The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry has evolved noticeably over time. Deals are still important in shaping the market, but how we see worth in them has evolved. Financial performance remains important, yet it’s not the only thing that matters anymore. In many scenarios, future execution plays a greater role than historic performance. It’s about the choices being made right now, alongside past financial results.
Why Value in BPO Deals Has Changed
That’s where the real shift happens. It’s how teams work, how services are delivered, and how clients are won over and kept satisfied. Having the right people, service offering, and a deliberate approach to winning and retaining customers adds important context beyond the financials.
Market Growth and Rising Expectations in BPO
The market’s size is increasingly highlighting this shift. The BPO market is growing fast and is expected to hit around $435.9 billion by 2028, up from about $350 billion in 2026 (Fortune Business Insights). That kind of growth raises the bar across the industry, not just for providers, but for buyers as well. As it gets harder to stand out on price alone, buying companies primarily to cut costs can introduce additional risks.
Operational Effectiveness Over Cost Reduction
Deloitte’s research shows that nearly 60% of organisations now prioritise operational effectiveness over cost reduction when outsourcing. But those wins don’t just happen. They come when talent, processes, and delivery models actually work together. These factors are not always visible in reports, yet they often influence how deals progress.
Who a company depends on also matters. How work is handled and scaled affects revenue stability and whether customers stay. Trust remains especially important in long-term arrangements. EY has highlighted how delivery structures and governance models directly influence long-term revenue stability, particularly in multi-year outsourcing relationships.
Talent, Culture, and Execution as Value Drivers
People you hire play a central role in value creation. Excellent service and happy clients come from keeping employees engaged and supported. If people leave, service quality and trust can suffer, no matter how strong the numbers look in the short term. McKinsey & Company consistently link service quality and client satisfaction to talent retention and engagement.
How things are run and the company culture also decide whether cutting costs turns into something real. Without discipline, aligned incentives, and a culture that supports delivery, cost efficiencies alone are often difficult to sustain over time.
For those looking to buy or invest, this shift means you can’t rely on top-line numbers alone – you may want to dig a bit deeper. Financial performance is still important, but it rarely tells the full story in BPO. The most important questions sit beneath the surface. Is the delivery model strong enough? Does revenue depend on only a handful of customers? And do teams work well together across locations and functions?
It also means paying closer attention to people and how the business is run. Retaining talent, having strong leadership in place, and ensuring cultural alignment often determine whether value is realised after an acquisition or gradually fades over time. In a sector where differentiation increasingly comes from service quality and execution, these less obvious factors can have a very real impact on long-term returns.
As the BPO market continues to expand, successful deals increasingly depend on seeing the bigger picture. It’s about how people, processes, and leadership fit together – and whether they can continue to do so as the business expands.
If you’re thinking about outsourcing partnerships or acquiring BPO businesses, feel free to reach out at info@ishercapital.com.
Fortune Business Insights “Business process outsourcing market size, share & COVID-19 impact analysis” https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/business-process-outsourcing-market-111583
Deloitte “Global Outsourcing / Shared Services Survey” https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/services/consulting/services/shared-services-survey.html
EY “How outcome-based outsourcing can make BPO deals a win-win situation” https://www.ey.com/en_ch/insights/consulting/how-outcome-based-outsourcing-can-make-bpo-deals-a-win-win-situation
McKinsey & Company “A new operating model for people management: More personal, more tech, more human” https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/a-new-operating-model-for-people-management-more-personal-more-tech-more-human
Bain & Company “How to build a high-performance culture” https://www.bain.com/insights/how-to-build-a-high-performance-culture/