AN OVERVIEW OF THE BPO INDUSTRY 1

Posted by girish seshamani on May 24, 2010

BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING ABOUT BPO BPO stands for Business Process Outsourcing. There is a common misconception that B.P.O. and call centers, mean one and the same. A call centre is a remote location in India wherein calls made by customers abroad are routed to India by means of telecommunication equipments. This call is answered by call centre agents who are trained to speak in an accent which the customer can understand. This accent is commonly referred to as Neutral Accent Coming to the term Business Process Outsourcing, let us understand the term in a simple way by breaking it up. There is a business. Each business has got a process. A process means a specific way or method of doing a job. Those jobs which are routine in nature, are given to countries outside India, to save money by way of salaries. OVERVIEW OF VARIOUS CAREER OPPORTUNITIES IN THE BPO INDUSTRY Voice Process (Inbound and Outbound) Semi Voice Process or Back Office Support Medical Transcription Medical Billing Data Entry E-Mail Support Knowledge Process Outsourcing Recruitment Process Outsourcing Education Process Outsourcing Legal Process Outsourcing Technical Writing Content Writing Web Designing

ABOUT NASSCOM NASSCOM stands for National Association of Software and Servicing Companies It regulates the functioning of the IT and ITES industry IT means Information Technology which includes software programming and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) ITES stands for Information Technology Enabled Services, which includes, BPO, KPO, RPO, EPO and LPO WEBSITE: http://www.nasscom.org/

ABOUT CALL CENTERS A call center is a set up in India, wherein calls which are routine in nature made by foreign customers are routed to India and answered by agents who are trained to speak in an accent, which a person from the other country can understand. The basic reason for outsourcing these routine jobs was to save money on salaries and infrastructure. There are two basic functions which any call center performs: INBOUND (Taking incoming calls) Incoming calls means calls made by the customer to the call centre agent which is customer service. Just to give an example, a person banking with CITI BANK in the U.S. would call to know the balance in his account or a customer may call up the customer service to know whether his bank charges have been reversed. OUTBOUND (Making outgoing calls) Out going calls focus on selling a product or service. In this type of calling, the dialer will automatically dial numbers of customers at random from the database and the call centre executive will sell a product or service to the customer. If a bank has come out with new products, the call centre agent can call up the existing customers of the bank and try to promote the new service. This process is called as cross selling. TYPES OF CALL CENTERS Call Centers can be classified in two major categories: DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL

DOMESTIC CALL CENTERS Domestic call centers handle sales and customer service only for Indian companies. DOMESTIC CALL CENTERS IN INDIA Reliance Mobile Airtel Idea Vodafone ABN-ABRO Bank ICICI Bank

INTERNATIONAL CALL CENTERS International call centers handle sales and customer service for foreign clients. Both Domestic and International call centers can be classified into two major categories: CAPTIVE B.P.O AND THIRD PARTY B.P.O

CAPTIVE BPO In the case of a Captive BPO, the parent company will set up a dedicated call centre for servicing its own clients. The objective of setting up a captive B.P.O is to ensure that customers get excellent and quality service within the least possible time. EXAMPLES OF CAPTIVE B.P.O IN INDIA H.S.B.C (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) CITIBANK PRUDENTIAL (Leading player in the insurance segment in U.K.)

THIRD PARTY BPO Under this, you have one B.P.O. or one company handling many accounts or processes. To take an example, one B.P.O. say HCL, could handle 6 processes, of which 3 processes could be from U.K., 2 processes from U.S. and one process from Australia. These processes can again be either inbound or outbound or a combination of both. All third party BPOs are rated each year by NASSCOM on the basis of set parameters. EXAMPLES OF THIRD PARTY B.P.O WNS Global Services Genpact Allsec Technologies Accenture HCL B.P.O. (HCL Chennai)

