Genpact: BPO, more appealing than ever

Genpact, a provider of business services and technological solutions, the biggest company in the BPO industry in terms of the number of employees domestically, continues to recruit people. Companies will increasingly look to services outsourcing as they have an ever-firmer agenda of slashing costs and are experiencing a cash shortage, believes Patrick Cogny, CEO for Europe of Genpact. Genpact, the first significant player in the BPO industry that entered the domestic market in 2005, had 1,300 employees in the two domestic centres, in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca in mid-September 2008. The company is not freezing its recruitment plans amid the current financial crisis. BPO is a services industry, says Cogny, dominated by long-term contracts and the need to fulfil customers' needs, so that the impact of the current crisis on the short term is limited. Cogny admits there will be pressures over businesses. "There will certainly be pressures as regards those expenses companies can do without, but there will also be opportunities of offering projects that should boost the profitability of our customers. Some outsourcing decisions are likely to be delayed, but pressure over costs and the cash shortage will make BPO more appealing than ever". Genpact now relies on strong liquidity and a diversified client portfolio.