Pivoting from FTE to HAI: Future of India’s BPO Industry
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The Artificial Index Annual Report 2025, from the Institute for Human-Centred AI, Stanford University, released in early April 2025, highlights the following takeaway:
“AI models excel at tasks like International Mathematical Olympiad problems, but still struggle with complex reasoning benchmarks like PlanBench. They often fail to reliably solve logic tasks even when provably correct solutions exist, limiting their effectiveness in high-stakes settings where precision is critical.”
Having stated this, I must say that AI offers exciting possibilities for BPO entrepreneurs like me. Let me share with you what we at ProcessVenue are doing in AI. Here’s a favourite quote of mine that beautifully captures our efforts:
“Humans must remain in the loop. The goal is not full autonomy, but meaningful collaboration between human and machine.”
— Demis Hassabis (Co-founder, DeepMind)
Evolution of AI over the Years: BPOs Leverage AI
Until a few years ago, when I was setting up Back Office operations for a client, Business Process Outsourcing firms (BPOs) operated large teams, handling everything from customer support to data entry. The model was characterised by long hours, repetitive tasks, and large-scale hiring to meet the growing demands.
With the emergence of ChatGPT and the rise of generative AI, clients realised that AI in BPO could handle conversations, summarise documents, extract data, and even detect sentiment — not just faster than humans, but often more accurately. BPOs began experimenting with AI in outsourcing to reduce workload and improve efficiency.
Advancements in AI in BPO led to its use in, supporting agents, suggesting replies, flagging issues, summarising calls, and handling full interactions for common queries. Today, the BPO industry is undergoing a major shift. AI in outsourcing now manages;
- FAQs through chatbots by automating responses to common queries quickly and consistently, providing instant and 24*7 support. Thus, AI enhances CX.
- Billing questions.
- Scheduling appointments.
Human agents are being upskilled to focus on complex, emotional, or strategic interactions — while AI takes care of the routine. This means fewer errors, faster resolutions and a better customer experience.
But the change isn’t just operational — it’s structural. Companies are rethinking hiring, training, and even pricing models. They are investing in AI integration, not just headcount. The focus has moved from “How many agents?” to “How smart is our system?”
In short, BPOs are evolving and those embracing AI are turning into intelligent service hubs, blending human empathy with machine efficiency. It’s the time of the HAI i.e. Human-augmented Artificial Intelligence.
AI evolved from its conceptual roots in the 1950s when the term was coined and the Turing Test was introduced, through early struggles in the 1970s and ’80s due to limited tech. It gained traction in the 1990s with practical applications like IBM’s Deep Blue. The 2010s saw a breakthrough with Deep Learning and BIG Data, powering tools like voice assistants and image recognition.
The 2020s, and particularly 2022, proved to be a turning point when AI entered the mainstream with generative models like ChatGPT. It became accessible, conversational, and highly capable across a wide range of tasks. It dramatically transformed how we work, create, and interact with technology.
Then, towards the end of 2023, a new term – AI agent started to evolve. At its core, an AI agent is a software program or system that can perceive its environment, make decisions, and take actions — all on its own — to achieve a specific goal.
In the early days of AI agents, the technology was widely adopted across industries to automate tasks, improve efficiency, and aid in decision-making. Applications included chatbots, virtual assistants, and diagnostic tools. AI was used in finance for fraud detection and trading, in retail and entertainment for personalised recommendations, and in areas like insurance and HR for automating repetitive tasks. It also powered autonomous vehicles and advanced gaming strategies, laying the foundation for AI integration across sectors.
Leaving Behind the FTE for HAI
The advent of AI agents had its use case in the BPO industry. Here, the deployment of AI agents resulted in the displacement of the FTE model. Besides automating work that resulted in agility, accuracy and improved productivity, enterprises realised the benefits accruing from Process Automation in the form of;
- 24*7 operability.
- Ability to scale instantly, and
- Deliver consistent performance without fatigue or downtime.
As a result, clients started prioritising data-backed insights over manpower-based performance metrics, reshaping outsourcing models and workforce strategies across industries.
However, in reality, the need for human expertise in overseeing AI-powered processes/workflows/tools was far from over. To build trust with stakeholders, critical thinking, empathy and ethical reasoning still had to remain key elements in a business process. Hence, ‘Human-augmented artificial intelligence’ or HAI appeared, thus ensuring AI was used responsibly and effectively to achieve better outcomes.
Some other practical applications of HAI in BPO include automating data extraction from documents using OCR and AI, transcribing and summarising customer calls in real-time, detecting sentiment and intent during interactions, flagging anomalies or exceptions for human review and pre-classify and annotating data for training AI models among other things.
Future of Indian BPO: Harnessing the Power of AI
The future of the BPO industry is intricately linked with the emergence of India as an AI powerhouse. As per the BCG-NASSCOM’s report – AI POWERED TECH SERVICES: A ROADMAP FOR FUTURE READY FIRMS, 2024, India is uniquely poised to emerge as a global leader in AI given that it possesses;
- The highest AI skills penetration with 3x more AI-skilled talent than other countries.
