World's top BPO destinations

Which are the hottest countries for outsourcing? The question might sound a bit ill-timed with the US financial crisis weighing heavily on BPOs. However, while US financial crisis may cause some short-term pains to BPOs worldwide, it is also believed that the crisis may accelerate global sourcing adoption as financial institutions push the envelope on offshoring to cut costs.

Similarly, analysts also feel that outsourcing will get a boost after the US presidential elections. So, again which will be the top destinations to benefit once this work starts flowing globally.

Here's a look at the top global outsourcing destinations as well as the emerging ones according to a recent study by Global Services, a magazine for global outsourcing and BPO industry and Tholons, a global research advisory firm.

India
Yes, India continues to retain its numero uno position as the sought-after destination for companies globally. The country is home to as many as six of the world's top eight outsourcing hubs. The company retains it position amid a determined bid by neighboring China to give tough competition.

The six Indian cities in the list of top eight outsourcing cities of the world are: Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. The list for top 50 emerging cities for outsourcing includes four Indian cities: Kokata at no. 6th, Chandigrah at no. 12th, Coimbatore at no. 17th and Jaipur at 31st position.

China
Incidentally, China has no representation in the world's top eight outsourcing cities. However, China dominates the list of emerging cities for global outsourcing with Shanghai and Beijing leading the list.

The list of top 50 emerging cities for global outsourcing includes six from China: Shanghai at no. 2, Beijing at no. 3, Shenzen at no. 10, Dalian at no. 16th, Guangzhou at no. 23 and Chengdu at no. 37.

Shenzen and Shanghai are now also offering services like application development and maintenance and business analytics. Consequently, China has become home to numerous IT and BPO service providers such as Accenture, Convergys, Infosys, IBM, TCS, Wipro, Infosys and Unisys having their centres across the country.

While pointing out the Chinese dominance in the outsourcing segment, the study said China's outsourcing industry is set to flourish further with a supportive government and favourable outsourcing conditions.

Ireland
One of the names in the top 8 global outsourcing cities is that of Dublin, Ireland. In recent years Ireland has seen a large no. of outsourcing deals, both in number and size, in relation to the economy.

According to a recent survey by Deloitte, Ireland is being increasingly seen as a location for higher value operations looking for an alternative location, leading to the creation of more skilled jobs.

However, the survey also adds that it is becoming increasingly difficult to sell Ireland as a low-cost offshoring location. Many companies are now choosing to locate higher value operations that can be offshored in Ireland, such as R&D centres.

Philippines
Mataki from Philipines also makes its place in the top 8 global outsourcing cities. Philippines has been trying to position itself as the next major global outsourcing destination, in competition with India and China. The country is aiming to grab a 10 per cent share of the $130 billion global market. Round-the-clock construction work of new office buildings is sweeping across the Philippines.

In fact, the BPO industry in the country is expected to weather the US-led global economic crisis, since much of the services outsourced to the Philippines are operational tasks that companies cannot do without.

Philippines BPO companies have launched a marketing campaign dubbed Experience Excellence, Experience the Philippines to attract more companies to outsource there not just for the quality of service, but also for everything else the Philippines has to offer.

Cities `gone cold'
Six cities from 2007 list failed to make it to the list this year. These include: Perth (Australia), Baguio City (The Philippines), Leeds (UK), Birmingham (UK), Oklahoma City (US) and Juarez (Mexico).