Marketing of IT Services

Marketing of IT Enabled Services
INTRODUCTION
What is Information Technology (IT)?
• IT is a term referring to both telephony and computer technology
• IT includes all forms of technology used to create, store,
exchange and use information in its various forms (business
data, voice conversation, still images, motion pictures,
multimedia presentations and other forms, including those not
yet conceived).
• The term IT includes:
• Hardware,
• Software,
• Internet Service,
• Cables and Wires, etc.
IT or Information Technology has probably been the most redefined

term over the past few years. The definition has varied from simple
automation of manual processes using micro processors to computers
to networks to desktop publishing to networking.
Information technology is defined and characterized by the domain of

its usage and therefore the tools that are used in that domain typically
contribute to IT's definition.
Information Technology – The Indian Scenario

As in most countries, computers and IT have been around for a long
time in India. But, considered as an industry gaining global recognition
and as having an internationally competitive future, IT’s much-
publicized growth in India has been a much more recent phenomenon.
Software exports, the earliest harbinger of a more widespread IT
expansion, began only in 1985, when Texas Instruments established its
1
subsidiary in Bangalore. This move was followed not only by other

foreign software companies setting up operations in that city and
elsewhere but also by a number of domestically-established software
companies (Tata Consultants, Wipro, Infosys, HCL Technologies and
others).
In more recent years, as the internet has expanded globally, these
earlier investments have been followed by an explosion of start- up
internet companies and by early efforts of a few well-established
manufacturing companies at using the internet and other forms of
communication to improve efficiency in their operations.
IT manufacturing also has occurred in India for many years and has
included investment by multinational companies, as IBM’s early
involvement in India suggests. Today, many foreign producers of
computers and peripherals (HP, IBM, Compaq, Canon, etc.) have
manufacturing operations in the country, often in joint ventures with
Indian companies. There are in addition a number of wholly Indian
companies, exemplified by HCL, a company that formerly had a joint
venture with HP but has now taken over the enterprise. A variety of
other manufacturers exist, including producers of peripherals,
electronic supplies and fiber optic equipment, among others, including
Modi Xerox, Tata Liebert and Wipro as examples.
The Three Landmarks – Evolution of IT

Industry:
The early 1970s saw large computer organizations like IBM and ICL as
the dominant players in the industry. The trend then was not to sell but
install the hardware, lease it and provide a range of services to users.
Soon, in the eighties, three major trends started emerging which
revolutionized the industry.
2
The first, an increasingly smaller size of hardware became available

due to a technology called large-scale integration of circuits or what is
commonly now known as ‘chips’. It is now commonly known that the
power of hardware of the seventies, which was a large as an office
room, is now down to the power of a personal computer.
The second very noticeable trend that emerged was that the size and
cost of hardware became irrelevant when compared to the software
development around the hardware; this made software increasingly
powerful and a far more influential tool in the development and use of
systems. The early eighties saw the emergence of powerful hardware
and a large variety of software. This industry witnessed a growing
number of hardware vendors and software companies. The traditional
monopolies were broken. The most notable of these new companies
was Microsoft, which, due to creative development and increasing
popularity of software, in only a decade, has become one of the largest
companies globally.
The third major development that took place towards the eighties
which had an impact on the hardware and the software industry was
the speed and use of satellite communication. It became evident that if
users were to use powerful hardware it was not necessary to own it or
even be physically close to it. The software resting on the hardware at
distant locations or even other countries could be reached by satellite
telecommunication through PCs or dump terminals. This made it
possible for users to access a variety of hardware or software
anywhere around the world on ordinary telephone lines.
Providing IT services became more important and that is where the

industry rests. IT emerged, in the late eighties, as a combination of
several facets; hardware, software and communications. It became
evident then that information technology had a wide range and scope –
3
covered a variety of hardware, several operating systems, innumerable

application software that facilitates development and easier interface
with the user. IT specializations have facilitated working in many
sectors such as banking, finance, mining, steel, transportation,
government and what not.
IT ENABLED SERVICES
Given the advances made in technology, especially information

sciences, the world has shrunk. This has resulted in a big business
opportunity because companies can now outsource service
requirements using technology and infrastructure to low cost centers.
IT enabled services help companies to support information
requirements, both internally and externally with the help of
computers and telecom networks.
With this, the logic of labor outsourcing has been stretched to the
other extreme. Earlier, outsourcing was limited to raw materials only;
now even services and support functions can be outsourced beyond
geographical barriers. With IT enabled services any company can have
24-hour access and interaction with its customers anywhere in the
world.
4
In the past, outsourcing was limited because of physical barriers.

Historically, manufacturing facilities, especially in labor-intensive
areas, got transferred to low cost countries, like China, India, and rest
of South East Asia. The advances in information sciences has resulted
in outsourcing of services, which has created in its wake a new
segment called IT enabled services. The adjective IT highlights the fact
that IT infrastructure is the key to its growth.
IT enabled services are the growth opportunities for the new

millennium. Its rapid growth is an outcome of
• Declining charges for telecom infrastructure

• Declining unit cost of computing power
• Increasing tendency to outsource non-core competency areas.
Types of IT Enabled Services companies:
There are two kinds of companies who set up IT enabled services

operations. The first kind is the companies, which set up captive
operations. The captive companies do business processing for their
own international businesses only. Examples of these kinds of
companies include HSBC (Hyderabad), American Express, British
Airways (Bombay), Citibank (Chennai), Dell (Bangalore) etc.
The second kind of companies is called the third party providers. Third
party providers as the name suggests provide outsourcing services to
other companies. The third party providers are in a sense just like the
5
internet software services firms which go and complete various IT

systems setup projects for various companies. Examples of these kinds
of companies include Nipuna (Satyam),Msource, 24/7, Spectramind,
Daksh etc.
The spectrum of IT enabled services includes call centers, medical

transcription, back office operations, accounting and legal services,
content development especially from the internet, payroll
management, logistics management, GIS mapping, etc. The entire
range of IT enabled services varies from pure and simple data entry to
customer interaction, which is complex and requires intelligence.
The said services can be externally contracted (by Company X to

Company Y) or have internal division of a company in different area
(like a division of Company X or its subsidiary in India, China, etc).
What it does not involve is outsourcing of production, remote
production, manufacturing units and virtual business on the net.
Major Segments of IT Enabled Services:
Following is a fairly detailed generic classification of IT Enabled

Services which are already existing or which have potential for
evolving into areas of entry:
• Customer Interaction Services such as Call Centres
6
• Finance and Accounting Services such as back office data

processing for Airlines, etc.
• Engineering and Design Services such as outsourced design
activities
• Human Resources Services such as outsourced payroll
preparations, etc.
• Animation for movies and TV serials, cartoon strips, etc.
• Translation, Transcription and Localization such as Medical
Transcription Services.
• Network Consulting and Management covering outsourced
network designing and maintenance.
• Data Search, Integration and Analysis covering areas such as
preparation of legal data bases, research & preparation of
reports based on data bases on past records, etc.
• Marketing Services such as bureaus for marketing products or
services based on Call Centres or local market data bases, etc.
• Web Site Services for creating site contents, advertising, etc.
• Remote Education for utilizing IT infrastructure to strengthen
formal education system for remote and expertise starved areas.
• Medical Consultancy by providing expert advice based on data or
making available data bases.
• Secretarial Services through bureaus which utilize information
technology for offering secretarial help.
The key drivers of IT enabled services are outsourcing and out-

location. Outsourcing means that some functions can be done more
economically externally, something like "make or buy" decision in
manufacturing. Essentially it means is that all activities like salary
processing, call processing, credit cards processing, data mining, etc
7
can be outsourced to a 3rd party at a cheaper rate, instead of building

overheads in-house. Out-location means that Company X has got a
subsidiary or a division located in a low cost area to provide the same.
This takes advantage of the lower cost of manpower to deliver the
service over the telecom links. Call centers, financial accounting
services, engineering design, animation are very good examples of the
same. The prime industry targets for IT enabled services are banking,
insurance, airline reservations, hospitals and utility billings.
The global market for IT enabled services is estimated to grow from

