MRO The Next Big Thing, As India Takes Over As Global Hub For Market Research
posted in Outsourcing News and Top Outsourcing deals |Source: www.indiaabroad.com
With Market Research Outsourcing (MRO) the next big thing, from just a 600-sq. ft. office in Basaveshwara Nagar in Bangalore, about 100-researchers, mostly MBAs, researchers and post-graduates in co mmerce, statistics and economics, are busy with complex market research projects for large global firms based in the US, Canada, Mexico, UK, France and Australia.
And, if Jasal Shah, the CEO of the company Markelytics Solutions is to be believed, that small place is almost ‘bursting at its seams’ with projects from abroad.
“We have two shifts to deliver the projects on time. But, we feel we have to spread out to newer locations to accommodate more people as we plan to add another 150 by the end of this year,” says Shah, a former IDC analyst and an early entrant to the growing market research outsourcing (MRO) space.
Over the last couple of years, the Indian landscape for outsourced market research is changing rapidly. While, most global firms like Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS), Market Tools and Greenfield Online are operating large captives in India, many Indian companies are gearing up to tap opportunities in market research outsourcing.
Today, India has about 15-marketing research firms, including large ones like Ugam Solutions, Annik Systems, Cross-Taband Markelytics. Even BPO firms like WNS and KPO firm like eValueserve have a significant presence in this field.
Not only do their client lists comprise of large firms, but they also count Fortune 1000 firms as customers. For example, Cross-Tab serves customers, such as, BBC, IBM, Microsoft, MSN, Oracle, Standard Chartered and Nike among others. Markelytics claims to have successfully delivered over 300-projects for over 30-customers across the globe, including SAP, BBC, Gallo and Gallup.
“I believe it is a high growth area and outsourcing has become an integral part of the strategic planning of all major Marketing Research firms. We have been doing this since 2000 and the capability in India has matured enough to handle more and more complex tasks in the industry,” said Rahul Sahgal, president & CEO of Annik Systems, a Gurgaon-based MR firm.
According to European Society of Market Research (ESOMAR), a global association of market research professionals, the global market research industry is estimated to be about $21-billion, of which 50% can be outsourced.
The NASSCOM-McKinsey ITeS report puts the opportunity in the Market Research domain in excess of $5-billion. Industry sources say that most of the Market Research firms in India are growing at more than 80% year-on-year and expected to grow further in the next two years.
The lucrativeness of Market Research outsourcing can be gauged from the fact that Raman Roy, considered to be the pioneer of the BPO industry in India and ex-Chairman & Managing Director of Wipro Spectramind (now Wipro BPO), is among the promoters of Annik Systems. Roy has a 40% stake in the company.
Looking at future opportunities, the Indian Market Research firms are busy strengthening their North American and European operations by roping in global experts to head their teams. Markelytics has roped in Fredrik Nauckhoff, a former president of ESOMAR, to its board. Nauckhoff, with over 30-years of experience in market research, will be responsible for heading Markelytics’ European operations.
Cross-Tab, another Bangalore-based market research firm, has appointed US-based Kumar Mehta, former Director - Research at Microsoft’s headquarters, as Global CEO, a recently created post.
As for, Ugam Solutions, it has appointed Gregg Peterson, a former Millward Brown Vice President, as Executive Vice President, responsible for North American operations. Says Peterson: “Over the past few years, India has performed spectacularly in the market research outsourcing segment. India has the right blend of talent, technology and work culture to cater to the growing needs of customers across the globe.”
Adds Jasal Shah of Markelytics: “Indians are considered more analytical, with very strong knowledge of mathematics, statistics. I feel this will be an added advantage to our capabilities of timely delivering large projects and proven record in the outsourcing sector.”
According to a recent research report by Kedar Sohoni and Aswin Mittal, both directors of Cross-Tab Marketing Services, over 80% of the Fortune-500 companies are directly or indirectly looking at outsourcing large parts of their Marketing Research back-office works, including Marketing Research processes, to off-shore locations like India.
While, a majority of the Marketing Research works presently being outsourced to India are in data processing and survey programming, as maturity levels of off-shore locations increase, outsourcing of other components is bound to increase.
“The one area that we are yet to prove ourselves is in the computer-aided telephone interview (CATI) segment, a complex voice- and programming-based activity that has not yet gained as much acceptance as other activities. The next opportunities in this space will be more in analytics and data management. This will move companies up the value chain to provide more complex services,” adds Rahul Sahgal of Annik Systems.
India’s gene pool is much to be envied, as one thing that all Indians have in common is an abundance of grey cells, grey cells that are beginning to dominate the world, grey cells and work ethic that are much in demand. Is the West going back to its Neanderthal stage? Looks quite likely, as everything that involves brain power is off-shored / outsourced to India, while muscle power is the only domain the West continues to excel in. Case in point, Iraq, Afghanistan and sooner or later Iran, as well! Oh, well! It is to be hoped that Indian philosophy and spirituality can find a way to influence the Neanderthal thinking of the West, replacing its smug superiority complex with a from the heart emotions that reflect Vedic principles of ‘We are Family!’, a global family, regardless of caste, colour or creed!
