Outsourcing Business Processes for Innovation

Many companies look to business-process outsourcing to save money. But the most successful clients concentrate less on cost savings and more on achieving innovation.

MARY C. LACITY AND LESLIE P. WILLCOCKS

IN RECENT YEARS, the number of companies that outsource critical business processes to outside suppliers has grown significantly worldwide. The business-process outsourcing (BPO) market has been estimated to be worth $309 billion in 2012,¹ including activities such as finance and accounting, human resource management, procurement and legal services, and the overall volume is estimated to be growing at a rate of around 25% annually.² Many organizations initiated BPO as part of an operational effort ...