about US$10bn to US$200bn by 2010.
Category US $ billion
Human resources 50
Customer interaction 42
Finance & accounting 20
Data search and analysis 20
Remote education 19
Animation 2
Translation and localization 1
Engineering design 6
Network consulting and management 8
Website services 7
Market research 5
Spectrum of I.T. Enabled Services in India:
Amongst others, the spectrum of I.T. Enabled Services applications

already evident in India includes the following broad segments:
8
• Call Centers
• Medical Transcription
• Back Office Operations, Revenue Accounting and other ancillary
operation
• Insurance Claims Processing
• Legal databases
• Content Development/Animation
• Payroll
• Logistics Management
Call Centers: A typical call center is a service center that has

adequate telecom facilities, trained consultants, access to wide
databases, Internet and other on-line information support
infrastructure to provide information and support to a customer. It
operates to provide round the clock and year round service.
Call centers are normally operated by large airlines, by banks to

provide services to the customers/ callers, by investment banks,
mutual funds, telecom services, companies providing customised and
high value services, IT products companies, amongst others. The
primary determinant is any industry that has frequent interaction with
a broad client base and intensive stakes in services being offered to
the customer, where time and material value is of paramount
importance. These services are very popular in countries such as the
USA, Europe, Japan and Australia.
Medical Transcription: In countries like the USA, doctors’ time is at

high premium. The current practice by doctors is to simply record their
findings through a dictaphone or some such device. These sound
tracks are then sent through datacom lines to overseas companies
(where costs are much lower) that employ "medical transcripionists"
who hear these recordings, transcribe them into reports and send
9
them back electronically through datacom lines. This has now become
a specialised discipline with people needing adequate training.
Turnaround time is often as low as two hours and, therefore, is often
better than what the hospital may have achieved if it had done all of it
in-house.
Initially, it was only being contracted out to companies that were in

close proximity to these hospitals. Increasingly, however, to take
advantage of lower costs, this work is being sent abroad to Mexico,
West Indies etc. Because of the availability of high speed satellite links,
it is now entirely feasible to do this in India in technical terms.
Back Office Operations, Revenue Accounting, Other Ancillary

Operations: Industries such as Banks, Airlines require large scale data
entry and revenue accounting work to be done. For revenue
accounting and other BackOffice accounting operations, paper
documents/ raw data are sent to remote locations, which are used for
data entry and necessary reconciliations. Using high speed datacom
links for their back-office and data processing operations, these banks,
airlines and other organizations with extensive data turnover and
customer interface, are able to save costs and valuable resources. The
prime concern of these companies is 100 percent availability of data
and uptime of facility. This can be ensured through high speed
datacom links from India to the parent country. Over the last few
years, there has been a steadily growing trend to outsource these
services to major I.T. service providers, with contracts running into
decades. The prime criteria for such projects are quality of
organizational processes, availability of abundant manpower and
ability to dedicate resources to clients’ needs. India stands to gain
from such a trend as the Indian software industry has been able to
10
make a mark and also has access to huge pool of skilled as well as
semiskilled professionals with relative cost advantage.
Insurance Claims Processing: Large insurance companies get

myriad claims. Since there are well laid down rules on how they are to
be processed such processing can be done anywhere, as long as there
is availability of graduates who can read and write English in large
numbers, a few doctors and a few accountants. As a result, to save
costs, large insurance companies in the U.S. are now outsourcing a lot
of this work. This is another good opportunity area.
Legal Databases: There is a constant need for lawyers who counsel

cases to go through relevant laws, rulings and precedents in order to
build up their case. This is usually done by very junior lawyers in legal
firms. However, in the U.S. and other developed countries, even junior
lawyers’ services are highly priced. One of the ways to get around this
hurdle is to have a readily accessible source of well managed and
intelligent information. One of the most promising and low cost way of
having ready access to information is information technology.
Therefore, many legal firms have started to outsource this work to
organizations who have a large English speaking, lower priced
workforce of trained lawyers. The job comprises working closely with
the firms to create a database of their existing records, index on the
basis of various useful and common understood criterions, keeping
track of new documents being created and incorporating them into a
database as per well established parameters. Lawyers can then simply
use their computers to draw up a history of like cases and draw a clear
plan of action. Once again, the rules are clear and only average
qualifications and ability are required.
Digital Content Development/Animation: New Media content

development is emerging as one of the fastest growing service
11
segments in the global I.T. services industry. It caters to needs of web

site management, production of content for new media such as
Compact Disk, Digital Versatile Disk and products of convergent
technologies such as Internet enabled TV. It offers a large emerging
potential; as more and more offices, homes, institutions, students and
professionals realize an ever growing need to have easy access to
information that can also be suitably fused with other media. It
consists of compilation and development of digital content for intra-
organization dissemination, cross-institution usage, collaborative
projects, public domain information, programs for public/specialized
education, web content development and management, developing
animated movies. It typically involves defining a set of rules and norms
for collection of data; collating various unorganized sources of data;
sorting; indexing and sifting; compilation; conversion into digital format
and disseminating to various users. In other types of digital content
development, there is usually a contract between the content provider
and developer to review the project on an ongoing basis such an
cartoon movies, etc. Opportunities also include acting as an offshore
content developer for organizations such as Internet media companies
and advertising organizations where there is a constant need for
content development. It would also ensure that operations are not
erratic. Thus, web content development is becoming a multibillion
dollar segment.
There are several other such areas where the potential is high. The
acceptability of outsourcing such work to distant countries and the
recognition of the cost savings is rapidly growing.
12
THE SERVQUAL MODEL FOR IT SERVICES

The concept of service quality can be applied to measure the
performance of IT services. A conceptual model of IT service quality
was developed based on the service quality “gaps model”, first
introduced by Parasuraman et al. (1985). The concept of using service
quality to measure the performance of IT services companies is due to
the acknowledgment that their service performance can be determined
by the perception of ‘customers’ of IT services within an organization.
The quality of IT services being provided then becomes essential to the
management. That is, there is a need to develop a conceptual model of
IT service quality and measurement systems.
Service Quality:
Service quality is measured by calculating the “difference scores”
between corresponding items, the difference between customers’
perception and expectation of service, along 5 dimensions of service.
The 5 distinct but correlated dimensions of service are:
13
• Tangibility - appearance of physical facilities, equipment,

personnel and communication materials;
• Reliability - ability to perform the promised service dependably
and accurately;
• Responsiveness - willingness to help customers and provide
prompt service;
• Assurance - knowledge and courtesy of employees and their
ability to inspire trust and confidence; and,
• Empathy - caring individualized attention the firm provides its
customers.
Conceptual Model of IT Service Quality

In a further development, Parasuraman et al. (1994) proposed that
there are three distinct levels of service – desirable, adequate and
actual. For the purposes of this study, these three service levels are
applied to the IT setting, and re-defined as:
• Ideal level of IT service - the level of service IT customers

(suppliers) would like to receive (provide) in order to meet the
customers’ requirements, based on their needs and past
experience;
• Acceptable level of IT service - the minimum (feasible) level
of service IT customers (suppliers) are willing to receive (provide)
14
given the constraints of personnel, technology and organizational

limitations; and,
• Perceived level of IT service - the actual level of service
perceived by IT customers (suppliers).
By integrating these three levels of IT service into the original “gaps

model” by Parasuraman et al. (1985), a new conceptual model of IT
service quality was developed in this study. This new model is shown in
Figure . The major difference between the two models is the
acknowledgment in the new model that IT customers are aware of
limitations imposed on IT suppliers due to the personnel, technology
and other organizational factors. In addition, the “gaps” between
perceptions of customers and suppliers regarding the three levels of IT
service are also acknowledged.
15
Figure: The Conceptual Model of IT Service Quality
16
The new conceptual model of IT service quality identifies that there are
7 gaps between suppliers and customers of IT service. These are
defined as:
Between Suppliers and Customers of IT service
• Gap 1: the difference between IT suppliers’ and customers’
perceptions of Ideal level of IT service;
perceptions of Acceptable level of IT service;
perceptions of Actual level of IT service;
For Customers of IT service

• Gap 4: the difference between IT service level customers would
like to receive, and what they would accept, given the limitations
due to personnel, technology and other organizational factors;
• Gap 5: the difference between IT service level acceptable to
customers, and the actual level of IT service perceived by
customers;
For Suppliers of IT service

