tkxel Ranked 132 in the OA500 2026 Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index, Up 70 Places from 2025

September 10, 2026
global outsourcing firm index

tkxel is ranked 132 of 3,369 firms in the OA500 2026 Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index, published by Outsource Accelerator on 20 May 2026. tkxel ranked 202 in the 2025 edition, a rise of 70 places. The 2026 edition catalogued 3,369 firms across 98 countries, approximately 12% more firms than the 2025 edition. Rank 132 of 3,369 places tkxel in approximately the top 3.9% of the catalogue.

From 202 to 132: What Changed Between the 2025 and 2026 Editions

The position itself is only half the result. The more informative figure is the distance travelled to reach it.

Where 132 Sits in a Field of 3,369 Firms Across 98 Countries

Rank 132 of 3,369 places tkxel in approximately the top 3.9% of the firms catalogued for the OA500 2026 edition. The OA500 itself is the top 500 of that catalogue, which is approximately the top 14.8%. Outsource Accelerator catalogued firms across 98 countries for the 2026 edition.

Why a 70-Place Move Was Harder in 2026 Than in 2025

The field tkxel was measured against grew by approximately 12% between the 2025 and 2026 editions. Holding position 202 in a larger catalogue would itself have required improvement. tkxel rose 70 places against that larger denominator. tkxel ranked 202 in the 2025 index , which Outsource Accelerator published in March 2025.

What the OA500 Measures

Outsource Accelerator catalogues and scores firms from publicly available data. The OA500 has no application process, no data submission by the firms being scored, and no paid placement. Firms do not nominate themselves. Scoring runs across two dimensions, Footprint and Quality, over more than 20 weighted metrics drawn from sources including Crunchbase, Glassdoor, LinkedIn and ZoomInfo. The 2026 edition added third-party customer satisfaction scores and industry awards to the Quality dimension.

What the 2026 Index Found About the Outsourcing Market: Revenue Up 36.02%, Headcount Up 0.76%

The 500 firms on the OA500 2026 index generated $897.36 billion in combined revenue, an increase of 36.02% year on year, according to Outsource Accelerator’s OA500 2026 launch report. The combined headcount of those same 500 firms grew 0.76% over the same period, a net addition of 56,811 employees. Revenue per worker across the top 500 rose from approximately $88,700 in 2025 to approximately $119,700 in 2026.

Those figures reconcile one way. The work being sold changed faster than the number of people selling it. Firms that rebuilt delivery around AI moved on that curve. Firms that added AI to an existing model did not.

Four Things That Changed at tkxel Over the Scoring Period

Outsource Accelerator does not publish per-firm score breakdowns, so no firm can point to a single cause for its position. What follows is tkxel’s own account of what changed between the 2025 and 2026 editions, set against the two dimensions the index measures.

1. AI-assisted delivery became the default, not an option

tkxel rebuilt delivery around AI-assisted execution rather than adding AI to an existing model. tkxel’s internal delivery data for the 12 months to [month, year] records AI-assisted delivery across approximately 70% of active projects and approximately 18,000 engineering hours saved.

The capability behind that number is  production AI agent systems and agentic workflows, built into live operations rather than into pilots, and generative AI systems such as retrieval-based assistants and copilots that put a model against a client’s own data instead of against a demo set.

2. The work moved upstream, from open-ended projects to roadmaps and fixed-scope pods

A larger share of tkxel engagements now begin with an AI discovery and roadmap engagement that scores candidate workflows on value and feasibility before any build starts. Engagements that start with a prioritised roadmap produce fewer abandoned pilots, and abandoned pilots are what break the link between AI spend and AI results.

What follows the roadmap is an AI Pod, a small dedicated team of an AI architect, AI engineers and a product designer, with data engineering, MLOps and security specialists brought in as the use case needs them. The pod works to a KPI agreed before the build starts, on a fixed schedule: two to three days of scoping, four weeks of build and validation, production launch in week five, measurement and handoff in week six. That structure is why a roadmap becomes a running system in four to six weeks rather than another proof of concept with no end date.

3. Modernization became the route into AI, not a separate track

Most mid-market systems cannot support AI in their current state. tkxel’s AI application modernization work treats legacy modernization and AI readiness as one programme rather than two sequential ones, which shortens the distance between a client’s existing estate and a working AI system on top of it.

4. Independent client and employer signal strengthened, which is what the 2026 edition weighted for the first time

The Quality dimension of the OA500 2026 edition draws on third-party customer satisfaction scores and industry awards. Over the same period tkxel was listed on the Inc. 5000 for a fourth consecutive year, took a Platinum award at the 2026 TITAN Business Awards for Information Technology, AI and Automation, and was named among Asia’s top inspiring workplaces for 2026. Those are inputs the index reads from outside the firm, not claims the firm supplies.

Footprint: engineering and operations delivered as one service

The OA500 catalogues firms that deliver work as an outsourced service, which covers both technology engineering and operational delivery. tkxel delivers both. Alongside its engineering work, tkxel runs outsourced business operations  across finance operations, human resources, marketing execution and back-office workflows, from delivery teams in the United States, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

What This Ranking Tells a Mid-Market Buyer, and What It Does Not

The OA500 measures observable scale, market footprint, employer signal, third-party customer satisfaction and industry recognition, drawn from public sources. For a buyer running a vendor shortlist, that makes it one of the few inputs no vendor controls.

The OA500 does not assess suitability for a specific programme, pricing, service structure or industry specialisation. Those are settled by scope, references and a delivery plan, not by an index position. A ranking is a reason to start the conversation, not a reason to skip it.

Talk to tkxel about AI-assisted delivery

If you are working out where AI-assisted delivery would change your own numbers, book a scoped conversation with the tkxel team.

Book a discovery session

About tkxel

tkxel is an AI engineering partner for mid-market and SMB businesses in the United States. tkxel builds AI systems, agentic workflows, modernized applications and custom software that run in production. tkxel was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia. tkxel delivery teams work from the United States, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

About Outsource Accelerator

Outsource Accelerator is an aggregator marketplace and advisory for business process outsourcing and an independent source of information on the sector. Outsource Accelerator publishes the annual Global Outsourcing Firm (BPO) Index, which catalogues and scores outsourcing firms worldwide, and the OA500 ranks the top 500 firms in that catalogue.

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