The Indian IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) industry forecast looks promising, according to National Association of Software and Solutions Companies (NASSCOM) President R Chandrasekhar, who has projected a growth rate of 7–9% in 2018/19.
However, the industry also faces a number of challenges.
Challenges in the BPO industry
In 2017, India’s IT services sector laid off thousands of workers, removing underperformers who did not fare well in their annual appraisal.
IT jobs have also been reshuffled after IT services were moved away from the traditional in-house infrastructure to the Cloud.
India lags behind other nations in terms of knowledge and research for the jobs of the future. However, IT and IT enabled services (ITeS) are looking to diversify, and a lot of upskilling is taking place in emerging fields such as AI, machine learning, blockchain and the Internet of things (IoT).
Although digital transformation is underway, the BPO industry still faces the challenge of securing and safely managing customers’ data.
Organisations must address data protection challenges
A key challenge for the BPO industry in India is data privacy. In the past, numerous data theft and data breaches have affected the BPO industry’s reputation.
The safety of customer data is a priority, and most companies outsourcing to India now demand that the outsourcing partner is certified to standards such as ISO 27001.
Many Indian IT firms are contracted by organisations in the EU, meaning they are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR compliance is a mammoth task, but it is necessary for business continuity and will also give businesses a competitive edge.
ISO 27001 can help organisations achieve compliance with the GDPR
An ISO 27001-aligned information security management system (ISMS) can help your organisation achieve GDPR compliance cost-effectively.
Download our new informative guide to ISO 27001 and GDPR compliance. Learn what a comprehensive data security regime looks like and how ISO 27001 certification can enable you to meet the GDPR’s technical and organisational requirements.