• Gap 6: the difference between IT suppliers’ perception of what
customers require, and the level of IT service they can provide
given the constraints due to personnel, technology and other
organizational factors; and
• Gap 7: the difference between IT service level IT suppliers can
provide, and the actual level of IT service being provided.
17
ADVANTAGE INDIA
By outsourcing IT-enabled services, overseas companies can not only
achieve significant improvements in cost, quality and time but also
create platforms for building new businesses. Overall, these benefits
are due to the advantages offered by skill-surplus economies. India has
currently the best value proposition of all IT-enabled services hubs.
India’s value proposition is already leading IT-enabled services hubs

such as Ireland and Singapore to back-end their operations in India,
since skilled labor is becoming an increasingly scarce resource in these
countries. Seizing the opportunity, several companies in the financial
service sector, have saved at least 50-60 percent of their process
costs. Additionally, the process redesign that comes with out location
provides additional cost savings.
Infra-
Market Local Cosmo- Cost
Country Workforce structur
Access Market politan base
e
New Zealand 2 2 - 2 3 2
Kuala Lumpur 1 2 - 2 2 2
Japan 1 2 1 3 1 3
Hong Kong 1 2 2 2 2 2
India 3 2 2 2 3 1
A comparison amongst some countries in Asia Pacific based on these
factors highlights the following (ratings are on a scale of 1 to 3, with 1
being the lowest and 3 the highest).
IT-enabled service centres in India are able to deliver superior quality
because of specialization and scale benefits. India already has a large
and rapidly growing number of IT-enabled services providers
collectively covering a wide range of services with different levels of
18
complexity and value added. Yet another compelling rationale for IT-
enabled services is that it allows companies to capitalize on time zone
differences and to provide services round-the-clock, every day of the
week (24x7 service). For example, doctors in the US can have
transcribed records of their notes at the start of the next day by
sending them to medical transcription services in India who will start
work at the end of their working day in the US.
Companies can discover new business opportunities in the skills they
learn from operating IT-enabled services. GE Capital, one of the largest
IT-enabled services operators in the financial services arena, is now
planning to extend IT services beyond GE group companies to external
customers. It is planning to expand its IT-enabled services operation in
India to over 10,000 employees. Additionally, there are already a large
number of smaller Indian companies that provide services in many
areas of the business system.
The sustainability of the value proposition makes it irresistible. India
will continue to offer a large talent pool and favorable economics for
some time to come. These advantages are reinforced by the significant
number of IT-enabled services set-ups in the country that they can
learn from. The proliferation of IT-enabled Services and its continuing
demand-led growth may well emerge to be a strong opportunity for
India, both in terms of generating employment and export.
As evident, IT-enabled Services is a major boon for India as it provides
tremendous potential to provide employment opportunities and attract
foreign investments. Amongst others, the benefits include:
• Generation of new direct or indirect investment
• Earning of foreign exchange leading to higher earnings of

local staff
• More revenues to telecom carriers
19
• Introduction of new technology
• Transfer of skills to India
• Increase in competitiveness
• Improved parity of income levels in and far flung areas and

remote states.
India Offers Many Advantages:
India offers many advantages to serving as an I.T. Enabled Services

destination for major global companies. These include:
• A virtual 12-hour time zone difference with USA and other

major markets for I.T. Enabled Services.
• A huge pool of English speaking and computer literate
manpower that can continue to cater to the growing demand for
professionals for I.T. Enabled Services. These professionals are
skilled as well as quality conscious.
• Cost of qualified personnel is amongst the lowest in the world.
• Stable legislative and economic framework
• Many State Governments in India offer special incentives and
infrastructure for setting up I.T. Enabled Services.
• Thrust by Government of India to make India an I.T. – driven
nation with a focus on the services sector where potential for
value addition and thus premium is higher.
• India enjoys very strong brand equity in major markets,
thanks to its growing and globally competitive software industry.
The proliferation of I.T. Enabled Services and its continuing
20
demand-led growth may well emerge to be a strong opportunity

for India, both in terms of generating employment and export.
Benefits to India:
I.T. Enabled Services is a major boon for India as it provides

tremendous potential for employment opportunities and attracting
foreign investments. Amongst others, the benefits include:
• Generation of new direct or indirect investment

• Earning of Foreign Exchange leading to higher earnings of
local staff
• More revenues to telecom carriers.
• Transfer of skills to India
Skill sets required for different services:
Segment Skill set required

Customer services Language, accent
Data processing Computer literate
Human resource HR skills, legal
Remote education Domain knowledge
21
Engineering design Domain knowledge

Translation & localization Language
Medical transcription Computer literate, medical knowledge
Animation Creative, computer literate
Finance International/country specific accounting
Web hosting Computer literate
Market Research Knowledge of MR, statistics
Network consulting Computers, LAN
Prime Industry Targets:
Undoubtedly, I.T. Enabled Services is an essential infrastructure for

most larger organization. However, its very nature is particularly suited
to service organizations which experience large turnover of data, have
a frequent and extensive customer interface and in which, tolerance
for mistakes or customer dissatisfaction is low. In view of such an
imperative, some of the industries that may be pursued are:
• Insurance
• Banking
• Financial Institutions
• Hospitality
• Large Hospitals
• Consortiums of Legal Firms
• Software/Hi-Tech companies that have to provide 24-hour
helplines
• Large Manufacturing companies
• Airlines
• Utilities
22
The above are only indicative of potential industries that may be

tapped. It is also suggested to enter into strategic alliances with
industry consortium representing the above industries.
THE APEX BODY - NASSCOM
The National Association of Software and Service Companies

(NASSCOM) is the apex body and umbrella organization of IT software
and service organizations in India. It was formed in 1988 with the
primary objective of being a catalyst for the growth of the software-
driven IT industry in India. NASSCOM is a non-profit organization and is
registered under the Societies Act, 1896. NASSCOM currently has over
800 member companies who collectively contribute to more than 95%
of revenues of the software industry in India. Its members include
software, Internet, IT enabled services and e-commerce companies
spanning private and public sectors that include homegrown
companies and multinationals.
Vision:
NASSCOM’S vision is that by 2008, the organization will comprise

world-class software and service companies with global dominance in
their core business of software development, clear ascendancy in
cross-border IT and It-enabled services, and an unassailable position in
software products and e-businesses.
23
Aims and Objectives:

1. Maintaining close interaction with the Government of India in
formulating National IT policies with specific focus on IT software
and services
2. Maintaining a state of the art information database of IT software
and services related activities for use of both the software
developers as well as interested companies overseas.
3. Encourage members to provide world-class quality products,
services and solutions in India and overseas and help build brand
equity for the Indian IT software and services industry.
4. Taking effective steps to campaign against software piracy.
5. Provide an ideal forum for overseas and domestic companies to

explore the vast potential available for Joint Ventures, Strategic
Alliances, Marketing Alliances, Joint Product Development, etc.,
by organizing Business Meets with delegations of various
countries.
6. Work actively with Overseas Governments, Embassies to make
the Visa and Work Permit Rules more "Indian Industry Friendly".
7. Disseminate various policies, market information and other
relevant statistics by sending more than 200 circulars (annually)
to all members.
8. Involve membership participation in various forums of NASSCOM
on subjects such as HRD, Technology, Exports, Domestic Market,
E-Governance, IT Enabled Services, IPR, Finance, Government
Policies, Quality, etc.
NASSCOM has actively facilitated the enforcement of laws against

software piracy in India and worked with the Indian Government to
introduce a legal framework for E-commerce in the country. NASSCOM
also advises the Government of India on Intellectual Property Rights,
24
keeping in line with International laws and treaties. Starting in 1993, it

began an active public awareness campaign to educate users about
the lawful use of software. NASSCOM also has launched the country’s
first Anti-Piracy toll free hotline.
NASSCOM also organizes conferences, seminars, workshops and

exhibitions in India and abroad. These events focus on areas such as
Internet, e-commerce, e-governance; IT enabled services, ERP,
networking, banking etc. NASSCOM also participates at many
international events like SMAU, CeBIT and Comdex, through Indian
pavilions. It organizes specialized export promotion events in various
countries of the world where overseas companies are encouraged to
interact with Indian companies.
As a member of the Asian Oceanian Computing Industry Organization

