In my line of work, I'm often asked what the is difference between a business process outsourcer (BPO) and a knowledge process outsourcer (KPO)? So much of that comes down to technology. One key distinction is that BPOs focus more on simple automation of repetitive tasks. Some BPOs will rely on human capital to perform these tasks, while others invest in robotic process automation (RPA) to speed things up. KPOs differ from BPOs in that they provide their customer base with much deeper domain expertise and a much higher-value level of analysis.

It's now a strategic imperative that business leaders conceptualize how business and IT services can be bundled with "smart" technologies, like cognitive computing or machine learning, to create innovative service models and intellectual property (IP) for new revenue streams. Speaking ahead of the Gartner Sourcing & Strategic Vendor Relationships Summit 2016 in London, Frances Karamouzis, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, said, "Smart machines are not future fantasy. They are commercially available -- it has been estimated that more than 10 billion of smart machine technologies have already been purchased through more than 2,500 companies. Services related to smart machines may be five to 10 times the size of the aggregate technology market. The new normal is that "recruited" smart algorithms, smart machines, robots and cognitive bots (with artificial intelligence) will occupy the domains of expertise historically fulfilled by people.