The call center industry has been present in the market for so many years already and its extensive presence in the industry has promoted innovation and expansion within the industry. This has brought about changes in the market, especially now that companies are constantly looking for ways on how to conduct their processes seamlessly and more efficiently. Part of its innovation as well, is the emergence of and virtual call centers and its acceptance into mainstream contact center processes.

When companies found that they could successfully shift operations of call center services to call center outsourcing provider’s years ago, many jumped at the chance, fueling an outsourcing boom to places such as the Philippines and India.  Now however, some companies are choosing to go with an in-house model for call center operations, moving away from the outsourcing trend.

A number of outsourcing companies have sold or are now selling their subsidiaries after less than stellar performance these past few months. In what had been previously hailed as the need for diversity in outsourcing offerings, some companies are now realizing that they may have bitten off more than they can chew.

What have certainly abounded this first quarter are the strategic partnerships that have been formed among different types of companies across the industry. Efforts to diversify their product offerings are at the root of this trend as competition for outsourcing contracts increases.

For the first quarter 2010, expectations and estimates are high, buoyed by the continued recovery of the economy from the recession. And although there have been job cuts and closing of centers in some outsourcing companies such as Convergys (NYSE:CVG) who is laying-off of 677 people in Albuquerque in the US as it closes its center there; the outlook still remains positive.

Contrary to what some naysayers of outsourcing are saying, the industry is alive and well, and it seems that it’s going to stay for a long while yet. As mentioned in a previous article, competition in outsourcing is becoming very stiff now, what with the industry expanding, as is what professional services firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers surmised in its Jan, 2010 report. Everyone wants a piece of the cake, but when everyone’s toting the same salver, it’s a bit difficult to decide to whom to give a piece to.

As a follow-up to a recent article, the IT Industry is riding the wave of change in all fronts from operations upgrades and expansions to more adverse developments, and on what better board could it have ridden on but the outsourcing community.