forum and cited as the one of the sectors that will drive this economy to the stars.

Forgive me for being a pessimistic but it's been over 10 years now since the first BPO Center was set-up in Nairobi and can we quantify or draw a trajectory on how this has performed or influenced the market? From a layman's point of view i believe we should have graduated from the Front-0ffice outsourcing bit ie: call centers to back office functions ie HR, Accounting and Finance.

Unfortunately this industry is hugely reliant on UK/US markets and what happens when this markets take a hit? would it be prudent first to dominate the local industry (In-shoring/Nearshoring) then we can cut our teeth abroad (offshoring). I know for one the call center market is dead coz when i turn on my TV and look at the businesses advetising their services one of the guaratees they give is "UK based call centeres" and UK experiencing an all time unemployment rate and esp EU identfying N.Wales as a low economic/migrant region it serves as a perfect setting for this industry to grow there.

I have not heard bout KPO's and indeed LPO's a decade later and all i hear is we have a huge labout force (can't really compare with India) and our abiltiy to speak the English language which brings about the issue of Atrition - we will continue having high turn-overs in this industry as graduates will soon move once they getter "better" jobs and i have not even touched the social problems ie Sex/Alchoholism brought about working on ungoldy hours for long durations
then you can see it's not the magic wand it's touted to be.

I think this was a great idea THEN but trends have changed America is now an AA+ economy and the UK only 20% of the working population are able bodied and white under 45. Times have changed i think we need to rethink this BPO hullabaloo i'd be interested to see which company will outsource it's non-core functions as the current climate.

However this are just my views @Djinn and other IT gurus please tell me am wrong!!

The reasoning behind the Kenyan BPO hype was sound, but every time I hear someone talk about it, I realise that they fail to recognise what we are up against. Its as if Kenyans assume that the multi billion dollar Indian corporations would just hand over their clients.

This following article, written earlier this year, seems to sum up this issue in an interesting way:

http://kumekucha.blogspo...nd-enslave-africans.html

I concur, i.e if you're getting some milk.

The market is there but as long as focus is on 10-million-dollar contracts and trying to replicate India, we are guaranteed to fail. Tapping BPO requires research, niche identification, hard work, consistent quality control and excellent customer service just like any other business.