The Indian enterprise market has matured enough for Indian BPO providers to start targeting the domestic market. What factors will drive this growing trend?

“Kitna deti hai?”(what’s the mileage?) the ubiquitous phrase aptly captured in a TV commercial for India’s best-selling cars was so true for Indian enterprises looking to buy IT or business process outsourcing (BPO) services. Considering recent trends, this psyche is changing, and Indian user enterprises are finally waking up to the tremendous advantages that BPO solutions bring to the strategic and operational aspects of their businesses.

Benefits like 75 percent reduction in operational costs, a 50 percent reduction in turn-around time, optimizing cash flows, accelerating revenue cycles and improving your understanding of the customers cannot stay ignored for long. In the light of these tangible and immediate benefits, BPO services and solutions are no longer an option that enterprises can leverage to stay competitive. Rather, they are strategic imperatives in the hands of the enterprise’s leadership, business groups and business support functions.

It is a sign of increasing maturity. So far, the Indian IT and BPO industry has been growing on the back of a cost advantage as compared to local resources available in developed economies. This advantage did not exist for local enterprises. A cost-conscious user community would have missed out on an opportunity to create a lean, highly profitable organization that is quick to respond to customer needs and preferences, and comply with regulations.

There has been a paradigm shift though, with the recent economic downturn acting as a catalyst. With competition from larger, cash-rich corporates increasing, Indian enterprises too have begun implementing global best practices, building highly efficient and scalable business processes, increasing customer responsiveness and hastening time-to-market for a wider range of solutions and services. Cost is no longer the only, or even the most influential factor in an Indian enterprise’s decision to purchase an IT / BPO solution.