(ASOCIO), a group of computer industry associations from the Asia and
Pacific Rim, NASSCOM plays an active role in the international software
community. NASSCOM is also a founder member of the World
Information Technology and Services Alliances (WITSA). This is a forum
of member associations from 41 countries.
NASSCOM is active on myriad fronts within the software sector. All the
activities of the organization is centered on catalyzing the growth of
the Indian software industry and enabling the fulfillment of its future
goals and aspirations. NASSCOM is not only the face of the country’s
software industry, it is also a key arm. Through its information
dissemination, awareness generation and brand building activities,
NASSCOM has been helping Indian software companies to stay ahead
in the market and maintain their edge globally. Whether it is providing
information to the software industry on targeted markets, wresting
concessions for the industry through close alliances with the Indian and
25
overseas Governments, or organizing seminars and workshops to

promote India Inc. across the globe—NASSCOM has a packed agenda.
CASE STUDY - CALL CENTER

A call center is a central place or network of places where customer
and other telephone calls are handled by an enterprise. Typically, a call
center has the ability to handle a considerable volume of calls at the
same time, to screen calls and forward them to someone qualified to
handle them, and to log calls. Call Centers are used by mail-order
catalog organizations, telemarketing companies, computer product
help desks, and any large enterprise that uses the telephone to sell or
service products and services.
Call centers combine the use of highly effective and empowered
company representatives with a service framework that relies heavily
on state-of-the-art communications and information technologies. A
26
call centre is sometimes defined as a telephone based shared service

centre for specific customer activities and are used for number of
customer related functions like marketing, selling, information
dispensing, advice, technical support etc. Thus, a call centre is a
service centre which has adequate telecom facilities, trained
consultants, access to wide database, Internet and other on-line
information support infrastructure to provide information and support
to customers. It operates to provide round the clock and year round
service i.e.24 x 365 service.
Definition:
“The Call Centre Association (1999) defines call centres as a physical
or virtual operation within an organization in which a managed group
of people spend most of their time doing business by telephone,
usually working in a computer – automated environment”.
The Basic Components:

The basic components of a call centre are computers, interactive voice
response systems, EPABX and an automatic call router. The earlier
adopters of call centres were able to reduce the cost of sales, become
more responsive to their customer requirements and thus, get a
competitive edge.
The costing of the call depends on the value of the service provided by
the call centre. The international call centres will be driven by a
globalization, increased competition, customer expectations and the
27
fact that products are becoming more and more commoditised with
improvement in computing and database management skills. The
reason why international call centres are looking at locations like India
is because of staff costs, which are almost 65% of total cost overseas,
is about 50% or less in a country like India. It is not so easy to shift
because of lower staff costs. Lower staff costs should be backed by a
skill set, which is language and cultural specific. The other things that
impact operations of an international call centre are real estate
expenses and telecom expenses.
Types of Call Centres:

Call centres can be of different types. A regional call centre implies
that a centre in America to handle America, Europe to handle Europe
and a centre in South East Asia and Australia to handle Asia. This
enables some economies of scale but duplication of efforts can
minimize operational efficiency. The other option is to have a global
call centre where all calls across the globe are handled. This results in
tremendous economies of scale, which is really cost effective. Such a
centre cannot afford any downtime because of lack of back up.
The latest version of call centre is a global intelligent network, a
centralized database with advanced call handling facilities, managing a
typical end-to-end service. The network is spread across the globe with
local resources tapping it. This requires technically qualified manpower
to maintain the backbone and telecom infrastructure management
skills. This global internal network allows access to worldwide staff and
ability to match languages, skills and resources. This is the first step
towards a global virtual call centre.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) has been the most significant
productivity gain. 70 - 80% of calls can be handled without agent
intervention, which helps reduce operating costs. In some extremely
28
competitive markets like financial services, airlines, etc., IVR systems

is a necessity.
What does a Call Centre do for an

Organization?
• It allows a wider customer base to do business with.
• It offers an economical means of reaching diverse and

widely distributed customer group.
• It fine tunes offerings to specific customer groups.
• It allows customers easy access to experts.
• It facilitates business round the clock and in any

geography.
• It allows a company to avoid the overheads of brick and

mortar branches.
The use of call centre is undergoing enormous growth due to

importance attached by companies to customer care, telemarketing for
product offerings, tele-banking, concept of direct response television
and home shopping, market liberalization of utilities, growth of direct
marketing etc. In addition, telemarketing is growing and information
lines are forming part of many product service offerings. Telephone
banking has led to call centre growth in the financial services sector,
while in retail the increase in direct response television and home
shopping have driven call centre growth. Market liberalization of
utilities has also been a key driver of call centre growth. Finally, the
growth of direct marketing has also contributed to the popularity of call
centers as a means of reaching targeted customer bases. Call Centers
29
provide large and small international enterprises with the unique

ability to establish a presence in foreign markets without the expense
and complexity of owning and managing their own infrastructure.
A call centre with good metrics and good data capture abilities
represents a credible marketplace intelligence system. A call centre
can be seen as a window to the marketplace and is also a window to
the client organization allowing call centre operators to see weakness
in client organizations which could represent business opportunities in
future.
Call centre originally conceived as a separate and individual

distribution channel of customer care system has been transformed
into integrated customer management system. With the enabling of
integration of call centre and Internet technology, call centers of future
will handle telephone, fax, web, internet and interactive TV enquiries
on a 24x7 basis. These combined Internet Call Centers or ‘Customer
Contact Centers’ will shape the future of call centre design.
Call Centers in India:
In the last couple of years, India has emerged as one of the preferred
countries for setting up of call centers. Many companies including GE,
iDLX, Bechtel, British Airways, Dell Computers, Bharati Telecom have
already chosen India as the base for their new global call centers.
These are choices made for solid, practical reasons which guarantee
them competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Many banks -
ICICI, HDFC, Standard Chartered, Citicorp, American Express to name a
few- telecom service providers and InfoTech companies - Lotus,
Hewlett Packard, 3Com etc. have deployed call centers for better
customer support and care.
30
Typical Customers:
This is very useful feature in airline reservations, hotel reservations,

banking services, technology solutions, etc. The areas, which are
addressed by call centers, include sales support, airline/hotel
reservations, technical queries, bank accounts, client services,
receivables, tele-marketing, market research, etc.
Potential customers for call centers are banks, insurance companies,

airlines, financial services, technology companies, telecom companies,
billing utilities, hotels, etc.
Global majors like GE Capital, American Express, Lufthansa, British

Airways, Singapore Airways, etc have already invested in IT enabled
services in India. The specific services include transaction processing,
call centers, billing, credit card processing, medical transcription, etc.
Working and Administration:
Earlier all call centers used to work on the "toll free" or the 1-800
concept. With sophisticated query handling services, nowadays the call
center and the client share costs. There are some premium services
like technical consulting where the caller has to pay the calling
charges.
Technologically speaking, call centers have advanced in the last ten

years. Earlier, it was just a labour-intensive department trying to
handle some customer queries. Now, it is supposed to be a vital cog in
the entire process of marketing and improving customer interaction.
Unlike an airline reservation where the queries are generally simple
31
and easy to handle, requirements of a technology customer support

are different and need technical knowledge. A pre requisite for any call
handling person is extremely good customer relationship skills and
command over language/ accent.
The basic components of a call center are computers, interactive voice

response systems, Electronic Private Automatic Branch Exchange
(EPABX) and an automatic call router. The US experience shows that
the earlier adopters of call centers were able to reduce the cost of
sales, become more responsive to their customer requirements and
thus, get a competitive edge.
Interactive voice response (IVR) has been the most significant

productivity gain. 70- 80% of calls can be handled without agent
intervention, which helps reduce operating costs. Some extremely
competitive markets like financial services, airlines, etc. An IVR system
is a necessity.
In the operation of the call centers that revolves around satisfying the
needs of the customer and increasing the customer base, key issues to
be kept in mind include -
• Process integration means that the call center service flow

