The global services market registered modest growth in 2024, with revenue increasing by 2-4% to approximately US$290 billion. This growth marked a continued deceleration from the strong post-COVID-19 rebound, driving an approximately 12% surge in global services delivery revenue in 2022. Growth slowed further in 2023, with revenue rising by only 3-5%. Moreover, the global services market saw a marginal increase in headcount in 2024, with roughly 200,000 FTEs added to the workforce across regions. In this Global Locations State of the Market Report 2025, we analyze the global services locations landscape, evaluate developments, and assess key trends to design an optimal locations portfolio strategy. The Key Trends report in this analysis examines global locations and the center landscape, adoption trends from 2024, and leaders’ priorities for building a successful location mix in 2025. The report also analyzes headcount and revenue growth trends in the global services market at geographic/regional levels. It includes a breakdown of new center setups by geography and function, including IT application development and maintenance, IT infrastructure, engineering, R&D, contact center operations, and non-voice business services.

Everest Group’s Location Spotlight reports provide a crisp, insightful assessment of established and emerging/next-wave global services delivery locations by country and city. The reports help global sourcing practitioners or location strategy professionals stay ahead of the competition in understanding key market dynamics and the related opportunities each location presents.

Everest Group’s Location Spotlight reports provide a crisp, insightful assessment of established and emerging/next-wave global services delivery locations by country and city. The reports help global sourcing practitioners or location strategy professionals stay ahead of competition in understanding key market dynamics and the related opportunities presented by each location. Our report on Shenzhen, China offers data-backed research to understand the market’s attractiveness in terms of: Key drivers, challenges, and untapped opportunities for the global sourcing industry Talent and skills availability (at both entry and experienced levels) Depth and maturity across functions Financial attractiveness (including wage inflation and attrition) Delivery presence of enterprises and service providers Key languages supported Key environment risks (such as macroeconomic, geopolitical, infrastructure, safety and security, and legal and regulatory) Location Spotlight, combined with other reports in Everest Group’s Locations Insider™ subscription, makes for the industry’s most comprehensive resource on location trends and perspectives. The Locations Insider™ subscription provides up-to-date and actionable insights on which enterprises can base their location decisions and strategies. Membership(s) Locations Insider™ Outsourcing Excellence

Everest Group’s Location Spotlight reports provide a crisp, insightful assessment of both established and emerging/next-wave global services delivery locations by country and city. The reports help global sourcing practitioners or location strategy professionals stay ahead of competition by helping them understand key market dynamics and the related opportunities presented by each location. Our report on Wuxi, China, offers data-backed research to understand the market in terms of: Key drivers, challenges, and untapped opportunities for the global sourcing industry Talent and skills availability (at both entry and experienced levels) Depth and maturity across functions Financial attractiveness (including wage inflation and attrition) Delivery presence of enterprises and service providers Key languages supported Key environment risks (such as macroeconomic, geopolitical, infrastructure, safety and security, and legal and regulatory) Location Spotlight combined with other reports in Everest Group’s Locations Insider™ subscription makes for the industry’s most comprehensive resource on location trends and perspectives. The Locations Insider™ subscription provides up-to-date and actionable insights on which enterprises can base their location decisions and strategies. Membership(s) Locations Insider™

On March 6, 2020, global Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) services provider Cielo acquired Shanghai-based AsiaNet China, a provider of RPO, executive search, recruitment, and human resources outsourcing services. The acquisition follows the increasing interest of global RPO providers in China, the world’s largest economy. While, previously, global RPO providers focused on multi-country RPO deals covering the market through partnerships, they are now exclusively establishing their presence in China to capture the China-only opportunity. This paper examines the potential impact of this acquisition on Cielo and implications for the broader RPO market. We also provide detailed insights into the acquisition and analyze the synergies that Cielo will benefit from following the integration of AsiaNet China with its business. Scope Industry: RPO Theme: M&A Geography: China Contents In this report, we share details of Cielo’s acquisition of AsiaNet China, the key drivers and implications for Cielo and the broader RPO market, and what to watch out for in the future. Membership (s) Recruitment Process (RPO)

A recent cluster of pneumonia cases first identified in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, were caused by a novel coronavirus (nCoV). The virus has shown evidence of human-to-human transmission, and its transmission rate has escalated recently. According to the latest reports, 9,800 people have been affected by this deadly virus in China. Global businesses operating in China are closing stores, scaling back operations, and restricting travel as the Chinese government races to control the coronavirus. Additionally, airlines and cruise lines are halting travel to the country, essentially causing a total lockdown. We recommend that IT-Business Process (BP) services firms migrate their critical operations to alternate delivery locations and promote the use of teleconferencing and work-from-home policies to ensure business continuity with minimal impact to operations. Additionally, the companies should implement precautionary measures in compliance with the government guidelines. (Please refer to Everest Group’s Global Locations Annual Report for a detailed risk profile.) Click here for more information on our location and service provider risk tracking services. Membership(s) Catalyst Locations Insider™ Market Vista™

