Our market

Leading in a growing market 

We are the UK’s market leader in providing BPO services. Our unrivalled infrastructure and capability provide us with a strong competitive edge across our markets and enable us to present strong propositions to clients.

Competitor rankings UK BPO market * Market share
 1.Capita  27%
 2.Xchanging 7%
 3.Accenture  5%
 4.HP Enterprise Services** 5%
 5.BT Global Services 4%
* Source: Ovum 2008 and 2009
** HP Enterprise Services was formerly EDS

We focus on the UK and Ireland where there are significant opportunities for growth. A recent independent survey estimated the UK market’s potential at £94.2bn per annum, split 2:1 between private and public sectors respectively. In 2009, the total market for BPO was estimated at £6bn.*

We constantly expand our offering in existing markets and broaden into complementary new market segments. In 2009 our private/public sector split was 50%/50% (2008: 52%/48%). Over time, we expect to move closer to the overall market’s 2:1 ratio but we will continue to pursue the most attractive opportunities irrespective of their market sector.

We currently operate in nine distinct markets where the drivers for seeking outsourced solutions and professional support services are strong.

The majority of our markets contain a stable set of responsible competitors providing a healthy market place in which to bid. New entrants to our markets face significant barriers to entry as it takes time and scale to establish a strong presence.

 Total UK BPO market chart
Public/private split by revenue chart