should be closely integrated with the normal business process flow
of the customer. This is extremely relevant for banks where a query
can actually result to a transaction.
• Customer satisfaction is the ability to satisfy the customer
needs the very first time.
• Response time is the time taken to handle a query or how
long you are keeping the customer on hold.
• Quality standards like Customer Outsourcing Performance
Center (COPC).
32
• Professional services, i.e. outsourced call center services

should be better than clients in-house call centers.
• Training all the staff of the call centers on the client's
business, role of the call center, nature of business, etc.
• Communication abilities should be tuned to requirements
of the customer.
To approach the end customer directly is very difficult. It is better to go

through an existing relationship. The other option is the "sub contract"
model. The strategy here would be to use the “Build Own Operate
Transfer model”.
In future, e-mail can emerge as a potential threat to call centers. The

reason why e-mail is becoming very popular is because it is
inexpensive and requires no special hardware, software or people
skills. People are slowly realizing that it is more convenient to send a
mail and wait for response than to hold on a telephone and wait in
queue and deal with transfer between agents. Also e-mail can be sent
any time of the day, even midnight. Earlier people use to ignore e-
mails. Now they are using e-mail seriously because of its potential. E-
mail enabled call centers generally have multiple sources of e-mail
traffic. They can get it directly to the response center or through their
own website or through some 3rd party website such as financial sites,
agent sites, etc.
The future of call centers will be an interaction center, which

transcends the call center and offers communication for all media
including voice over net, e-mail, chat and may be video conferencing.
It is all about communicating with the customer in the form they
choose. The promoter of a call center should be prepared that voice
may no longer be the only medium in the future. Hence, we believe
33
that the business model would undergo a transformation into an

interactive media center.
Services:
Call Centers offers various services like Customer Service Help line,
Sales Support Help line, Technical Support, Query handling, helpdesk
services, on-line Credit and billing problems, Tele Marketing, Lead
generation and follow up, Data Capture, Data Verification, Debt
collection and Subscription Renewal, Email management, Web chat,
Web call back, Web collaboration browsing.
Inbound Services:
All incoming calls are received by the Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
and greeted with an appropriate project greeting. Using the Automatic
Call Distribution (ACD), the call is then transferred to the Customer
Service Associate. Optimum usage of technology enables us to monitor
every stage of interaction between the Customer Service Associate
and the customer.
The services offered include:
• Sales Support Helpline

• Customer Service Helpline
• Technical Support
• Complaint Recording and Handling Credit and Billing
Problems
• Advertising Responses
• Database Management
• Tele-selling and Order taking
34
Outbound Services:
Outbound calling is wherein the Customer Service Associates (CSA's)

make calls to any specified destination with pre-approved database
from the client. A report by the MIS personnel from the operations
department is sent to the client. A quality assurance team is attached
to operations to check the quality of the calls made by the CSA's
wherein his/her communication skills, product knowledge, etiquettes,
selling skills are judged. The feedback from the quality assurance team
is forwarded to the respective Team Leader for corrective measures so
that we do not deviate from the Service Level Agreements with the
client. The outbound services that we offer are:
• Tele Marketing
• Tele Research
• Data Capture
• Data Verification
• Subscription Renewal
• Debt Collection
Unique Characteristics:
1) Intangibility - This means that services provided by Call

Centers is not felt or seen. In case of Call Centers the services
provided by them are highly and mostly intangible e.g. voice
calls inbound and outbound services.
35
To overcome this characteristic one has to concentrate on:
• Visualization: This is very difficult to overcome in the

call center industry but it can advertise in various industry
journals which are popular with the type of clients that the call
centers are trying to target.
• Association: Call centers basically target the
corporates yet, usually do not go in for this option.
• Physical representations: This is one of the way
which call centers usually try to differentiate from others
based on their superior infrastructure, advantageous locations
and most importantly by the gamut of state of the art
technology used by them.
• Documentation and Facts and Figures: this is also
one of the important ways to overcome the intangibility factor
by publishing the statements of its success and profits.
2) Perishability: This is a significant constraint faced by the Call

Centers; even a single hour or day of inoperation may cause the
company to lose upon valuable revenue. Hence the co. should
follow a very cautious approach not to lose upon this aspect.
Ways of overcoming Perishability:
• Proper management of demand and supply should

help the company to overcome the problem of perishability.
3) Variability: This is very important factor as it deals with the

difference in thinking of individuals. People need to be present
as both customers and providers in order to make the
transaction of the offerings possible. A thorough study of internal
and external customers needs to be done. The varied
36
backgrounds of the customers may slow down the working of the

entire organization. Cultural differences play a major role in this
segment.
Ways to overcome variability:
• Training for internal customers: requires

technically qualified manpower to maintain the backbone
and telecom infrastructure management skills. This global
internal network allows access to world wide staff and ability
to match languages, skills and resources. This is the first
step towards a global virtual call center. Training all the staff
of the call centers on the client's business, role of the call
center, nature of business, etc.
4) Inseperability: As the word suggests the service provider and

the customer can never be independent. Both the entities need
to be present in order to satisfy the transaction. If the call center
is not efficient in carrying out this activity, the whole objective
and the value of the service will be lost.
Ways to overcome inseperability:
• Innovation in different methods of service

provisions: The latest version of call center is a Global
Intelligent Network. Call Centres have a centralized
database with advanced call handling facilities, managing a
typical end-to-end service. The network is spread across the
globe with local resources tapping it. This requires
technically qualified manpower to maintain the backbone
and telecom infrastructure management skills. This global
internal network allows access to worldwide staff and ability
37
to match languages, skills and resources. This is the first

step towards a global virtual call centre.
Classification:
1) End User: The call center basically comes under the B2B gamut
of services. The call center or the provider is the Call Centre
and the client is the company who seeks to outsource the back
office.
2) Degree of Tangibility: It can be observed that services of call
centers can be classified as highly intangible because the service
is free from any product and it has got qualities of credence and
reputation.
3) People based services: it includes both high contact and low
contact.
Low Intelligence, Low Customer Interaction
• Data entry
• Back office processing
• Medical transcription
• Insurance claims processing
• Salary processing
• Legal database
• Content development
• Call centers
• Customer service
High Intelligence, High Customer Interaction
The key distinguishing features of IT enabled services are:
38
• Provided from a country different from where the products

are delivered
• Use of telecommunication and data networks
4) Expertise: Call centers require technically qualified manpower

to maintain the backbone and telecom infrastructure
management skills. This global internal network allows access to
worldwide staff and ability to match languages, skills and
resources. This is the first step towards a global virtual call
center.
Marketing Mix:
1) PRODUCT: Quality Level is assessed as a significant parameter beat

intangibility and can be monitored in the following way:
• Call monitoring sessions conducted for the Customer

Service Associates (CSA's) to ascertain and measure call quality.
• Providing required feedback and coaching of CSA's to
enhance their capabilities.
• Tape monitoring and digital recording of calls for further
reference and training purposes.
• Quality Verification of each 'sale' achieved prior to
forwarding to the client.
• Coordination with the Operations Team and filtering of
quality feedback to the CSA's.
• Coordination with the Training Team for further training
and refresher modules for the CSA's.
• Recording and maintaining quality reports and files of each
CSA for reference and performance analysis.
• Designing Incentive plans to motivate CSA's with respect to
quality.
39
2) PRICE: The costing of the call depends on the value of the

service provided by the call center. The international call centers
will be driven by a globalization, increased competition, customer
expectations and the fact that products are becoming more and
more commoditized with improvement in computing and database
management skills. The reason why international call centers are
coming to India is because of staff costs which are almost 65% of
total cost overseas, is about 50% or less in a country like India. It is
not so easy to shift because of lower staff costs. Lower staff costs
should be backed by a skill set which is language and cultural
specific. The other things that impact operations of an international
call center are real estate expenses and telecom expenses.
The typical cost of setting up a call center with 100 people is about
Rs.50mn. This will include premises, telecommunication
infrastructure, computing equipment, regulatory requirements
including DoT clearances. The DoT clearance ensures that the lines /
infrastructure will be used only for servicing overseas customers
and cannot be used for handling internal calls. In general, breaking
into a client account is the most difficult thing. A typical call center
contract lasts for 3-5 years.
3) PROMOTION: Call Centers being an outsourcing avenue for

businesses it can be seen that the major component of the P- mix
to be stressed upon is:
• Personal selling in which the call center itself goes

to potential clients and negotiates contracts with them. This is
done through the call canters salespeople.
• Advertising in industry based journals and web
portals, which play a significant role in arranging for negotiations
40
and finalizing, contract between the Company and the Call