Everest Group’s Next Wave Location Profiles provide crisp, yet insightful assessment of emerging / “Next-wave” countries or cities for services delivery. These reports help global sourcing practitioners or location strategy professionals stay ahead of competition in understanding global sourcing opportunities in “Next-wave” locations. This report on Guangzhou offers perspectives on key dimensions that impact its relative attractiveness, including: Key drivers, challenges and untapped opportunities for global sourcing industry Talent and skills availability (at both entry and experienced levels) Depth and maturity across functions Financial attractiveness (including wage inflation and attrition) Delivery presence of enterprises and service providers Key languages supported Key environment risks (e.g., macroeconomic, geopolitical, infrastructure, safety and security, legal and regulatory) Next Wave Location Profiles, along with other reports in Everest Group’s Locations Insider™ membership, make up the industry’s most comprehensive resource on location trends and perspectives. Membership to the Locations Insider™ provides up-to-date and actionable insights to base companies’ location decisions and strategy. Membership(s) Locations Insider™

Increasing focus on customer experience is driving firms across APAC to outsource contact center services to leverage service provider capabilities. With increase in Internet penetration and smartphone adoption, adoption of non-voice channels, such as chat and social media, is picking up pace; this is driving firms to go for multi-channel solutions. This changing landscape of the buyer requirements is providing service providers with ample opportunities to tap into the current low levels of CCO penetration in APAC. China is among the faster-growing CCO markets in the APAC region. With an increase in consumption of services by an already huge population base and rapid expansion of MNC buyers across the region, the demand for contact center services is high and CCO market is expected to grow at 15-17% from 2016-2018 to reach US$2.7-2.9 billion in 2018. Scope of the research Database of 2,500+ CCO contracts; it does not include shared services or Global In-House Centers (GICs). Coverage across 30+ CCO service providers including Aegis, Alorica, Arvato, Atento, CGI, Concentrix, Conduit Global, Conduent, Contax, Convergys, EXL, Firstsource, Genpact, HCL, Hexaware, HGS, HPE, Infosys, Intelenet, Knoah Solutions, NTT Data, Sitel, Sutherland Global Services, Sykes, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Teleperformance, TeleTech, Transcom Worldwide, Transcosmos, VXI, Wipro, Webhelp, and WNS. Contents This report will assist key stakeholders (buyers, service providers, and technology providers) understand the changing dynamics of the CCO market in APAC with a detailed assessment of attractiveness of China for CCO market. In this backdrop, the report provides comprehensive coverage of the APAC CCO market including an in-depth analysis of the market size & growth, buyer adoption trends, CCO value proposition & solution characteristics, and detailed assessment of China CCO market. Some of the findings are: Third-party contact center spends registered strong growth in APAC region over the last four years to reach US$10-11 billion in 2016. Telecom and BFSI are the dominant industries in the APAC CCO market. However, increasing demand for quality healthcare in countries such as China, along with a booming tourism industry in the region, is driving CCO demand in healthcare and travel industries. The adoption of multi-channel contracts is increasing with greater inclusion of non-voice channels such as chat and social media, to address the evolving customer need for an integrated digital experience. Increasing buyer maturity is driving buyers to adopt value-added services, such as customer analytics and performance management, in their scope. CCO adoption in China will grow at a CAGR of 15-17% to reach US$2.7-2.9 billion in 2018. This growth will be driven by its positive macroeconomic outlook, increased consumerism, and focus on customer experience. There is strong presence of local CCO providers in China as they cater to a large pool of domestic firms. Global providers occupy a small share as they currently serve a limited pool of MNC firms, although their share will increase as other multinationals enter the market. Membership (s) Contact Center Outsourcing

Introduction Everest Group’s Next Wave Location Profiles provide crisp, yet insightful assessment of emerging / “next-wave” countries or cities for services delivery. These reports help global sourcing practitioners or location strategy professionals stay ahead of competition in understanding global sourcing opportunities in “next-wave” locations.   This report on Dalian (China) offers perspectives on: Global sourcing profile (e.g., functions supported, market activity) Opportunities for enterprises and service providers Key drivers and challenges for global sourcing industry Overview of talent availability and operating costs (including wage inflation and attrition) Key environment risks (e.g., geopolitical, macroeconomic, safety) Next Wave Location Profiles, along with other reports in Everest Group’s Locations Insider™ Membership, make up the industry’s most comprehensive resource on location trends and perspectives. Membership to the Locations Insider™ provides up-to-date and actionable insights to inform companies’ location decisions and strategy.