HIERARCHY IN A CALL CENTER VERTICAL GROWTH 1. SERVICE DELIVERY MANAGER ( Responsible for all the processes ) 1. OPERATIONS MANAGER ( Fully responsible for one process ) 1. TEAM LEADER ( Responsible for his team performance which normally consists of 15 call centre agents and 2 team coaches ) 1. SENIOR CALL CNTR EXECUTIVE \ TEAM COACH ( Takes calls and also helps new recruits in handling calls ) 1. CALL CENTER EXECUTIVE ( Makes or receives calls ) HORIZONTAL GROWTH We had a look at the vertical growth pattern. Now let us have a look at the horizontal growth opportunities that a call centre agent can choose from depending on his skills and performance.

RECRUITMENT: Short listing resumes by identifying the right profile and conducting the selection rounds TRAINING: Product Training, Process Training, Soft Skills and Voice and Accent HUMAN POTENTIAL MANAGEMENT: Planning career growth of employees. All BPOs have a high attrition rate. This function has to ensure that it provides growth opportunities and various career options. They come out with various policies which are normally referred to as HR interventions to keep the employee happy. SEXUAL HARASSMENT: To prevent exploitation of an employee SALES: Generating new business for the company HOUSE KEEPING: Maintenance & upkeep of the company premise FINANCE: Managing the funds of the company and also looking at various options to raise money for the company wherein the cost of funds is low ACCOUNTS: Maintaining day to day cash transactions, preparing bank reconciliation statements and preparing the yearly balance sheet and file income tax returns. Preparing monthly salary statements and ensuring that all statutory payments are made and records are in order ADVANTAGES OF THE BPO INDUSTRY Provides employment opportunities to large number of people Good salary levels ensure better standard of living Employees hone their skills to be an excellent oral communicator and a powerful listener Ongoing training programs help employees to add on to their skill set and thereby become better professionals All the BPO in the top rung, sponsor employees for professional programs. This not only helps employees to acquire a professional qualification, but also opens up new career options within the B.P.O. industry Call center provide employees with a world class working environment, coupled with fantastic perks and incentives which motivate employees to give their best The call center industry gives the employee, a chance to work across multiple functions. For example, an employee who performs well as an agent gets a chance to grow horizontally or vertically Employees also get a chance to gain international work experience Employees have to make internal adjustments since they have to work in teams. Moreover in the B.P.O industry the whole team has to work hand in glove with each other. Any misunderstanding will severely affect the whole team and they also stand the danger of losing their job. Over a period of time, all employees become excellent team players. PRESENT SCENARIO OF THE BPO INDUSTRY There is no doubt that the outsourcing business has come to stay in India. The advantage that India provides the foreign clients is the availability of a good English speaking population, who are well

educated and ambitious, coupled with the savings that foreign clients make with respect to salaries and infrastructure. Another unmatched advantage is the average age of the work force in India, which is just 30 years, as compared with any other country in the world, where the average age varies between 45 and 50 years. Since the B.P.O industry requires a very young crowd this huge advantage cannot be matched by any country in the world. Earlier only routine jobs were outsourced to India. This scenario has totally changed. Apart from routine jobs, high end jobs are also outsourced, which has paved the way for functions like KPO, RPO, Technical writing and so on. Over the last few years there have been a few stray cases of frauds taking place within the BPO industry. This is not a serious problem as portrayed by the fourth estate. Such frauds are very common in countries like US and UK, where BPO employ lakhs of people. But in India, the kind of hype the media generates, show these happenings to have damaging consequences on the BPO industry. To tackle the problem of frauds, NASSCOM has taken the initiative to come up with a cyber law which punishes any employee who resorts to unethical practices. As part of the ongoing process, NASSCOM is taking it on priority to make the security systems as fool proof as possible. Another initiative is the appointment of verification agencies to ensure that the information given by the candidate in his resume is authentic. An All India Ranking System known as NAC (Nasscom Assessment of Competence) is on the cards for all candidates who want to be a part of this industry, thereby ensuring quality manpower and reducing the recruitment time of HR personnel and thereby help them focus on critical issues. The NAC test is online and tests the candidate on all skills required for a call centre executive, which is an entry level position. The NAC test will be mandatory for all BPO aspirants in the near future. Though countries like China, Vietnam and Philippines are gearing up to get a chunk of the business, there is absolutely no doubt whatsoever, that India will continue to be the most preferred destination. Even though the wages in countries like China and Philippines are low as compared with India, still the availability of a young work force makes India the preferred choice. Initially the B.P.O. industry was looked down upon by people from other industries. But gradually with the passage of time and the emergence of new areas like K.P.O , R.P.O, E.P.O, Content Writing, Technical Writing and so on, which requires highly qualified and experienced personnel with professional qualifications and specialized skill, professionals have started looking at the B.P.O. industry seriously, as a long term career option.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE BPO INDUSTRY 2

