Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) has become an offshoot of business process outsourcing over the years. While BPO focuses on basic back-office services, such as data entry, transaction processing, or customer service, KPO requires higher level of specialization in practically all aspects of outsourcing management, such as organizational communication, information analysis, and systems design and integration to name a few.
The shift from business process outsourcing to knowledge process outsourcing did not happen by accident. Instead, the ongoing change is a natural outcome as players in the BPO gain the necessary expertise needed to provide higher-level outsourcing services. The key drivers cover hardware/software advances, human capital, process maturity, and “soft skills” management. Let us look at some of the key drivers of KPO.