Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) is a form of outsourcing, in which knowledge -related and information-related work is carried out by workers

in a different c ompany or by a subsidiary of the same organization, which may be in the same cou ntry or in an offshore location to save cost. Unlike the outsourcing of manufact uring, this typically involves high-value work carried out by highly skilled sta ff. KPO firms, in addition to providing expertise in the processes themselves, o ften make many low level business decisions typically those that are easily undone if they conflict with higher-level business plans. Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) is the term used to describe outsourced supp ort that requires deep domain knowledge and the exercise of judgment and interpr etation. It differs from traditional BPO / ITO outsourcing, which tends to focus on rules-based processing. KPO typically requires people with higher education, specific skills, and specialized business experience. As the work entails decis ion-making, offshore teams would need to be more closely integrated with the ons hore teams that they support than would be the case in a typical outsourcing eng agement. Process transparency is a major barrier to using KPO services.[clarific ation needed] Many organizations do not track carefully which decisions are made by whom, and rely so much on informal social processes (and "soft skills") that it is unclear how much the use of KPO would disrupt existing operations. Howeve r, requirements like Sarbanes-Oxley and radical transparency movements like full cost accounting, shareholder activism and eco-labels and moral purchasing requi re organizations to be more explicit about when and by whom decisions are made. These trends make it easier for outsourcing non-critical jobs to be considered b y qualifying the impact of decisions in advance.[clarification needed] Furthermo re, it becomes easier to evaluate and compare success. A fully developed service economy enables KPO by treating all functions as services.[clarification needed ] So do more technical trends such as service oriented architecture, enterprise application integration and telework: it is easier to outsource a job if it is a lready being performed outside the head office. Organizations adopting ISO 9000 and ISO 19011 should also find it much easier to integrate externally provided K PO into their operations and audit them on a fair basis. After that kpo wali pic After the success of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) now companies are consid ering Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO). In BPO noncore business processes are removed from the overall business process value chain, outsourced to low cost d estination and finished service integrated back into the value chain. KPO is fundamentally different from BPO; in KPO core businesses processes are ou tsourced to offshore locations where highly educated professionals perform the K PO tasks. KPO is not sending away noncore business processes to offshore locatio ns and make the employees work on core business processes. KPO is sharing the co re business processes to professionals located different locations like offshore , onshore, and nearshore locations and performing it in a shared manner. Highly educated professionals found in different parts of the world working in KPO proj ects collaborate regularly to perform the tasks. Types of KPO services KPO services include the following: Investment research services (equity, fixed income and credit, and quantitative research) Business research services Data Analytics Market research services Valuation and fairness opinions Legal process outsourcing Patent research services Business operations support, analytics & management Editorial process outsourcing

Why KPO? If we look into any financial newspaper, magazine or any literature giving knowl edge about the outsourcing business in India, what is found to be most referred word is KPO meaning thereby knowledge process outsourcing. Many new business con cerns are coming day by day in Knowledge Processing Outsourcing Industry and KPO is emerging as a new sector that promises to provide long-term jobs for intelle ctual, analytical and knowledgeable people with a pay scales much higher than th e BPO sector. The following are the few areas which are being associated with th e KPO sector. Research & Development Financial Consultancy and Services Advanced Web Applications Business and Technical Analysis Learning Solutions Animation & Design Business & Market Research Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Medical Services Writing & Content Development Legal Services Intellectual Property (IP) Research Data Analytics Network Management Training & Consultancy Top 5 benefits of outsourcing knowledge process outsourcing to India Choose India for KPO services and get access to all these advantages and more: Get proficient KPO services at a cost-effective price. With India as your partne r in KPO services, you can save more than half of your current operating cost KPO services cannot be provided by just about anyone. For quality KPO services, you require highly qualified professionals who are very knowledgeable and skille d. You can get access to such professionals at Indian KPO companies You can be assured of the security of your confidential information as most Indi an KPO service providers take the security of data very seriously By outsourcing KPO services, you can concentrate more on your core business func tions while your offshore partner handles all your KPO requirements Indian KPO providers use the latest in software, technology and infrastructure. You can be assured of error-free work and speedy deliveries Standardized technical education is widely available to all in the developing co untries especially in India. This skilled and trained manpower is accessible at very low cost as well. It, therefore, is always a wise decision and makes sense to utilize such services. Outsourcing of activities to KPO companies can provide the following benefits: Valuable cost savings that can be utilized elsewhere. Trained professionals at work. Standard operational efficiency. Increase in profits. Savings in time and management energy for maintaining in house services. Option to recruit a larger work force without raising costs. What KPO can deliver to you? Any company involved as service provider in the KPO industry works in close coor dination and association with the client and provides services that are predefin ed in terms of quality and standard of work. While working with a KPO firm, the outsourcing company can expect to get the following: Good quality work.

