This IDC study represents a comprehensive overview of the market opportunities and forecasts for human resources (HR) and training business process outsourcing (BPO) in the Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) or APEJ region. This HR and training BPO overview covers qualitative as well as quantitative insights across 12 APEJ countries from 2005 up to 2010. This report builds on the inaugural HR and training BPO report published in 2005. Recommendations and evaluations are made possible through IDC's continuous engagement of HR and training BPO players across APEJ, which includes interviews with executives, site visits, customer interviews, and using IDC's contracts database (DB).

This study is of value to HR and training BPO SPs as well as enterprises in answering questions such as, "Where do the opportunities in HR and training outsourcing in APEJ lie?," "How big was it a few years ago?," "How big will it get in five years' time?," "How fast is it growing?," "What areas of HR outsourcing are hot (e.g., payroll, staffing, and benefits) in addition to training?," and "Is HR strategically positioned to become a true business partner in corporations?"

"HR and training comprise one of the key drivers of BPO in the APEJ region but there still needs to be a mindset change that sees HR as a strategic business partner within corporations. Recruiting, retaining, and motivating talents would be one of the key challenges for HR outsourcing vendors as enterprises demand the right skills at the right place at the right price for their businesses," says Conrad Chang, senior analyst, BPO Research, IDC Asia/Pacific.