Total contract value of the business process outsourcing market worldwide 2000-2019

Contrary to many other sectors in the service industry, the total value of the global business process outsourcing (BPO) market has been consistently trending down from a peak contract value of 36.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2012 to 26 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.Business process outsourcingBusiness process outsourcing is where a third party is contracted to assume operational responsibility for a specific business process. Included are many different business processes, with human resources, finance and accounting, and supply chain management being the most common. IT outsourcing is generally considered separate to BPO, however sometimes it is considered a BPO service. Explanation for the declining in BPOOne important reason for the overall decline in the BPO market is the increasing capacity for business processes to be automated. In a 2017 study it was predicted that, due to automation, over the decade up to 2026, the BPO market will shrink by 25.5 billion U.S. dollars. Automation also helps explain why the downward trend applies to all regions, despite the potential cost savings available through offshoring business processes to cheaper labor markets.

与服务业中诸多其他领域相反，全球商业流程外包（BPO）市场的总价值持续呈现下降趋势，从2012年的峰值合约价值365亿美元降至2019年的260亿美元。商业流程外包是指第三方被委托承担特定业务流程的运营责任。这包括众多不同的业务流程，其中人力资源、财务与会计以及供应链管理是最为常见的。通常，IT外包被视为独立于BPO的范畴，然而在某些情况下，它也被视为BPO服务的一部分。BPO市场下降的原因解释之一是，业务流程自动化能力的不断提升。在2017年的一项研究中预测，由于自动化，在2026年之前的十年间，BPO市场将缩减255亿美元。自动化也有助于解释为何尽管将业务流程外包至劳动力成本更低的地区可以带来潜在的成本节约，但这一下降趋势仍适用于所有地区。