Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/65226
The APAC Market The Great APAC Services Shift New delivery locales are emerging. Room for all—or a gathering storm? By Catherine Tooher The rising importance of the Asia Pacific region (APAC) is one of the most significant global trends in HRO. There are two sides to this story: supply and demand. On the supply side, offshore APAC locations with the right combination of lower costs, technical capabilities, and regional language skills are flourishing. Meanwhile, more businesses are incorporating outsourced solutions into their regional HR strategies. The supply and demand side stories complement each other, and offer many interesting angles to explore: Why are new offshore service delivery locations emerging? Are they in competition with each other, or is there room for them all? What factors are driving regional demand growth? And what kind of changes is regional demand growth bringing to the market? But the central theme which binds this narrative together is that the demand for outsourced solutions emanating from within APAC is going to shape the global HRO sector over the next decade. The Global Pie Offshore delivery models are central to the success of HRO: providers can meet the needs of clients in mature economies more cost effectively by basing services in locations that are less expensive than their home countries. There is no sign of this changing: "We clearly see offshoring increasing against a backdrop of recession which has accelerated this trend," says Rajesh Ranjan, vice president and leader of the BPO research programme at Everest Group, which specialises in strategic intelligence and analysis of the global services marketplace. [8] HRO TODAY GLOBAL | WINTER 2012