Benori Knowledge is a global provider of custom research and analytics solutions across industries, including consumer & retail, technology, media & telecom, internet & e-commerce, professional services, financial services, healthcare, industrials and education & social. Benori understands its clients’ needs and provides flexible and scalable research and analytics solutions to increase their value generation and meet their goals. Powered by technology, Benori delivers significant insights to solve challenging business questions and simplify decision-making for key stakeholders in their clients’ business.
In an exclusive interaction, Ashish Gupta, the Co-founder and CEO of Benori, talks about the company’s vision, and how Benori is keeping pace with the evolving demands of the KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) sector.
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As one of the world's KPO hubs, how is the market opportunity for knowledge services evolving in India?
India has always been a favorite KPO destination for global corporations due to its young demography and skilled human resources that are prepared to meet the industry demand. Financial services were the first to tap into this pool, but the demand quickly percolated into FMCG, R&D, automobile, telecom, banking, insurance, engineering and more. In 2022 alone, over 100 MNCs are expected to set-up GCCs in the country, on top of the existing 1,300+ capability centers, for both process-driven and strategic projects. COVID-19 has also fast-tracked digital transformation, with more companies investing in talent growth and talent search to meet the rising demand for AI and analytics, for which the supply gap is expected to be 20X the current capacity by 2024. And above all, low cost and relevant skills remain the cornerstone for India being a high-end knowledge operations center, a perfect win-win for both parties.
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What are the challenges that you believe confront the KPO industry in India today?
India’s KPO industry has grown to deliver high-impact value propositions to its clients through specialized knowledge and expertise, that in-turn demands a skilled workforce that possess domain experience, and advanced 21st century analytical skills. In recent years, retaining these skilled workers has been a key challenge due to the increasing workload and unadjusted compensation. The pandemic has further upended this challenge with the high reliance on technology that much of the current workforce haven’t been trained in. Of the 8 million yearly graduates, roughly 50,000 emerge equipped with the ‘future skills’ from a handful of elite institutions, as most engineering colleges lack the talent in faculty as well. The demand for big data and AI computing has also outstripped talent supply seven-times. Given the widening talent supply gap, a massive reskilling initiative needs to be undertaken at the personal, corporate and national level to meet the rising demand.
How is Benori addressing these challenges?
On the servicing front, Benori deploys a multifaceted strategy that combines advanced research techniques along with specialized tools to get deeper insights and provide comprehensive solutions that meet client objectives. By formulating service-level agreements with clients and using highly secured networks for all our operations, Benori maximizes its efforts to eliminate any risks regarding data privacy and data breach. Our core values form the backbone of all our operations: excellence in client delivery, intellectual curiosity and a growth mindset, agility and continuous innovation, collaboration, trust and transparency, and integrity and highest standards of ethical behaviour. Benori’s culture of lifelong learning that includes role- and skill-based training, periodic feedback and mentoring sessions, and people-first mindset helps its workforce remain equipped to meet the rising complexities and demands of the industry. Since COVID-19, employee well-being and mental health has taken a front seat in our work culture.
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How does Benori stand apart from contemporaries in the space?
What truly sets Benori apart from its contemporaries is its vision to bring down the cost of knowledge on the planet, and democratizing it. In less than 5 years of inception, Benori has become a global knowledge provider, serving 150+ global clients in 75+ countries and in 21+ languages. We provide a variety of solutions to meet our clients' strategic needs, that in-turn helps accelerate growth and offers the knowhow for dealing with the current uncertain, and dynamic business environment. We also understand that no two businesses are alike, and hence we provide our clients with different engagement models that include project-based support, dedicated full-time support and rapid research support that helps optimize both overall cost and time spent. Our ability to provide actionable insights with expert validation positions us uniquely in the KPO industry.
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You recently released market research on the BNPL segment. Could you please elaborate on the key findings gleaned from the same?
BNPL is at a nascent stage right now, globally as well as in India, but holds incredible growth potential. COVID-19 dramatically transformed consumer preferences that in-turn led to an unprecedented growth in e-commerce, thus driving up the demand for new and alternative forms of online payment. Sweden, Germany and Norway are headlining this event, and our research confirms how rapidly India is catching up. BNPL will hold 14% of e-commerce transaction value by 2026, growing nearly 5X from the current level of 3%. Our survey results indicate that an overwhelming 90% of consumers will likely shop from a store, either offline or online, that offer BNPL options during check-out. Undoubtedly, with the ever-increasing e-commerce volume, a promising FinTech ecosystem, and other growth drivers coming together, the Indian BNPL market is poised for steady growth in the coming years.
