COVID Screwed Over a Lot of BPOs

What did COVID-era demand hide?

The fundamental problems in how most BPOs operate.

Not because of the lockdowns or remote work chaos, but because it felt so good at the time.

Remember 2020–2022? Clients were desperate. New business practically walked through the door. Seat counts jumped. Some BPOs saw big year-over-year growth without changing a thing about how they operated. For new entrants it was like starting a business on easy mode. For established players it felt like validation that their model was working.

COVID created artificial demand that masked those problems. Now the party's over. Demand has leveled off, and the market is crowded with more players than ever, all fighting for the same shrinking pie. Automation is deflecting calls, and AI is starting to eat volume. Clients are fundamentally changing what they're buying. They don't just want headcount anymore. They want outcomes, modernization, strategic thinking, and a partner who can help them rethink how work gets done, not just execute the current process more cheaply.

Why are most BPOs resisting the change?

Because change feels impossible, expensive or unnecessary.

When we talk to BPO CEOs, most acknowledge that sales are harder today. Prospect conversations sound different than they did a few years ago. When we explain what needs to change, whether the sales approach, the positioning, the engagement model or the service offerings, they nod along. Then nothing happens.

Because what they really want is: "Get me more leads without me doing any work or making any changes."

Why? Because change feels impossible. Some think it's too expensive. Others genuinely don't know where to start. Many are in outright denial that change is necessary at all, since the way most BPOs operate today hasn't fundamentally changed in decades.

Can better sales and marketing fix an offer that has not changed?

No. If the offer is the same, the leads will stop.

Change is necessary. Savvy outsourcers are reading the tea leaves: embedding technology into their offerings, moving away from the per-seat model, and developing specialized solutions for specific industries or use cases. Why buyers gravitate toward the firms that have gone deep on a specific industry.

So if your value proposition is still "we'll give you a team at a steep discount, manage them well enough to mostly hit your scorecard, and replace them when they inevitably turn over," no salesperson or marketer, however skilled, is going to drive more leads for you long-term. Not with the old prospecting playbook that's already stopped generating callbacks.

Which BPOs will thrive over the next decade?

The ones willing to rethink what they sell and who they sell it to.

The BPOs that thrived during COVID were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. The ones that will thrive over the next decade will be the ones that fundamentally rethink what they're selling, and who they're selling it to.