Virtual Assistant Business Outsourcing

It seems that recently each day brings more gloomy news about the global economy.  Every week thousands of workers are being laid off in the United States and businesses around the globe are desperately searching for ways to reduce operating expenses.  Where will this economic turmoil leave the virtual assistant industry in 2009?

There are several recent studies and surveys that are predicting the state of the virtual assistant industry and business process outsourcing (BPO) in 2009.  The forecast seems promising.  At the top of the list are the highly respected Everest Research Institute’s 2009 predictions for key outsourcing and offshoring markets.

Predictions by the Everest Research Institute include:

• The Finance & Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) markets will continue to grow at 20%+ growth rates to reach $2.5 billion by 2009.
• Financial services companies will increase offshoring along with expanding their scope of work to include “core functions”as well.
• Buyers and suppliers will adopt a global sourcing approach instead of a pure offshore-driven model.
• The Philippines will expand market share for BPO services.  Capabilities for BPO services other than call centers will be recognized.
• With a challenging global economy, there will be an increased focus on cost reduction and the speed to achieve it.
• The global economic slowdown has had a surprisingly small effect on IT outsourcing in 2008.  It remains to be seen if the resilience of IT outsourcing will continue in 2009.
• According to a joint survey conducted by Bernstein Research and the Everest Research Institute, if the business environment of IT outsourcing customers were to weaken substantially, the belief is that there will be a slowdown in on-shore budgets and they will look to move work offshore, which could benefit offshore suppliers.

IT Outsourcing
A recent survey by Info-Tech Research targeted more than 150 IT companies throughout the United States.  Their research concluded that despite poor economic conditions only 1 in 5 companies plan to reduce their 2009 IT budgets.  In fact, of the companies surveyed, more than 60% of the IT departments report focusing on reducing costs via outsourcing.

Another survey conducted by the California-based search and staffing firm Robert Half Technology supports the optimistic predictions for IT outsourcing trends in 2009.  The survey was of 1,400 CIO’s.  Of the 111 CIO’s whose companies are currently using outsourcing, 43% stated they planned to increase their outsourcing in 2009.

Business Process Outsourcing
According to a new report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the world BPO market is projected to reach approximately $975 billion by 2012. The report also predicts that although human resource outsourcing is a small share of the global BPO market, it will emerge as the fastest growing service segment.

A new home-based business opens up about every 11 seconds in the United States.

Susan Wilson
CEO of SBTV.com

Hope for the Virtual Assistant Industry
These new surveys paint a much rosier picture of the virtual assistant industry than the overall economy in general.  In these trying economic times, being a virtual assistant in 2009 looks to be a much more secure profession than autoworkers or real estate agents.