Gartner sees trouble ahead for BPO

Ok. It turns out the original Gartner article costs US$495. If you can afford it, go to http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=140117. If not, check out this IT week article that has a bit more detail, such as:

The report also warned that IT managers used to relatively mature IT outsourcing services need to be aware that the maturity of BPO services is far more mixed, with areas such as contact centre or payroll outsourcing fairly mature, while more complex BPO services are less well developed and are still subject to inflated expectations.

Stone said that this immaturity is particularly apparent among the BPO start-ups that have emerged in the past couple of years, seeking to cash in on the growth of the market. "We've seen a lot of start-ups that call themselves BPO providers, but lack the deep domain knowledge and process excellence you need to be successful," she warned.