Posted by girish seshamani on June 3, 2010

In my first write up, I had given you an overview of the BPO industry. In this write up, I will cover some common myths which still prevail, and also expand on the various functions in the BPO industry, which I had mentioned in my first write up. Over the last ten years, I have seen lot of parents very skeptical or afraid to send their children to work in the BPO industry. I will dispel lot of myths which I have encountered during the course of my conversations with parents or guardians of BPO aspirants. MYTH My son or daughter will get addicted to drugs or alcohol The BPO industry by itself is a very secure and disciplined industry. I have spent close to a decade with some of the most reputed names in the BPO industry, and I have not come across a single case of someone getting addicted or being forced to take drugs or alcohol. Another significant fact that people by and large need to consider, is the fact, that close to 70% of the employees working in the BPO industry in India, are girls with an average age of 23 years. No one can force you to take drugs or alcohol. Of course since the BPO industry has a young crowd, they do chill out in the weekends. But apart from that, I am yet to come across a serious problem, as the parents perceive. Parents go more by rumours or take advice from people who ado not know anything about the BPO industry. MYTH My child will have health issues since BPOs work in shifts and the shift timing keeps on changing Irrespective of the change in the shift timings, there will be no health issues. The human body has got an inbuilt mechanism, by which it can adapt itself to any situation. So there is no question of your health getting affected. Most of the Indian BPOs have US and UK clients. US shifts inevitably start at night. Moreover there are four time zones within the US. So the shift timing for a US process, may start anywhere from 7-30 till 11-30 pm. In the case of UK, they are five hours behind India. So typically an UK shift will start at 3 pm and go on till 1 am in the morning. MYTH BPOs do not offer you a career. It is simply a stop gap arrangement or a means to earn money As of now, the BPO industry is close to 15 years old. It is now a very mature industry. There are lots of high end areas which require employees with professional qualifications and work expertise. It is also a well regulated industry. NASSCOM (NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOFTWARE AND SERVICING COMPANIES) lays down the rules for the functioning of the IT and ITES industry.

