MOVE over BPO here comes PPO

The new trend to watch out for is person to person offshoring (PPO), global research and analytics firm Evalueserve said. According to Evalueserve, PPO consists of services that can be offshored to individual professionals by entrepreneurs seeking to bootstrap their business and can be utilised by anyone with the technology advances and growth of internet in today's world. All a professional requires to render these services is a PC and a reliable internet connection. Though, each PPO contract is often of low value usually between $100 and $5,00 (Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 20,000), yet, due to the large number of end consumers involved, the total addressable market in the US alone has exceeded $20 billion. The services being outsourced spans across online tutoring, website development, graphic design, database and software development, writing, editing and translation, accounting and tax preparation services, home and landscape design, marketing and sales support and creating legal drafts. According to Evalueserve, the sector generated annual revenues of over $250 million in fiscal year ended March 31, which will grow to over $2 billion by 2015, representing a cumulative annual growth of 26 percent. The payments, which could be based on a per hour or a fixed final cost basis, are generally made through wire transfers, cheques or credit cards. The industry is currently operating through two business models - first being direct model where a client signs a contract directly with the vendor from a low-cost location. Under the more prevalent Online Marketplace model, the PPO vendors and clients enroll at an online marketplace - which could be free or may involve a subscription fee or percentage of contract value or revenue after winning a project. After evaluating bids from various vendors, the client awards the work to selected vendor or freelancer. In this model, the online marketplace typically earns 5-15 per cent of the contract price in return for an assurance of a minimum service level from the vendor. The fastest growing segment is editorial and writing services, which include writing for books, copy writing, editing, proof-reading, news articles, newsletters, press releases, translation and web content. These tasks do not require expensive infrastructure and people can work from homes.