Outsourcing is subcontracting a task to a third party company. The decision to outsource a particular service is driven by factors like achieving cost efficiency, top line growth, and focusing on core competencies. The term offshoring and outsourcing are often used interchangeably. However, there is slight difference between the two – In case of outsourcing; buyer may choose to subcontract its task to a vendor within its geography, while in case of offshoring a buyer typically subcontracts the task at a far off location. For example a buyer located in the US may offshore the task to be performed at locations such as India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Philippines, and China.
Legal outsourcing means subcontracting legal tasks at far off locations like India. The kind of legal tasks that are typically performed at these locations include document review, contract management, patent services, legal research, litigation support, legal coding, and legal transcription. Major buyers for these kind of services include law firms and corporate legal departments located at high-cost destinations like the US, UK, and other European countries.
LPO companies in India can be broadly classified into three categories – One, promoted by lawyers – two, promoted by BPOs and IT companies – and three, promoted by other entrepreneurs having financial strengths. Also, there are few captive center units managed by firms abroad. Currently there are over 150 LPOs operating in different parts of the country.
This is perhaps a great opening for the young entrepreneurs and existing businesses to serve the growing requirements of US and UK law firms and legal departments. The Indian LPO market alone is expected to reach 4 billion mark by 2015. However, setting up a LPO is not an easy task and offers a lot of complexities in overall management. Our experience of working with numerous clients tells us that a majority of them do not understand the trivial legislative and operational issues of legal process outsourcing business. Infact, a majority of LPOs fail because they lack operational expertise to deliver the desired output on time to their clients. We believe, apart from necessary funding and infrastructure, companies also require expert intelligence to develop concrete business plan and procure right mix of capabilities to build a robust and sustainable business model which could deliver consistent results as per the client’s expectations.
There is no single-stop answer to this question. It all depends on where you are and what you want to achieve. To address this in detail, we would require a thorough understanding of your current portfolio by evaluating your current capabilities including IT infrastructure, manpower, marketing - onshore and offshore capabilities, and other resources. Once our Consultants evaluate the key aspects, they could estimate kind of investments required to venture into an LPO business. ROI depends upon the investment made, people behind the veil and long term vision of the entrepreneur.
Apart from facing stiff competition from existing LPO companies in India, the upcoming companies face competition from LPOs based in other countries like Israel, Sri Lanka and Philippines. The competition also comes from temporary attorneys performing similar work at low costs in the US and UK markets.
Presently, there is no regulatory body governing the norms of the LPO industry in India. However, KPO Consultants has been in dialogue with several key associations like Nasscom, CII and PHDCCI to form a regulatory body in India. This would help industry setting up some standards to win confidence of buyers abroad.
KPO Consultants is the pioneer consulting company which provides business solutions exclusively to the LPO industry. We work with the established and aspiring LPOs to set up their LPO ventures and overcome their complicated business problems and also help management make big decisions affecting top line growth of their company. KPO Consultants offers consulting in areas of strategy, operations, technology, marketing and sales, human resources, and strategic alliances.
We understand that our clients work under a highly sophisticated scenario where issues related to data security and confidentiality form the fulcrum of the industry. For this very reason, we hire consultants who are not only well aware about these issues but also have gained credibility in the marketplace. Further, our consultants adhere by strict guidelines and prior agreements with clients before undertaking any project. This ensures that there is no breach of confidentiality between us and the clients.
FAQs
