Kirk LaughlinSTAFF REPORT
The use of home-based customer care agents, a kind of BPO service dubbed as homeshoring, has continued to gain momentum in the United States, according to market research firm IDC.
U.S. spending on homeshoring is on pace to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25 percent, rising from $1.6 billion in 2011 to $6.1 billion in 2017, says the analyst firm.
Homeshoring, according to IDC, is one of the fastest-growing aspects of the U.S. customer care BPO services market today. Demand for home-based agents and hosted/on-demand contact center services is impacting the very dynamics of the provider ecosystem creating new challenges and opportunities for established customer care providers and new entrants to the market.
“Changes in the way companies and consumers are communicating, cost and a need for talent are impacting the customer care BPO market, and home agent delivery is one way that providers are addressing,” ” said Melissa O’Brien, research analyst, Worldwide Contact Center Services at IDC.
The research firm expects that the home-based agent delivery model for customer care BPO services will grow significantly over the next few years.
As demand for home-based agent services increases, many traditional customer care BPO providers are investing heavily in building their home-based agent offerings. For large customer care BPO organizations, recruiting home-based agents has become a necessary part of enhancing their portfolio.
“The competitive playing field is diverse, with small niche providers, hosted platform providers, traditional BPOs, and large IT outsourcers all participating in this growing aspect of the customer care BPO market,” Melissa added.
Most of these home-based agents are currently being used for servicing customers, but IDC says they will soon be used for marketing also.
“For the home-based agent delivery model, head count is growing at a slower rate than revenue, meaning that revenue per head count will increase over time,” the research firm added.
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