Using offshore-based BPO = Living under a rock

The rapid evolution of AI agents presents a transformative opportunity to reimagine business operations, challenging the traditional reliance on offshore Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Continuing to depend on it while ignoring advancements in AI is akin to “living under a rock” — clinging to outdated models despite better alternatives. 

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Offshore BPO Workflows 

As per the Annual Strategic Review report released by NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies), which is a prominent Indian trade association and advocacy group representing the country's Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Management (BPM) industries, on February 24, 2025, the India BPM reached $54.6 billion.  

Service Category	Examples
Customer Interaction Services (CIS)	Call centers, email support, and chat-based customer interaction service.
Finance and Accounting (F&A)	Payroll processing, accounts payable/receivable, and financial reporting.
Knowledge Services	Analytics and market research
Vertical-Specific BPO Services	Back-Office Processing like Data entry, claims processing
HR Outsourcing	Payroll Processing, Recruitment and Talent Acquisition, Employee Training and Development
Procurement and Logistics	Managing vendor relationships, purchase orders, and supply chain logistics for companies across industries
Other Horizontal Services	Facility Management

As per the NASSCOM-McKinsey Report (2021), 33% of BPO jobs are related to Customer Interaction Services. 

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Offshore BPO is "Living Under a Rock" 

Traditional offshore BPO has the disadvantages below, which can now be quickly addressed with the advancement in AI agents: 

1. Operational challenges: Persistent issues include time-zone delays (avg. 12-hour lag for offshore-onsite teams) and language barriers. Cultural mismatches in service delivery, such as differences in politeness norms during customer interactions. 

   
   

2. Risk complacency: Tolerating data security vulnerabilities inherent in cross-border data transfers. As per Netwrix Data Risk & Security Report 2020 (as cited in a CISO MAG article), 42% of organizations subject to the CCPA fail to discover and classify personal data at the point of creation. These organizations will face GDPR/CCPA violations in offshore data handling. 

   
   

3. Quality Control: Higher error rates and inconsistent processing in complex processes, such as insurance claims, compared to AI alternatives. 

   
   

4. Contractual Inefficiencies: The hidden costs (e.g., attrition, constant training, oversight) erode 20-30% of projected savings. 

   
   

5. Cost Uncertainty: The current perceived cost benefits of using offshore-based teams can disappear due to the tariffs. 

   
   

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AI Agent Solutions: Technology for replacing/diminishing various BPO services 

The AI Agent technology has made significant progress recently, and specific technologies are now available that can completely replace current offshore BPO teams with AI Agents or with smaller onsite teams, along with AI agents.

This section gives details of what AI agents could be used to replace the specific BPO services that you might be using.

BPO Service Category: Customer Interaction Services (CIS)

Examples of Services	Call centers, email/chat support, social media management
AI Agent Type	Conversational AI
Capabilities of AI Agents	24/7 multilingual support Real-time sentiment analysis Automated ticket routing
Technology Examples for Implementing AI Agents	Zendesk AI- Convin Agent Assist IBM watsonx Assistant
Example Implementation	H&M’s chatbot for instant support Camping World’s virtual assistant

BPO Service Category: Finance and Accounting (F&A)

Examples of Services	Payroll processing, accounts payable/receivable, tax compliance
AI Agent Type	Financial Process Automation Agents
Capabilities of AI Agents	Automated invoice validation Real-time reconciliation Fraud detection
Technology Examples for Implementing AI Agents	ZBrain AI for Finance IBM Watson Risk Analytics
Example Implementation	ZBrain automating accounts payable and tax compliance

BPO Service Category: Knowledge Services

Examples of Services	Market research, analytics, financial modeling
AI Agent Type	Predictive Analytics Agents
Capabilities of AI Agents	Real-time trend forecasting Actionable insights from unstructured data Report automation
Technology Examples for Implementing AI Agents	Tableau AI Extensions PathAI for healthcare diagnostics and accelerating drug development
Example Implementation	Roche has integrated PathAI’s algorithms into drug development workflows for cancer research

BPO Service Category: Vertical-Specific BPO Services

Examples of Services	Healthcare claims processing, Insurance underwriting
AI Agent Type	Vertical AI Agents
Capabilities of AI Agents	Industry-specific compliance checks Claims automation Specialized decision-making
Technology Examples for Implementing AI Agents	Juniper AI for healthcare claims
Example Implementation	Juniper reduced claim denials by 80% for Intercare, a multi-state ABA provider.

BPO Service Category: HR Outsourcing

Examples of Services	Recruitment, onboarding, payroll management
AI Agent Type	HR Automation Agents
Capabilities of AI Agents	Resume screening Candidate sourcing Employee engagement analytics
Technology Examples for Implementing AI Agents	LinkedIn Recruiter AI ZBrain AI agents for HR
Example Implementation	LinkedIn Recruiter filtering candidates based on skills Multiple use cases from ZBrain for HR

BPO Service Category: Procurement and Logistics

Examples of Services	Supplier communication, freight RFQ management, inventory tracking
AI Agent Type	Procurement Optimization Agents
Capabilities of AI Agents	Automated RFQ management Invoice reconciliation
Technology Examples for Implementing AI Agents	Pi Freight Procurement Agent GEP Autonomous Procurement Agents
Example Implementation	Pi managing freight RFQs and carrier negotiations GEP optimizing supplier scorecards

BPO Service Category: Other Horizontal Services

Examples of Services	Data entry, document classification, workflow automation
AI Agent Type	Horizontal AI Agents
Capabilities of AI Agents	Automates repetitive tasks Scales across industries Predictive analytics
Technology Examples for Implementing AI Agents	Azure OpenAI for general workflows Salesforce Einstein Analytics
Example Implementation	Azure OpenAI automating content generation tasks Salesforce Einstein to improve sales forecasting accuracy

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The most important question - "Can I use the AI agents to replace my offshore BPO?"

The availability of the right data is the key to the success of these AI agents. This data varies significantly by domain. Below are examples of data requirements for different BPO service categories:

BPO Service Category	Examples of Data Requirements
Customer Interaction Services (CIS)	Historical chat logs/transcripts Call recordings Product/service knowledge bases Customer feedback
Finance & Accounting (F&A)	Invoice templates/records Transactional data Compliance guidelines ERP/CRM data
Knowledge Services	Unstructured text Structured databases Research publications User interaction logs
Vertical-Specific BPO Services	Industry-specific records: Medical claims, insurance policies, or legal contracts. Regulatory documents IoT/sensor data for some of the sectors
HR Outsourcing	Resumes/CVs Employee performance metrics Compliance manuals
Procurement & Logistics	Supplier databases Inventory records RFQ/RFP templates
Other Horizontal Services	Structured forms Workflow metadata Cross-industry datasets

As long as you have the data, you can train AI agents to outperform offshore BPO models.

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Conclusion

Adopting AI agents enables companies to:

1. Eliminate Offshore Limitations: Resolve 78% of customer inquiries autonomously while reducing compliance risks

   
   

2. Enhance Operational Metrics: Achieve higher accuracy (e.g., 99.8% invoice validation), speed (30–40% faster resolutions), and cost (60–80% savings)

   
   

3. Strategic Repositioning: Leverage "reshoring" narratives for positive PR while maintaining cost efficiency

   
   

This transition represents not just technological progress, but a fundamental shift in global service delivery paradigms—lifting businesses out of their metaphorical "rock" into an AI-optimized future.

 

Are you interested in addressing the challenges of offshore BPO using AI agents? Talk to us.