The History of KPO

Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) has evolved from the success of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) model. KPO as an idea was initiated in early 1987 when McKinsey set up a knowledge center in India. KPO saw true acceptance in the year 2000 when companies like GE, Frost & Sullivan, Gartner and Office Tiger established captive research and analytics, and third-party knowledge services from offshore facilities in India. The five years from 2000 to 2005 were the growth years for KPO during which niche service providers like Evalueserve, including large consulting and investment banks, established offshore knowledge centers in India, making India a leading destination for KPO. According to Evalueserve, the Indian KPO sector is expected to notch up 71 percent of the global KPO share, with revenues of USD 12 billion, by 2010.