Insights ¦ The title of this paper is The-UnBPO-Quarterly-Aug2025

Key Takeaways

1. The future of business process services (BPS) is driven by the concept of UnBPO™, shifting from traditional models to outcome-based, technology-agnostic solutions.
2. Agentic AI enables organisations to reconfigure roles into specialised micro-roles, transforming workforce structures into networked, autonomous teams.
3. Deep domain expertise fundamentally increases organisational resilience and sustainability, allowing businesses to sustain long-term value across generations.
4. AI-powered customer service, particularly Agentic AI, dramatically reduces backlogs, enhances personalisation, and delivers proactive, 24/7 support.
5. The paradigm shift towards Services-as-Software anticipates a $1.5 trillion market by 2035, disrupting conventional SaaS and IT services revenue streams.
6. Success in future business services hinges on mastering three core competencies: people management, product management, and ecosystem management.
7. Agentic AI’s autonomous systems facilitate goal-oriented processes, continuous orchestration, and adaptable, collaborative workflows.
8. Organisations should focus on human-AI partnership models, leveraging continuous learning, transparency, and trust to enhance decision-making and operational agility.
9. The debt collection industry is evolving through AI-driven, empathetic mechanisms that prioritise compliance, customer experience, and recovery rates.
10. Advanced AI enables hyper-personalised, omni-channel customer engagement, improving customer satisfaction and recovery outcomes.
11. Organisations must rethink IT budgets, prioritising outcome-based, AI-driven services over static infrastructure and traditional outsourcing.
12. Building long-term organisational resilience involves community investment, breaking hierarchical structures, and orchestrating a network of diverse partnerships.

Key Statistics

• US consumer debt has reached USD 18.2 trillion, with credit card balances at USD 1.18 trillion.
• 7.04% of credit card debt was delinquent for 90 days or more, with seriously delinquent accounts increasing by 8.5% quarter-over-quarter to 12.3%.
• 71% of customers expect personalised experiences; 76% are frustrated when they do not receive them.
• 40% reduction in operational costs via AI-powered self-service options.
• AI-driven collections achieving a 10% boost in recoveries and a 30% increase in customer satisfaction.
• Over 60% of enterprises plan to replace some professional services with AI solutions before 2030.
• McKinsey reports a 37% higher success rate in organisations practising human-AI collaboration.
• 61% improvement in worker productivity where augmentation tools are used, compared to 45% with automation alone.
• AI is predicted to develop into a $1.5 trillion market by 2035, absorbing revenue from traditional markets.

Key Discussion Points

• The shift towards outcome-based, technology-agnostic business process services via UnBPO™ as a response to increasing industry complexity.
• The importance of deep domain expertise as a long-term organisational asset, inspired by longevity principles from Japanese shinise companies.
• The role of Agentic AI in creating autonomous, networked organisations with specialised micro-roles, replacing full-stack roles.
• The evolution of the enterprise IT landscape, emphasizing AI-powered, adaptive hybrid solutions over static SaaS and labour-heavy services.
• The potential of Services-as-Software to unlock a USD 1.5 trillion market by 2035, fundamentally disrupting traditional revenue streams.
• The essential competencies needed for success in the emerging landscape: people management, product management, and ecosystem orchestration.
• The transformation of customer support through Agentic AI to eliminate backlogs, increase responsiveness, and enhance personalisation.
• The significance of human-AI partnerships, with emphasis on transparency, trust, and continuous learning for sustainable growth.
• The strategic importance of empathetic collections that integrate AI insight, compliance, and customer-centric engagement.
• The imperative for organisations to redesign their IT budgets and infrastructure to prioritise outcome-based, AI-enabled services.
• The critical need for community investment and dismantling hierarchy to build resilient, future-proof organisations.
• The overarching theme that successful transformation relies on agility, broad collaboration, and a focus on long-term value creation.

Document Description

This article functions as a comprehensive thought leadership piece outlining the next frontier in business process services, driven by AI-driven transformation and outcome-focus. It explores how organisations can reimagine roles, leverage Agentic AI, and adopt new operational models such as UnBPO™ and Services-as-Software. The piece discusses industry-wide trends, strategic imperatives, and technological innovations across sectors such as customer service and debt collection, all aimed at positioning enterprises for sustainable success over the long term. It advocates a shift from traditional, labour arbitrage-based models to resilient, skill-rich, networked organisations aligned with evolving technological and geopolitical landscapes.