Center.
• Public Relations includes news conferences, press
conferences, news releases, friendly interviews, etc.
4) PLACE: The advances made in telecom ensure that the person who
is handling the call can be anywhere, provided that communication
and interaction dimensions are handled properly. At times, call
centers are set up for internal use also, especially in conglomerate
where the demand of internal customers is very large.
Call centers can be of different types. A regional call center implies

that a center in America to handle America, Europe to handle Europe
and a center in South East Asia and Australia to handle Asia. This
enables some economies of scale but duplication of efforts can
minimize operational efficiency. The other option is to have a global
call center where all calls across the globe are handled. This results
in tremendous economies of scale, which is really cost effective.
Such a center cannot afford any downtime because of lack of back
up.
The latest version of call center is a global intelligent network. You

have a centralized database with advanced call handling facilities,
managing a typical end-to-end service. The network is spread across
the globe with local resources tapping it. This requires technically
qualified manpower to maintain the backbone and telecom
infrastructure management skills. This global internal network allows
access to worldwide staff and ability to match languages, skills and
resources. This is the first step towards a global virtual call center
5) PEOPLE: Managing a call center is not as easy as it appears

because it requires cultural sophistication. Customer interaction is
41
required which means that the staff handling a call center should be
intelligent and sensitized to the needs of the customer. These
factors should be kept in mind before setting up a call center.
The reason why call centers have become extremely popular in

India is because of our English speaking and communication skills.
This advantage offsets higher telecom access charges. The
government is looking to solve this problem by giving substantial
discounts to companies who generate foreign exchange using IT
enabled services.
TOTAL PRODUCT CONCEPT:
Online & Billing

Problems
Data Capture Annuities
& Verification Processing
Email
Management
42
Consultation
Tele Debt Web Chat
Marketing Collection &
Call Back
Process Lead
Sales Outsourcing & Generation
Support Customer e-CRM &
Help Desk
Service Follow Up
Services
Helpline
Technical Claims
Support processing
Benefit 24 hour Client Account

Administration Services Management
Subscription
Renewal
Service Quality:
Quality and customer service have been identified as critical strategic

issues in the 1990’s for both public and private sector organizations.
Not much has changed in the current decade. In the private sector,
customer satisfaction and loyalty are secured through high quality
products and services. They provide value for money for the consumer
and are seen as being essential for the long-term survival and success
of the call centre. Public sector organizations are not immune to
pressure to improve customer service on a continuous basis. Some of
these pressures arise internally from a genuine desire to improve
43
quality of services provided to communities, others are imposed

through corporate initiatives like customer charters or through and
increase in consumer activism. It is recognized that public sector
organizations face more difficulties than those in the private sector in
their efforts to improve customer service. A customer’s satisfaction
with individual service encounters, affects the customer’s
dis/satisfaction with the overall service experience.
Servqual:
The servqual approach to the measurement of service quality has

attracted considerable attention since it was first introduced by
Parasuraman et al. in 1985 and further developed by them in 1998
(Donnelly and Dalrymple, 1996). “The approach starts from the
assumption that the level of service quality experienced by customers
is critically determined by the gap between their expectations of the
service and their perceptions of what they actually receive from a
specific service provider”. The servqual model proposes five
dimensions upon which customers evaluate service quality. These are:
Tangibles – the appearance of the physical facilities and materials

related to the service
Reliability – the ability to perform the service accurately and

dependably
Responsiveness – the willingness to help customers and provide

prompt service
Assurance – the competence of the system and its security, credibility

and courtesy
44
Empathy – the ease of access, approachability and effort taken to

understand customers’ requirements
Portability of Servqual:
Only some of the 5 dimensions of service quality are applicable in a

call center. As a customer never comes into contact with the physical
appearance of a call centre, the area covered by the Tangibles criteria
does not apply. From the customer perspective there is little ‘tangible’
about a call center service encounter. Given the method of delivery,
via the telephone, and hence the absence of visual cues the only way
of transmitting any of the dimensions of service quality is through the
CSAs voice. The CSA’s voice therefore, is extremely important in any
encounter. Reliability from the customer’s perception is difficult to
assess for an individual service encounter. It is not possible for the
customer to fully evaluate whether the CSA has performed dependably
and accurately. This can only be evaluated on subsequent use of the
service. The other criteria; Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy
are all transmitted via the CSAs voice and are dependent on the CSA’s
ability to communicate. Tone and language (how they deliver) and
content (what they deliver) are the critical dimensions.
Call Monitoring Instrument:
The call-monitoring instrument is a predetermined checklist of criteria

used to assess a CSA’s call with a customer. The instrument contains
two sections; relating to Call Handling and Technical skills. Both
sections contain pass or fail criteria, either they are present or they are
absent. For example, was the client greeted and acknowledged ‘Hello
my name is...., How may I help you?’, and closed, “Thank you for your
call, goodbye”. Another example would be ‘Were the privacy guidelines
observed?’ The instrument also contains criteria that address the
45
degree to which the CSA knows how to use the technology. This
measures the CSAs detailed knowledge of information and systems.
There are also numerous criteria covering how the CSA behaved
towards the customer. These behavioral criteria involve judgments
made by the call center coach. Further criteria cover how the CSA
represented the organization. Coaches monitor CSA calls and award
passes or fails based on the call monitoring criteria, as well as
highlighting areas for improvement.
Servqual and Service Encounter at the Call

Centres:
There is very little tangible about a call centre service encounter. How
tangible is a voice? In the absence of face-to-face contact the role of
the CSA and the voice of the CSA is extremely important in a call
centre service encounter because it is the tool of delivery, and voice
contact is all the customer experiences. Given the absence of visual
cues, the only way of transmitting any of the servqual dimensions is
through the CSA’s voice. The nature of the service also means that the
Empathy dimension, including communication and understanding
customer interaction is difficult and dependent on the CSA’s skills.
Customer’s assurance that their service transaction has been
completed to meet their needs is dependent on the CSAs knowledge of
the call centre's products and services, and the CSA taking a positive
ownership of the encounter relationship with the customer. The
customer’s assurance dimension expectations are largely met by the
organization’s call centre public image. It is easy for the customer to
determine whether they were dealt with courteously, by the language
and tone the CSA uses. The reliability dimension is difficult to assess
for an individual service encounter, and is only achieved with the next
transaction the customer has with the call centre. This can be
46
confirmed with retrieval of records including observations and

completion of appropriate actions.
If servqual is an instrument that measures service quality, then the

challenge for a CSA is to satisfy all the dimensions in the SQ
instrument using only one medium; their voice. Servqual was originally
purported to be applicable to all service environments, the absence of
tangible dimensions, in the call centre service encounter, suggests that
this may not be the case. As a result of the non-tangible nature of the
service encounter the call center’s call monitoring instrument does not
address tangibles. It focuses on the assurance, empathy, reliability and
responsiveness dimensions. Many of the call center’s call monitoring
instrument criteria are interdependent and have relevance to more
than one of the servqual dimensions of quality. For example, clarifying
and confirming the customer’s query and the use of probing questions
to ascertain all the relevant query facts relates to both the empathy
and assurance dimensions. Providing correct and current information,
and updating the internal systems to reflect the encounter relate to the
reliability dimension. It would appear that due to the absence of the
physical facilities and material related to the service (tangibles) a high
emphasis is placed on assuring the customer of the systems security
and credibility (assurance), and hence the ability to deliver the service
reliably.
One of the major issues confronting the call centre is in its effort to
deliver quality to its customer through coaching whether the judgment
of the coach is, or would be consistent with the judgment of the
customer. In effect when the coach is coaching the CSA he/she is
acting in the role of the customer. If the coach’s judgment or
evaluation of the service is not consistent with that of the customer
then the call center’s idea of what a quality service is in their context is
47
different from that of the customer. In the servqual model this is called
GAP 1 and describes the difference between management’s perception
(of what the customer wants) and customers’ (actual) expectations.
“GLOBAL RESPONDEZ”
About The Company:
Global Respondez Inc. is an off-sourcing (offshore outsourcing)

