The entry of established, adjacent players in an emerging market is a sign of good times. This is now happening with legal process outsourcing.
I began writing about legal outsourcing (onshore and offshore) five years ago. Since then, the LPO market has grown. There have been countless articles in both the legal and general press (the most recent being Contract with India: Legal outsourcing, Financial Post, 25 April 2008). And the number of LPOs as tracked by Joy London and me is now over 100.
Another positive sign for a market is when established players enter it. Infosys and Wipro are two of the largest and most successful outsourcing companies in India. On April 28th, the Economic Times reports in Wipro logs on to LPO services that Wipro “has started offering legal process outsourcing (LPO) services.” As Wipro notes on its LPO web page, “With growing focus on profitability and cost reduction by corporations & law firms, things are beginning to change – and, like in many industries, outsourcing is playing a key role.” Earlier, on 5 Nov 2007, the Economic Times reported in Law & order: Infosys to foray into LPO business. (See the Infosys LPO web page.)
It will be interesting to see the impact of these well-established companies on the LPO market. Both Wipro and Infosys have great brand equity in business process and IT outsourcing. It’s not obvious, however, that this brand equity counts for much with general counsels. What may matter more are the relationships both have with with CIOs, CFOs, or COOs and whether introductions from them effect CLO decision-making.