- Over the last seven years, the country has witnessed a 14x growth in individuals skilled with AI.
India is at the forefront of the implementation of AI. Some factors making it a leader in AI implementation are:
- It is already an outsourcing hub. Add to that, India has talented manpower and a vast pool of Data engineers- 2,68,000 IT & Computer graduates in 2024.
- Also, India has talent from Tier 2 and 3 cities, which becomes very cost-effective to clients, especially when combined with the scale and power of AI.
So, you have the required talent pool and the accompanying business infrastructure to take advantage of it. In fact, I anticipate ‘Reverse’ migration will happen in the coming few years because smart BPOs will hire from smaller cities and offices will move to Tier 2 and 3 cities.
At ProcessVenue, we have recruited engineers from leading tech institutes and have trained and certified 100+ of them in advanced AI tools. We use an in-house LMS to do this – (https://moodle.org/- an Open Source learning platform).
While hiring candidates, we check for AI readiness in using generative AI tools and AI-powered analytics tools & platforms. We also assess prompt engineering skills, a mindset for process automation, and a strong grasp of AI ethics, including data privacy and responsible use. We look for candidates who can do annotations, which is a very important function of an HAI project.
So, We at ProcessVenue are an AI-ready Organisation
We are also ready with our Data Security certifications because this is the first thing international clients ask for. We are ISO 27001:2022 certified already and are in the process of acquiring SOC 2 certification. This confirms that we have robust controls to protect customer data against unauthorised access, breaches and other cyberattacks. We are actively in the process of obtaining General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) certification, too.
Nevertheless, challenges persist. Developing and scaling AI technology is capital-intensive, and delivering cost-effective solutions in a short time is another challenge, but we are up for it.
Present & Future with HAI at ProcessVenue
At ProcessVenue, we are currently working on;
- Developing a Data Annotation tool that has huge industry potential.
- Going forward, we are looking to develop multiple AI-powered applications. (Human expertise will come into the picture when empathy or creative decision-making is required).
We are already servicing clients from the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality industry using our HAI agent-based model, followed by Logistics and we will be venturing into Finance soon. We have also built a tool that smartly automates the KYC process. In the near future, we are positive about associating with a Swiss hotel chain with our HAI offering too.
We are excited about the future with AI and HAI, as they empower us to cater to a diverse client portfolio and bring new opportunities.
ProcessVenue positions itself as a leading BPO for organisations looking to deploy or start a business in India. We can support them end-to-end, and now, with HAI, of course! Our other core BPO offerings include:
- Customer Support Services: Providing 24/7 assistance via voice, email, chat, and social media for industries such as Travel, Logistics, and Finance — all with empathetic, AI-supported human agents.
- Back Office Operations: Comprehensive support for Intelligent Data processing (IDP), document processing, freight bill processing, invoice handling and Data Extraction.
- Finance & Accounting Outsourcing Services: Bookkeeping, accounts receivable/payable, and financial data reporting with automation-driven accuracy.
- AI Support Services & Data Annotation: Precise image, video, and text annotation for machine learning models, helping tech firms build responsible AI through human-in-the-loop validation.
We also offer Virtual Assistant Services and Digital Marketing services.
To know more about ProcessVenue, please visit, https://www.processvenue.com/, or, check our offerings here- https://www.processvenue.com/our-offerings/.
FAQs
Q1. What is HAI (Human-Augmented AI) and how is it different from traditional AI or FTE-based models?
HAI stands for Human-Augmented Intelligence. Here, AI handles routine, repetitive tasks while humans focus on oversight, ethical decision-making, emotional intelligence, and creative problem-solving. The emergence of HAI is attributed to making AI trustworthy, bringing in emotional intelligence, ethical judgment, and aligning it with real-world human needs. As against AI models, which are purely automated, and FTE models which are human-centric, HAI brings in the strengths of both, the humans and AI to deliver better outcomes.
Q2. How is ProcessVenue implementing HAI in its operations?
At ProcessVenue, we have integrated AI agents to automate tasks like customer support, data entry, and KYC processes. Human agents stay in the loop to review outputs, ensure accuracy, and handle anomalies. Like, we have developed an HAI-based tool for a client in the Travel, Tourism & Hospitality industry.
Q3. What are some other practical applications of HAI in BPO?
Some other practical applications of HAI in BPO include automating data extraction from documents using Optical Character Recognition and AI, transcribing and summarising customer calls in real-time, detecting sentiment and intent during interactions, flagging anomalies or exceptions for human review and pre-classify and annotating data for training AI models, among other things.
Q4. How does ProcessVenue ensure data privacy and security
We are ISO 27001:2022 certified and are pursuing SOC 2 and GDPR compliance. These certifications validate our commitment to safeguarding client data from breaches, leaks, and unauthorised access.
Q5. How is ProcessVenue different from other AI-integrated BPOs?
Our AI readiness is what sets us apart from the competition. We have a trained talent pool, an in-house LMS for upskilling, proprietary AI tools under development, and data privacy compliance certifications. We combine the speed and efficiency of AI with human ethical oversight, making us a next-gen BPO partner.