News on a Monday morning…Intelligent Automation is upending the BPO model

Infosys setback is sign of a more robotic time

The biggest surprise if you can call it that, in my inbox this morning, was as clear an indication as any that the traditional BPO industry is in trouble.

Infosys, which ruled the waves a decade ago, is struggling. With the recent resignation of Vishal Sikka, who was brought in as CEO by the group's chairman emeritus and cofounder, Narayana Murthy, has resigned.

The general interpretation is that the firm is facing a tough challenge in trying to redirect a business built on lucrative labor arbitrage of an India-based workforce. With the majority of Infosys's revenue still based on low-cost, skilled resources, the emerging "threat" of intelligent automation is widely being touted as a major source of disruption for the traditional BPO model.

With some industry practitioners quoting hourly robotic costs as low as one dollar, no human-based resourcing model can stand up to that.

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