InfoTrends' 2008-2013 forecast for the US document outsourcing market continues to bring perspective to the ever-evolving market space. The full report included actual and forecasted revenues across the primary segments of On-Site Contracted Services, Transaction Document Services, Off-Site Contracted Services and Document Process Outsourcing (DPO).
The Total Document Outsourcing Market
Like so many other industries, the document outsourcing market was negatively impacted by the recession. The market is expected to decline through 2010 as the effects of the down economy linger. InfoTrends believes that revenues will begin to rebound in the outer years of the forecast period. With the economy stabilizing, companies are starting to refocus their attention on core business strategies and engage external assistance for non-core areas, such as document and business communications services.
Revenues within the document outsourcing industry were valued at $36.2 billion in 2008, and they are expected to reach nearly $38.6 billion by 2013. This represents a rather flat CAGR of 1.3%. Nevertheless, InfoTrends believes this change does not tell the whole story, since the market is affected by a combination of flat or declining revenue categories that depress overall growth and revenue categories with stronger growth and higher margins.
Market Segments
Of the $36.2 billion document outsourcing market, nearly $9.8 billion of revenues came from On-Site Contracted Services in 2008. Over the course of the forecast period, On-Site Contracted Services revenues will experience a CAGR of 2.6%, which is a rather slow growth rate but still faster than what is expected for Off-Site Contracted Services or Transaction Document Services. By 2013, revenues for On-Site Contracted Services are expected to surpass $11.1 billion.
The Off-Site Contracted Services segment accounted for revenues of more than $23 billion in 2008. Although this is the largest segment of the total document outsourcing market and is expected to remain so throughout the forecast period, Off-Site Contracted Services are expected to show a CAGR of only 0.5%. Revenues are expected to dip in the early years of the forecast period due to residual effects of the current economic downturn before beginning to rebound. The end result is that revenues in 2013 are expected to be quite similar to those from 2008.
The Transaction Document Services segment is expected to experience a CAGR of 0.4% between 2008 and 2013. This is the flattest CAGR that is expected in any of the document outsourcing segments. Revenues will move from $2.79 billion in 2008 to $2.84 billion in 2013.
Although Document Process Outsourcing is the smallest segment of the Document Outsourcing market in terms of revenues, it is also the segment that is expected to show the highest growth. Increasing interest to optimize and instill continuous improvement in document related process, coupled by service providers' desires to increase their strategic relevance with existing and new customers, will drive growth in this segment. Revenues within this segment are expected to climb from $472 million in 2008 to $905 million in 2013, demonstrating a CAGR of 13.9%.
Document outsourcing remains a large growth opportunity for service providers who can address customers' business challenges with a unique combination of know-how, print business knowledge and execution excellence. Overall declines in enterprise document spending are expected to impact short-term growth, but the propensity for outsourcing is expected to increase as time goes on. Now that the economy is beginning to stabilize, some key segments are poised for a rebound. Companies will be looking for new ways to reduce costs, eliminate overhead, and streamline operations with an eye on the bottom line.
MATT SWAIN is a senior consultant for InfoTrends' Document Outsourcing and TransPromo Consulting Services, and EVE PADULA is the manager of InfoTrends Publishing, Editing, News and Research Services. For the full report, "U.S. Document Outsourcing Market Forecast: 2008-2013," please visit store.infotrendsresearch.com/product_p/106038.htm.