Lower costs. On time delivery of services. Uninterrupted services. Adaptability to changes in required quality. {ICTURE detail- kpo services Companies that are outsourcing to KPOs are trying to balances their risks, such an environment would eventually give rise to a hub and spoke model wherein India would act as a hub for the different spokes emerging in countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada and South Africa among others, Mr Udhas said. According to the study, large KPO providers are expected to move to multi-location deliver centre s. Issues that can potentially hamper growth include skill set shortage, a decli ning US dollar and compliance and regulatory pressures, the study said. picture detail- kpo evolves towards the knowledge center f excellence model In its first phase, clients try out the KPO concept, testing providers' capabili ties by outsourcing lower-end, discrete knowledge processes. Satisfied with perf ormance, companies often move to the second phase, testing the delivery of highe r-end but still discrete processes, now delivered in a series or as a part of a program rather than as one-off projects. When second phase success is evident, companies become comfortable leveraging a wider range of KPO provider capabilities. They are adopting an integrated approa ch to knowledge work, asking providers to deliver higher-end services such as cu stomer lifetime value models or fraud management models. This takes them closer to the end-game, the establishment of a Knowledge Center of Excellence, where kn owledge is created by a vertically-specialized provider and consumed throughout the organization. External and internal risks While KPO provides the benefits described above it comes with a number of signif icant risks that need to be managed in order to achieve the full benefit potenti al. Failure to manage these risks can result in costly mistakes and the abandonm ent the KPO model. The risks of pursing a KPO strategy can be grouped under exte rnal and internal risks. External risks relate to factors that are outside the organization and are less controllable. Finding a suitable KPO vendor that can offer the necessary skills in a scalable, cost- effective manner can present some significant risk. Some KP O vendors are able to find suitable talent but they are suffering from salary in flation due to the increase in demand for skilled labour increases and the impro vements of the standard of living abroad. Another factor affecting risk is the c urrency exchange fluctuations that can have an impact on cost savings. For examp le, a strengthening rupee can have a significant impact in the actual costs of o utsourcing to India. The stronger rupee, combined with the impact of salary infl ation, can make the benefits of outsourcing to India disappear. Another external risk is the inability to protect a company s intellectual propert y. Although improvements have been made over the years, protecting intellectual property continues to be an obstacle to the full acceptance of the KPO model. Th e laws and compliance rules abroad expose intellectual property to a significant risk with little options for control. Recent events with outsourcing vendors in volved in security breaches and fraud heightens the sensitivity in this area and forces companies to find better ways to protect their intellectual property and customers privacy. For some industries, protecting data and privacy as well as c onforming to the legal and compliance requirements at home and abroad are signif icant challenges to overcome. internal risks relate to what the organization will experience when using a KPO

vendor. A reduction in communication is a risk that is due to the language barri ers sometimes inherited from doing business with countries where English is not the first language. KPO vendors are constantly trying to improve on their langua ge capabilities by providing accent removal training or opening offices in locat ions with better English-language capabilities, like Chile or Mexico. Effective communication amongst employees and KPO vendor resources is crucial to the succe ss of a KPO model. When communication is not maintained the business will suffer , as turnaround times get longer. The culture of the organization will also star t to shift as processes are outsourced to a provider in another country. This is particularly important in voice-based processes requiring discussion and intera ction with the KPO vendor. Voice-based processes that require interaction with customers present some of th e biggest challenges, and there are numerous documented cases of KPO and BPO fai lures involving voice-based processes. For example, Delta and United Airlines br ought back their outsourced customer service operations to North America when it started to experience low rates of satisfaction for more sophisticated conversa tions with customers. The same applies for internal customers who deal with outs ourced processes. Voice-based processes that are combined with knowledge-based a ctivities are not good candidates for outsourcing using a KPO model for off-shor e or near-shore vendors. An on-shore vendor may be better suited to mitigate thi s risk. Another internal risk relates to the ability of management to manage KPO vendors in a remote location. Many managers are comfortable managing their own resource s on an ad-hoc basis and usually lack a formal process that documents every deci sion made based on an analysis or specific parameters. Quality and performance m etrics are usually non-existent and evaluated through a form-performance measure ment process at the department or individual level. Managers will need to learn how to manage outsourced resources based on specific performance metrics and les s subjective results. To increase the probability of success, organizations must use a structured appr oach to managing the KPO opportunity. One such structured approach is depicted i n the diagram below.