BPO Industry
The Role of the BPO industry
With the increase in downsizing of multinational companies, a seismic shift is occurring in the world of work.
What were once seen as “untouchable” operational and production functions are now being dismantled in their country of origin and outsourced to another part of the world.
Given its large, highly-educated and English-speaking population, together with its prime geographical location (straddling as it does the East and West in the Northern Hemisphere), India represents a land of opportunity for the discerning CEO when it comes to seeking a suitable location for finding levels of customer service and operational skill commensurate with their business goals. The Indian BPO Reviewed…
Non-existent just a few years ago, the Indian BPO industry has now grown into a $5 billion a year industry, with over 400 multinational companies (in sectors as diverse as financial services, insurance, air, retail, manufacturing, telecom, utilities, pharmaceuticals and healthcare) availing themselves of the over 2 million highly-educated, committed and motivated support staff providing support services to businesses in customer care, finance, payment services, administration, Human Resources and content Development.
Customer care is the largest sector in India and accounts for just under 40% of the industry’s revenue. out-source customer care to India. Within customer care, voice based work and handling inbound calls (from customer seeking problem-solving type advice Your browser may not support display of this image. comprises just over 60% of the workload.
Since its initial creation over 20 years ago, the Indian BPO industry has established itself as the market leader in the voice-related work sector, and enjoys the capacity to progress from routine call-handling to high end, transaction-based services. Moreover, with many experts opining that the future of BPO lies in fully integrated ‘end to end’ services, the Indian industry is ideally placed to capitalize on this inexorable shift in global business practises.
Your browser may not support display of this image. In India, the leading BPO Your browser may not support display of this image. companies, which include ICICI OneSource, 24/7 Customer, WNS Global Services, and GE captive Genpact. Bu the competition has intensified in recent years, with established global organizations such as Accenture, IBM Global Services, ADP and Convergys entering the marketplace and making have made their huge presence feltYour browser may not support display of this image. .
The Pros and cons of Outsourcing
The twin disasters in 2001 of the world economic downturn (due in part to the crash of the dotcom bubble), and the catastrophic events of 9/11 in New York City, lead to a major reassessment of business priorities in the boardrooms of Fortune 500 (and many other) companies, and hit when the bubble burst in 2001, and accelerated the drive towards more cost-effective solutions in the form of voice-based customer support services.
The solution came when low-cost offshore locations such as India offered a highly efficient and much-needed voice-based customer support and basic telemarketing service to companies wary of hiring new, more expensive home-based employees.
As with all major business decisions there comes to bear what is known as an “opportunity cost”. On the one hand, significant cost-savings can be achieved by outsourcing all but the most intimate of business functions to an efficient offshore centre. On the other hand, some may argue that local knowledge and expertise from local employees more than outweighs the extra training, salary and pension costs incumbent on companies who hire staff in their company of operation.
The bottom line, as ever, rests the sole arbiter of this long-running dispute…
Why “Soft Skills” Are A Key Component Of The BPO Industry’s Training Program
As with any new and rapidly expanding business mode, mistakes will be made, given the “ready-fire-aim” business model being followed (as espoused by Microsoft).
With the exceptional circumstances of this growth come occasions for learning from mistakes and enhancing the so-called “soft skills” of how to handle telephone calls and orders, and display a greater cultural sensitivity to the needs of a multicultural customer base, many of whom are calling from thousands of miles away – both literally and metaphorically speaking…
On a more general level, the rise and rise of e-commerce presents a fresh set of challenges, with demands for learning new skills to prioritize and process large volumes of emails growing by the hour. Fortunately, India’s high levels of IT education facilitate this process, making it the “go-to” venue for companies large and small across the globe…