In today's maturing BPO industry, the stand-outs will be focused, nimble service providers that are structured to scale up or down as clients require, with an ability to solve problems and put together solutions with minimum fuss and expense. One such service provider, which has been enjoying a healthy period of growth and profitability for the last couple of years, is WNS – clearly flourishing under the leadership of Keshav Murugesh.

What stood out to HfS after a day we spent snowed into New York City with the WNS leadership team at the beginning of March is the absolute focus on active listening and engagement with their client base in select industries. Expecting to surpass $500 million in revenues this fiscal year for the first time ($471m for FY13), WNS has established a presence as a pure-play BPO, particularly in its heritage industries of travel and transportation and insurance, with a strength in Finance and Accounting services and recent strides in analytics and retail.

The company is in a process of “reinvention” through higher value engagement models and embedded analytics, driven by its new theme of “We Nurture Specialists.”