Knowledge process outsourcing

Short description: Outsourcing of core information-related business activities

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Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) is the general practice of outsourcing valuable knowledge through the use of external providers often located in a different country to help identify issues with cost reduction, and to build a company's core business by employing a value chain. This differs from the use of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) as the focus is to create a process driven environment that focuses on analytical, decision, and research-oriented findings to further promote the realm of technical skills and the advancement of knowledge.[1]

Reasons behind KPO include an increase in specialized knowledge and expertise,[2] additional value creation,[3] the potential for cost reductions, and a shortage of skilled labor.[2] KPO is a continuation of business process outsourcing, yet with rather more of business complexity. To be successful in knowledge process outsourcing, a lot of guide is required from interorganizational system.[4]

## Contents

* 1 Historical Background
* 2 Types
* 3 Scope and Purpose
* 4 Strategic Value
* 4.1 Importance
* 5 Deployment and Global Developments
* 5.1 In India
* 5.2 In the Philippines
* 6 Challenges
* 6.1 Risks and benefits
* 6.2 Differentiation from BPO
* 6.3 Origin of the term
* 7 Resolution
* 7.1 See also
* 7.2 References
* 7.3 Sources

# Historical Background

The meaning of KPO came into existence due to the constant evolution of companies looking into improving cost driven outsourcing models to better strategies that relied on knowledge based outsourcing models. It was highlighted that early studies mainly focused on the transition between BPO to KOP by increasingly adopting the expertise of a different entity and acknowledging the positive results of relying on intellectual capital.[5] This would become particularly noticeable in certain industry areas such as legal services, business finance, and big pharma, where this evolution relied in the finding of complex analytics combined with skills and tasks from a research and professional perspective.[6]

# Types

KPO services include all kinds of research and information gathering, e.g., intellectual property research for patent applications; equity research, business and market research, legal and medical services; training, consultancy, and research and development in fields such as pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; and animation and design, etc.[7]

# Scope and Purpose

There is a vast utility for the use of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) this can range from intellectual property research, financial analysis, market research, legal research, and data analytics.[8] It is imminent that these types of services are highly reliant on the use of decision-based capacities and proficient knowledge rather than processes that are exchange based.[9]

However, the use of KPO has been greatly identified in the financial area to not only help with the ever growing need to handle complex analytic tasks but to also help with the discovery of new risk assessments including the use of financial modeling that is often outsourced to outside vendors that have an specific unit of experts that only work on this type of sector.[10] Correspondingly, this method can be applied in the legal research of organizations that employ the use of KPO to enhance the efficiency, performance, and documentation of using external services such as Evalueserve to operate different types of workloads by applying the Integreon Model.[11]

# Strategic Value

The use of knowledge process outsourcing can provide a competitive advantage within the market because it allows organizations to tap into outside resources that have the necessary skills and knowledge without having to internally invest into their own employees.[5] This investment can present many opportunities since it can enable firms to focus on developing new initiatives that can be strategically manipulated to help achieve goals or change by leveraging the new gain knowledge from outside vendors on intellectual property, analytics, and research.[12]

New findings have shown that it is critical to use KPO for new and knowledge-demanding firms, whose main concentration rely on essential skills and external networks to produce new innovations and promote new opportunities for growth.[9] However, this can be quite challenging in the pharmaceutical sector because the KOP that are used to support the theory of expansion can become a bottleneck for core competencies across network if firms do not enable the use of effectively implementing new innovation strategies.[6]

## Importance

The developing rivalry has brought about shorter time to market cycles, and clients are getting to be more demanding regarding quality. This has constrained the firms to give operational proficiency and increase the value of their products and services. The customer can launch an item quicker and get to the market immediately. A company can lessen the complexities included in overseeing and constantly constructing information in an extensive pool of human resources.[13]

Businesses are constantly in search of reliable KPO service providers who have the ability to drive the best business strategy by analyzing the available data and information in a specific case.

# Deployment and Global Developments

Over the last decade organizations have sought different strategies on how to deploy KPO models by assessing risk, feasibility, and potential gains. For instance, Baula (2025) found that using a model to evaluate the usefulness of outsourcing knowledge in a corporate setting can enable new ethical initiative conducts by emphasizing the significance that KPO shares with the objectives of an organization.[14]

In terms of global developments countries such as the Philippines and India have become a focal point for KPO because many countries are interested in their talent acquisition, market price advantages, and mastery of language skills.[5] Moreover, the use of overseas talent allows corporations to take advantage of the global market of outsourcing to cut on operational costs.