solutions company with its core focus on providing offshore
outsourcing advisory services to its clients. With a deep-rooted insight
into offshore business markets and the experience of successfully
transitioning several projects on behalf of its US based clients, Global
Respondez is uniquely positioned in this space. It functions through a
team of dynamic consultants, each of whom has rich experience of the
offshore market along with a keen understanding of American business
practices and requirements.
This company is a fully integrated Contact Center. A Company with an

attitude that not just cuts across geographical boundaries by
responding to a call, but adds to that human touch which delights the
customer. Led by a team of experienced, service-oriented, dynamic
professionals from various walks of the industry, Global Respondez is a
one-stop solution for multi-channel integrated services.
48
Global Respondez operates with a capacity of 250 seats on a multi shift

basis, 24x7, state-of-the-art, multi channel integrated contact center
located in Mumbai, India.
Vision:
Global Respondez associates with customers worldwide to migrate

their Business Processes to India. We are committed to customer
delight through our dedicated services, organization values, quality
improvement and latest technology.
Service Capabilities:
Global Respondez’s network of offshore service providers specialize in
service offerings in the following areas:
Inbound Services
• Customer Support
• Tele-sales and Order Booking
• Helpdesk Services
• Product and Information Requests
Outbound Services
• Tele-sales
• Appointment Setting
• Data Cleansing
• Tele-Research
• Debt Collection
49
Web and E-mail
• E-mail Support
• Web Chat and Collaborative Browsing
• Fax Processing
Business Process Outsourcing:
Business Process Outsourcing is an integral part of the focus at Global

Respondez. The company has the efficiencies to operate as a 'Virtual
Back Office' for its clients. The services offered in this area include:
Medical Billing
• Setting up Information Link with the US Based Medical

Billing Company / Doctor
• Receiving Information on a daily basis
• Generation of Bill within the committed period of 24 hours
• Submission of Bills - both Electronic & Paper
• Co-ordination with the Insurance Company
• Co-ordination with the Patient / Doctor
• Payment Collection & Cash Application
• MIS Reporting to the Billing Company / Doctor
• Consultancy Services (Capitation, Enrollment, Managed
Care Analysis).
Insurance Claim Adjudication (Healthcare)
Claims Processing
50
• Batching, Inventory Control, Claims Tracking & Entry

• Claims Adjudication & Capture of Authorization Data
• Creation of EOB’s, Payment Posting &mp; Re-conciliation
Customer Services
• Telephone and E-mail Services for Provider Enquiry

• Direct and Telephone Reporting
File Maintenance
• Status & Membership Files

• Claims History & Authorizations
• Fee Schedules and Capitation Rosters
Information Services
• Maintenance of necessary systems

• Support Interfaces and Networks
• Back ups and Recovery for all Computer Operations
Reporting
• Reporting of Volumes, Inventory and Turnaround Time

• Capitation Claims Reports and Lag Analysis
• Monthly Reports on Processing Activity
• Specialty wise Reporting
• Documentation of Policies and Procedures
Facilities:
51
Global Respondez has an excellent international quality infrastructure

and their strength lies in their tie-ups with leading Telecom and
Networking Solution Providers in India who keep them updated on the
latest technologies. A totally dedicated and motivated group, they are
proud of being capable of delivering the best.
Infrastructure:
Located in Mumbai, one of the major centers of the business world,

Global Respondez takes pride in its state-of-the-art technical
infrastructure, easy scalability and proven methodology which makes it
a Call Center par excellence.
The facility on level II is designed for integrated internet and voice-

based support as per best international practices. The unique modular
design of the workspace and dedicated infrastructure enables the call
centre to provide specifically demarcated space for each of our clients
as also for our key functions like Human Resources, Learning and
Development, Operations, Administration and Quality Control. Global
Respondez with 250 seats, 24x7 capacity is a one-stop solution for
multi-channel integrated services. This facility has a well-equipped
recreation area and a cafeteria for all the employees.
The facility is well protected by round-the-clock security guard

protection, closed circuit security cameras, swipe card access to the
various sections of the facility, well-defined fire exits and advanced
fire-protection systems. It has a dedicated BSES Power Supply with
American Power Corporation UPS and Powering diesel generators for a
100% power backup.
Global Respondez have the scalability to set up our second facility on

level I that will accommodate 300 CSA's on a multi-shift basis.
52
Leading Telecom and Networking Solution Providers in India, provide

the latest technological infrastructure, which enhances the growth of
the Company. The company believe that learning and development go
together, need based training is an integral part of our growth plans.
The Customer Service Associates at Global Respondez are highly

motivated with excellent interpersonal and analytical abilities; web-
savvy, English speaking graduates with outstanding communication
skills, all working towards providing an exceptional interaction
experience to our customers.
Technology:
Global Respondez has deployed some of world's finest technologies for

offering superlative call center services. The technologies that have
been selected have been duly verified and testified for call center
performance. The following points elaborate on our technology
capabilities:
• Associate companies are leading Telecom and Networking

solution providers in India.
• PBX - Meridian switch from Nortel Networks
• Symposium Call Center software from Nortel Networks.
• Predictive Dialer and CTI from Divine (Melita from E-share).
• Bandwidth Managers from NewBridge (Alcatel) in
redundant configuration.
• Routers and Data Switches from Cisco with built in
redundancies.
• Servers from Compaq in redundant configuration. Software
from Microsoft, Talisma.
• Call recording solutions based on Intel's Dialogic platform.
• Redundant Local Area Network Certified by Avaya.
53
• Desktops from Compaq.

• Software from Microsoft.
• UPS from American Power Corporation.
• International Private Leased Circuit on submarine Fiber
Cable Atlantic SEMEWE3.
• Carriers MCI WorldCom and VSNL .
• Data Leased Line with ISDN backup for Internet
Connectivity.
• Plan for IPLC redundancy through the Pacific on SAFE.
Operations and Strategic Actions:

With the mushrooming call centres in India Respondez have come up
with a satisfaction strategy to improve productivity as well as customer
satisfaction.
The Satisfaction Strategy before Calls

At the beginning of any project, a project manager is identified and
sent to the client to understand the business needs. A script is
prepared in the lines of the product / domain knowledge obtained from
the client. After the approval from the client's end, it is further passed
on to the CSA along with full product knowledge.
Test Calling
Once the script is decided upon there is an in-house test on the
product. Objection handlers and FAQ's are handed over to the agents
for effective result oriented calling to the customers. Mock calls are
taken before the CSA go live. It is only after satisfactory mocks will any
agent go live on calls.
Call Monitoring - During Calls
The quality department monitors the calls being made. These calls are
further verified and cross checked by the team leaders. The team
54
leaders do a thorough floor monitoring by sitting along with the agents.

Remote call barging is done by the team leaders without the agent's
knowledge. These checks are carried out so that the training needs for
the agents can be identified.
Call Analysis
At the end of every call it is analyzed to understand the response to
the calls made. This would help in restructuring the sales strategy, if
required. This also helps in identifying the skill sets of the agent.
Training:
Global Respondez is a staunch believer in the importance of training,

learning and benchmarking for achievement of outstanding quality
standards. Training inputs are imparted to every CSA on an ongoing
basis to maintain enhanced performance levels and individual growth.
Since Learning and development is a continuous process meticulous
attention is paid to the requirements of the candidates in terms of
knowledge, skills and attitude. The following programs and workshop
are mandatory for all Associates joining our call center:
• Selling skills
• Listening Skills
• Telephone etiquettes
• Customer relationship management
• Accent Neutralization
• Team Building
• Time Management
55
Quality Assurance:
Global Respondez believe that Quality is to be better than the best; it is

the enhancement of the inner self, which leads to the highest
possible growth. The mission of the Quality Assurance (QA) team is
to enhance and extend current quality practices, and to educate by
sharing its learnings and perceptions.
The role of the Quality Assurance (QA) team at Global Respondez is to

provide assistance and give ongoing feedback to the associate
regarding their individual performance while processing calls.
Feedback includes appreciation on strong areas of performance as
well as guidance to improve areas of concern.
The Quality Assurance team plays a key role in the operations through
the following functions:
• Call monitoring sessions conducted for the Customer

