August 29, 2025
BPOs Are the Fast Track to AI in CX. But at What Cost?
Enterprises racing to modernise voice support are increasingly turning to business process outsourcing (BPO) partners as the fastest way to plug in artificial intelligence. But could this shortcut undermine long-term control, flexibility, and customer experience outcomes?
The 2025 State of Voice in CX study by Krisp, based on responses from 819 CX leaders worldwide, found that 48% of enterprises plan to deploy AI through BPO partners within the next three months. By contrast, just 35% intend to buy directly from third-party software vendors, and 32% plan to build custom or proprietary solutions.
Weighing the Pros and Cons
BPOs can offer immediate access to tools such as AI-powered translation, noise suppression, and accent reduction, the capabilities that many enterprises lack the time or resources to implement internally. With pressure mounting from rising labour costs and growing customer expectations, the speed of BPO deployment is hard to ignore.
Yet relying on outsourcing creates a dependency that may backfire. Enterprises that hand over too much control may end up locked into vendor roadmaps, slower innovation cycles, and higher long-term costs.
The report warns that organisations using BPOs as their primary path to AI may struggle to keep pace with competitors who take direct ownership of their technology stack.
Spending patterns reveal why these decisions matter, as more than half of companies still spend the majority of their voice support budgets on onshore live agents, a costly reliance that AI is well-positioned to relieve.
BPOs could serve as a temporary solution, but enterprises may be delaying the deeper transformation needed to rebalance costs and improve service quality at scale.