## In India

The Indian National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) estimated the total market size of the KPO sector in India in 2006 to be $1.5 billion.[15] The year before, 2005, it had been $1.3 billion, with Evalueserve predicting that by 2010 it would be some $10 to $15 billion.[16] The Indian government was predicting that by 2010 India would have 15% of the global KPO market.[17] However, the 2008 financial crisis, coupled with domestic economic problems such as the IPO of Reliance Power in 2009, caused people to re-evaluate these predictions, incurring worries that India's IT, BPO, and KPO sectors -- which by then, combined, were $8.4 billion in export revenues -- would be greatly affected by these factors.[18] The worldwide KPO industry is expected to reach about US $17 billion by 2015, of which US $12 billion would be outsourced to India. Furthermore, the Indian KPO area is likewise anticipated that it will utilize more than 2, 50,000 KPO experts by 2015.[19]

## In the Philippines

The Philippines Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) services are often called "non-voice" or back office services, referring to activities outside contact center, customer and IT support services. In 2014, the KPO sector comprised 40 percent of the country's outsourcing industry. The Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) predicts that the Philippine outsourcing sector will reach $25 billion in revenues and employ about 1.3 million people by 2016.[20]

The KPO industry is different from the BPO in the respect of that the former is more resilient to artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. With the 4th Industrial Revolution, it is estimated that most job losses will occur in low value-added contact center (“voice”) and other BPO services. Other services impacted by AI and automation include medical transcription, basic 2D animation services, parts of IT technical support and back-office transactions.[21] Advanced functions that are projected to become more in demand include analytics and optimization engines, automation enablement, clinical data analytics, remote health management, Virtual Reality (VR)/Augmented Reality (AR)-enabled animation and supply chain optimization.[22]

# Challenges

Regardless of the benefits that KOP provides, there are risks associated with data security, talent retention, over reliance on outside vendors, and quality control of personnel.[1] It is crucial for firms to do enough research before creating partnerships to define the type of agreement and necessary knowledge transfers during outsourcing to have a positive long lasting impact on operational goals.

## Risks and benefits

Benefits[23]

* Cost reduction
* Shortage of skilled employees
* Provides many graduates at very low cost
* High end services are provided at a lower cost to decrease unemployment and benefit their economy
* Provide flexibility in terms of HRM & time management

Risks[23]

* Security- Classified information about the company can be lost
* Key talent retention
* The character of the employee and the quality of the work cannot be assured
* KPO is time consuming and cannot provide a quick fix to the company seeking immediate results.
* Lack of communication between partners due to legal, language and cultural barriers can lead to complications
* Quality of Personnel and Work Cannot Be Guaranteed
* Shortage of Skilled Employees
* Reduction in Communication due to Language barrier
* Inability to protect company's intellectual property

## Differentiation from BPO

A KPO firm requires considerably more skilled personnel than a BPO firm. Experts working in KPO keep on learning and accomplished professionals can power their aptitude to produce more income for the KPO firm.[24] The main difference between a KPO firm and a BPO firm is that in a KPO firm, the customer is included amid the whole execution process.[13]

## Origin of the term

Ashish Gupta, ex-COO of Evalueserve and co-founder & CEO of Benori Knowledge has often been credited with coining the term. Gupta, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, is also a Founder & Trustee of Ashoka University and Plaksha University, and serves on the boards of various companies. Published authors have credited him for coining the term in their works.[25]

# Resolution

The ever-evolving field of knowledge process outsourcing will continue to improve its current outsourcing practices to develop new process driven and knowledge driven solutions. This change will create room for new innovations for sectors in the pharmaceutical, legal, and finance fields to obtain an efficiency advantage over other sectors. Additionally, the expansion of KPO will continue to be instrumental in the current and future development of business strategy and success.