Service Associates (CSA's) to ascertain and measure call quality
• Providing required feedback and coaching of CSA's to
enhance their capabilities
• Tape monitoring and digital recording of calls for further
reference and training purposes
• Quality Verification of each 'sale' achieved prior to
forwarding to the client
• Coordination with the Operations Team and filtering of
quality feedback to the CSA's
• Coordination with the Training Team for further training
and refresher modules for the CSA's
• Recording and maintaining quality reports and files of each
CSA for reference and performance analysis
56
• Designing Incentive plans to motivate CSA's with respect to

quality
Quality Process:
The Quality Assurance Agent (QAA) monitors the calls on the basis of
the parameters laid down in conjunction with the client apart from the
soft skills, selling skills and other mandatory requirements. The
following are the basic procedures followed:
• Each CSA is monitored at least thrice a week. Every QAA is

dedicated to one team or fixed number of CSA's. These CSA's are
monitored at least thrice a week. Depending on the earlier
weekly scores the agent will CSA's are prioritized for call
monitoring sessions.
• Each CSA is provided feedback at least twice a week Every QAA
has to make sure that agents in their team should be provided
feedback at least twice in a week. The feedback is based on the
calls monitored and comments noted thereof.
• Each CSA is expected to achieve a quality grade above 85%

Cooperation is extended to the agent to achieve a minimum
quality score of 85%. This is a laid benchmark for an agent to be
considered as good.
57
MARKETING CHALLENGES FOR ITES
Technology and services marketing leaders face enormous challenges

in today’s market. Competition is brutal; buyers are skeptical; and the
slow economy keeps everything but the most urgent purchases on
hold.
Marketing organizations points to six challenges in particular keeping

marketing executives up at night:
 Moving from products and services to solutions

 Working more effectively with sales
 Leveraging partners
 Building a stronger and more differentiated brand
 Strengthening relationships with existing customers
 Demonstrating quantifiable return on marketing investment
These six represent the core agenda for marketers faced with
generating profitable growth in a maturing industry and a slow-growth
economy—and therefore represent the primary focus for our own
research, consulting, training, and events.
These six represent the core agenda for marketers faced with
generating profitable growth in a maturing industry and a slow-growth
58
economy—and therefore represent the primary focus for our own

research, consulting, training, and events.
Moving from products and services to solutions
It's no secret that technology buyers today are a pretty skeptical

group. They need to see considerable business value before even
considering a new purchase. Marketers need to dig much deeper into
the business issues of their potential customers and then work across
their own organizations to craft compelling, value-based business
solutions.
Working more effectively with sales
The common gap between marketing and sales is no longer tolerable.

Marketing and sales need to work together at every level, from
research and planning to solutions development and account
management. Marketing needs more help from sales to help ground
marketing initiatives in customer reality; sales needs more effective
support from marketing to sell higher value solutions and shorten the
sales cycle.
Leveraging partners
Partners are have become central to developing and delivering

technology solutions, yet few companies excel at partner management
and collaborative marketing. The key challenge is to emphasize quality
over quantity, and develop a smaller number of carefully planned,
targeted, and effective partnerships with clear metrics for results.
Building a stronger and more differentiated

brand
59
Brand becomes even more important in a slow and maturing market.

Cautious buyers turn first to trusted brand names and they certainly
don't want to pay premium prices for anything perceived as a
commodity purchase. Standing above the noise and creating a
reputation for success and quality are critical to gaining consideration,
getting onto short lists, and giving buyers the confidence to sign on the
dotted line.
Strengthening relationships with existing customers
Holding onto existing customers is absolutely essential in a tough

economy. Generating new business from your base is generally much
easier than finding new customers and turning existing customers into
enthusiastic advocates is among the most effective ways of finding
those new customers. Focusing on customer relationships, satisfaction,
and loyalty is thus one of the most effective ways to create growth.
Demonstrating quantifiable return on marketing

investment
The days of increasing marketing budgets with little quantifiable

justification are long gone. Marketers today need to provide clear and
compelling evidence that marketing investments lead directly to
business results. At the same time, marketers need to beware the trap
of focusing only on short-term financials; a longer-term balanced
approach to marketing metrics is critical for sustained business
success.
CONCLUSION:
60
This is undoubtedly the electronic age. The marketing of Information

Technology services assumes a greater importance in the wake of
proliferation of information dissemination devices, right and left. This
provides the marketer, an opportunity as never before.
The marketing of these products are a bit different from the

conventional marketing, with which we are familiar.
Information Technology is making profound changes in the manner in

which today’s organizations are managed. Organizations, who stay
competitive, require highly skilled and creative managers to handle
technology issues to improve productivity and competitiveness.
As tech spending begins to grow again, marketing is exerting greater

leadership in defining new opportunities, refining the customer
experience, and measuring the business return on marketing
investment.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Reference Books:
Services Marketing – The Indian Perspective

- Ravishank
er
Services Marketing
61
- Zeithaml,
Bitner
Information Technology
- Curtis,
Denis
Information Technology for Management

- Lucas,
Henry
Management Information Systems

- O’brien,
James
Websites:
www.google.com
www.bpoindia.org
www.nasscom.org
www.itsma.com
www.globalrespondez.com
62

Marketing of IT Services

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Marketing of IT Services

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Marketing of IT Enabled Services

IT or Information Technology has probably been the most redefined

Information technology is defined and characterized by the domain of

Information Technology – The Indian Scenario

subsidiary in Bangalore. This move was followed not only by other

The Three Landmarks – Evolution of IT

The first, an increasingly smaller size of hardware became available

Providing IT services became more important and that is where the

covered a variety of hardware, several operating systems, innumerable

Given the advances made in technology, especially information

In the past, outsourcing was limited because of physical barriers.

IT enabled services are the growth opportunities for the new

• Declining charges for telecom infrastructure

Types of IT Enabled Services companies:

There are two kinds of companies who set up IT enabled services

internet software services firms which go and complete various IT

The spectrum of IT enabled services includes call centers, medical

The said services can be externally contracted (by Company X to

Major Segments of IT Enabled Services:

Following is a fairly detailed generic classification of IT Enabled

• Customer Interaction Services such as Call Centres

• Finance and Accounting Services such as back office data

The key drivers of IT enabled services are outsourcing and out-

can be outsourced to a 3rd party at a cheaper rate, instead of building

The global market for IT enabled services is estimated to grow from

Spectrum of I.T. Enabled Services in India:

Amongst others, the spectrum of I.T. Enabled Services applications

Call Centers: A typical call center is a service center that has

Call centers are normally operated by large airlines, by banks to

Medical Transcription: In countries like the USA, doctors’ time is at

Initially, it was only being contracted out to companies that were in

Back Office Operations, Revenue Accounting, Other Ancillary

Insurance Claims Processing: Large insurance companies get

Legal Databases: There is a constant need for lawyers who counsel

Digital Content Development/Animation: New Media content

segments in the global I.T. services industry. It caters to needs of web

THE SERVQUAL MODEL FOR IT SERVICES

• Tangibility - appearance of physical facilities, equipment,

Conceptual Model of IT Service Quality

• Ideal level of IT service - the level of service IT customers

given the constraints of personnel, technology and organizational

By integrating these three levels of IT service into the original “gaps

Figure: The Conceptual Model of IT Service Quality

For Customers of IT service

For Suppliers of IT service

India’s value proposition is already leading IT-enabled services hubs

• Generation of new direct or indirect investment

• Earning of foreign exchange leading to higher earnings of

• More revenues to telecom carriers

• Introduction of new technology

• Transfer of skills to India

• Improved parity of income levels in and far flung areas and

India Offers Many Advantages:

India offers many advantages to serving as an I.T. Enabled Services

• A virtual 12-hour time zone difference with USA and other

demand-led growth may well emerge to be a strong opportunity

I.T. Enabled Services is a major boon for India as it provides

• Generation of new direct or indirect investment

Skill sets required for different services:

Segment Skill set required

Engineering design Domain knowledge

Prime Industry Targets:

Undoubtedly, I.T. Enabled Services is an essential infrastructure for