Career Path in the KPO Sector

Defining KPO?

Knowledge Process Outsourcing with acronym KPO is a new and kicking phenomenon in the Indian outsourcing industry.  KPO taking birth from the womb of its predecessor Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is currently growing at a Cumulative Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 26%. According to the Industry Analysts, KPO is estimated to grow up to US $ 17 billion by 2010. Even though, KPO comes from the same genre to that of BPO, but there is a fundamental shift in the kind of tasks performed and expertise required in the KPO. Unlike BPO, KPO involves Companies outsourcing their core work to be performed at the various Indian locations. It helps these Companies to not only achieve top line growth, but also get access to greater number of talented work force. Companies utilizing KPO as a part of their strategy are usually expected to save about 30% to 70% of the cost involved in performing the same task in-house.

What’s in it for you?

Every year India produces more than 3,060,000 graduates, including about 40,000 MBAs, and 6,000 PhDs. KPO brings a range of opportunities to this ever growing young and much dependable workforce of India. Currently, India employs about 80,000 employees in KPO sector, but the figure is expected to reach close to 250,000. Along with the sea of opportunities, the kinds of compensation earned by the professionals in the KPO industry are much higher and lucrative. A fresher can expect to earn compensation in range of Rs 250,000 to Rs 450,000 annually. Please view the following list, including services offered and their preferred specializations in the KPO industry which are growing and present enormous opportunities to the graduates:

Services and Preferred Specialization

• Equity and Financial Research—Engineer, Mathematics, Finance, and Economics
• IP (Intellectual Property) Research—Engineer, Science, Computers/IT, Scientists, and PhDs
• Business and Market Research, Competitive Intelligence— Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, and Economics
• Data Search and Data Mining— Engineer, Mathematics, Finance, and Economics
• Biotech, Pharmaceuticals, and Research and Development—Engineer, Mathematics, Finance, and Economics
• Legal Research and Paralegal Services— Lawyers, LLB, LLM

What else you need?

Apart from the aforementioned specialization, graduates intended to pursue their careers in the KPO must have good communication skills, sound educational background, excellent written and spoken English, and basic IT skills to execute the tasks. Some of the key competencies required in the field of KPO are mentioned below:

• Domain Knowledge
• English Proficiency
• Business Aptitude
• IT Skills (MS Word, MS Excel, SPSS, and MS PowerPoint)
• Analytical Skills
• Muti-tasking

Conclusion

After the success of BPO, the dawn of KPO has just begun. The best thing about the KPO is that it is not only growing exponentially, but it also has room for everyone. Almost any one from any field, industry, qualification, or expertise can start or make transition of their careers in the KPO. KPO not only provides with lucrative opportunities but also can result in fast track and exciting career ahead.