## See also

* Outsourcing
* Legal outsourcing
* Recruitment

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sen, Falguni; Shiel, Michael (2006-05-16). "From business process outsourcing (BPO) to knowledge process outsourcing (KPO): Some issues" (in EN). Human Systems Management 25 (2): 145–155. doi:10.3233/HSM-2006-25207. ISSN 0167-2533. https://journals.sagepub.com/action/showAbstract.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The benefits and risks of knowledge process outsourcing". Ivey Business Journal. May–June 2010. http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/topics/strategy/the-benefits-and-risks-of-knowledge-process-outsourcing.
3. ↑ Mierau, Alexander (2007-01-17). "Strategic Importance of Knowledge Process Outsourcing". Technical University of Kaiserslautern. http://www.hrotoday.com/pdf/white-papers/Strategic-Implications-of-KPO.pdf.
4. ↑ Ghosh (December 2009). "Knowledge process outsourcing". Acis 2009 Proceedings (Ghosh, Biswadip, ACIS 2009 Proceedings Paper 52.). http://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2009/52/.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Aranha, Hazel; Wheelwright, Scott M. (2025-10-26). "Outsourcing: Transition from Business Process Outsourcing to Knowledge Process Outsourcing | BioPharm International" (in en). https://www.biopharminternational.com/view/outsourcing-transition-business-process-outsourcing-knowledge-process-outsourcing.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Gupta, Samir; Woodside, Arch; Dubelaar, Chris; Bradmore, Don (2009-02-01). "Diffusing knowledge-based core competencies for leveraging innovation strategies: Modelling outsourcing to knowledge process organizations (KPOs) in pharmaceutical networks". Industrial Marketing Management. Knowledge Management in Industrial Markets 38 (2): 219–227. doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2008.12.010. ISSN 0019-8501. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019850108001739.
7. ↑ Sornarajah & Wang 2010, p. 280.
8. ↑ Gill, Edward (2012-08-03). "Knowledge Process Outsourcing and the Legal Sector: the Evalueserve Approach" (in en). Legal Information Management 12 (1): 16–24. doi:10.1017/S1472669612000096. ISSN 1741-2021. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/legal-information-management/article/abs/knowledge-process-outsourcing-and-the-legal-sector-the-evalueserve-approach/14DFA97193827F24CA051EAF3B3D42B1.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Bhalla, Ajay; Terjesen, Siri (2013-02-01). "Cannot make do without you: Outsourcing by knowledge-intensive new firms in supplier networks". Industrial Marketing Management. Managing Key Supplier Relationships 42 (2): 166–179. doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2012.12.005. ISSN 0019-8501. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019850112002118.
10. ↑ Currie, Wendy L.; Michell, Vaughan; Abanishe, Oluwakemi (2008-04-01). "Knowledge process outsourcing in financial services:: The vendor perspective". European Management Journal 26 (2): 94–104. doi:10.1016/j.emj.2007.11.002. ISSN 0263-2373. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263237307001211.
11. ↑ Stanfield, Kate (2012-08-03). "Business Process Outsourcing and Legal Library Services: the Integreon Model – One Year On" (in en). Legal Information Management 12 (1): 12–16. doi:10.1017/S1472669612000084. ISSN 1741-2021. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/legal-information-management/article/abs/business-process-outsourcing-and-legal-library-services-the-integreon-model-one-year-on/7EB9156D1EAB34FD039E51C57A8A4D70.
12. ↑ Ghosh, Biswadip (2009-12-01). "Knowledge Process Outsourcing". ACIS 2009 Proceedings. https://aisel.aisnet.org/acis2009/52.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Kaul 2011, p. 150.
14. ↑ Baula, Oleksii (2025-07-10). "Model for Assessing the Feasibility of Outsourcing Knowledge in the Process of Developing Corporate and Social Responsibility of Personnel of Integrated Business Structures" (in en). Management 41 (1): 71–79. doi:10.30857/2415-3206.2025.1.4. ISSN 2415-3206. https://jrnl.knutd.edu.ua/index.php/mng/article/view/1810.
15. ↑ Contractor, Kumar & Kundu 2010, p. 53.
16. ↑ Mehrotra 2005, p. 46.
17. ↑ Basu 2009, p. 80.
18. ↑ Varadarajan 2010, p. 145-146.
19. ↑ "SEIS Journal of management". p. 86. http://www.siescoms.edu/journals/siescoms/Journal1.pdf.
20. ↑ "SourceFit". 25 August 2015. http://www.sourcefit.com/blog/why-the-philippines-is-emerging-as-a-leading-destination-for-knowledge-process-outsourcing#sthash.8P2V7DcX.dpuf.
21. ↑ Lee Kai-Fu (2018), AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley and the New World Order
22. ↑ IBPAP (2018), “The IT-BPM Industry”
23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Overby, Stephanie (November 8, 2017). "What is outsourcing? Definitions, best practices, challenges and advice". https://www.cio.com/article/2439495/outsourcing-outsourcing-definition-and-solutions.html.
24. ↑ "How does KPO differ from BPO". http://www.outsource2experts.com/PDFS/How_does_KPO_differ_from_BPO.pdf.
25. ↑ "HR Practice Scenario in Indian KPOs". Global Business and Management Research: An International Journal. 2009. p. 44. http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1599428997.

## Sources

* Basu, Sudip Ranjan (2009). "The economic growth story in India: past, present, and prospects for the future". in Klein, Lawrence Robert. The making of national economic forecasts. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84720-489-9.
* Contractor, Farok J.; Kumar, Vikas; Kundu, Sumit K. (2010). Global Outsourcing and Offshoring: An Integrated Approach to Theory and Corporate Strategy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-19353-5.
* Kaul, Vijay Kumar (2011). Business Organization and Management: Text and Cases. Pearson India. ISBN 9788131754498.
* Mehrotra, Nitin (2005). Business Process Outsourcing -- The Indian Experience. ICFAI books. ISBN 978-81-7881-576-3.
* Sornarajah, Muthucumaraswamy; Wang, Jiangyu (2010). China, India and the International Economic Order. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-11057-0.
* Varadarajan, Latha (2010). The Domestic Abroad: Diasporas in International Relations. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-988987-7.

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