Over the last three years, lot of professionals, from other industries, have shifted to the BPO industry, with the intention of making their career. MYTH There are no growth opportunities in the BPO industry. You have to keep on doing the same job again and again When BPOs initially came to India in the year 1996, the basic qualification required was only HSC. This was because, initially lot of voice processes used to come to India. Since the agent had to converse only on the telephone with the customer, the requirement, was only a good command over spoken English, a fairly good accent and the ability to understand the culture and accent of the customer. For this, all BPOs had a one month training program to train agents on the culture and Voice and Accent. People who joined the BPO industry at that point of time, got promoted early since the competition was virtually non existent. Gradually with the passage of time, lot of people started entering the BPO industry. At the same time, lot of other functions like E Mail Support, Chat Support, Web Designing, Content Writing, Back Office Support, etc, also came in. Each of these functions required candidates with different skill sets. Depending on the profile of the candidate, they were placed in the function which suited their skill sets. Lot of BPOs also sponsor your higher education. Once you acquire a professional qualification, you easily shift to a high end area, like a KPO or RPO. MYTH BPO employees suffer from lot of stress Each and every job in this world has got its positives and negatives. Our intelligence lies in being brutally honest with ourselves, in terms of understanding our strengths and then match it with the job. Secondly at some point of time, even the Vice President of a company gets tired, doing the same job again and again. This is precisely where we need to acquire new skill sets which in turn will help us, to explore various opportunities. The problem with most of us, is the habit of jumping on the bandwagon, and then when we come crashing down, we realize we were not cut out for that job or function. Everyone suffers from stress. It is up to the individual to keep himself motivated. MYTH BPO is not safe for girls working in night shifts There is absolutely no truth in this, considering the fact that close to 70% of people working in the BPO industry are women, which I have already mentioned earlier. There have been stray cases of girls getting murdered or raped, which have been shown in very bad light by all the television channels. Any incident related to the BPO industry is always portrayed negatively. All vehicles are connected to the local police station. The concerned BPO also has got a system to track the vehicle. If the vehicle deviates from the path, the concerned BPO comes to know about it immediately. Coming to the stray cases of rape or murder, the employees themselves are responsible for it. They tend to have affairs, which in some cases, can lead to impulsive actions and thereby the consequences are fatal.

MYTH BPO experience is not valued in the job market This is totally incorrect. Work Experience in the BPO industry is highly valued, because of the following reasons: Employees are excellent oral communicators and powerful listeners They are capable of multitasking, due to the frequent training programs, which BPO companies give their employees They can very easily adapt themselves to any kind of working environment and comfortably work in teams They are result oriented They have the ability to take pressure. All BPO employees work on stringent deadlines They are very disciplined and well mannered They are very ambitious and take up any challenge which is thrown at them, since they are young and want to grow LET US NOW LOOK AT THE VARIOUS FUNCTIONS UNDER THE BPO INDUSTRY IN DETAIL VOICE PROCESS As the term suggests, Voice Process, means human voice is used to interact with the customers. Voice Processes have two major categories Inbound and Outbound Inbound means calls made by the customer to the companys toll free number which is transferred to a call centre agent. Inbound calls are basically customer service calls. Coming to performance measuring parameters, in the case of an inbound call, the performance of the agent is measured in terms of the Average Call Handling Time. ACHT is the total number of minutes worked divided by the total number of calls attended or taken in a day. This will give the average time taken by the agent to handle one call. Depending on the product, the ACHT is fixed. It obviously cannot be the same for all products. Outbound calls caters to selling a product or service. In this type of calling, the dialer will dial numbers automatically and the call centre agent ends up selling a product or service to the customer. In the case of Outbound, the performance of the agent is measured in terms of the sales made by him in a month. All agents who are part of the outbound call process are given a target per month, taking into consideration their experience. BACK OFFICE SUPPORT There are lots of functions which come under back office support. To take an example, we can take the mortgage process. Mortgage means, the customer pledges his house as a security with the bank, for a loan. It is the job of the back office support executive, to ensure that the application form is duly

filled up by the customer and all relevant documents are attached. If there is a mismatch, only then will the agent call up the customer, to get whatever information or document is required to process the application. Another example, we can take, is of a mobile connection. When we choose a service provider, we have to fill up the application form and submit proof of our residence, date of birth and personal identification. It is the job of the back office support executive to ensure that the entire documentation is in place. These are also called as Semi Voice Process, because the agent will talk with the customer, only if it is required. EMAIL SUPPORT E MAIL SUPPORT basically means, responding to customer complaints. Let us take the example of a person, who has been traveling with Jet Airways, for the last ten years. One day, he finds that the service is lousy, and shoots off a letter to the public relations department. Such complaints are answered by the email support executive. It can be oral or in writing, but most of the complaints are responded in written form only. The email support executive, should be able to convince the customer that he is highly valued, and this kind of a mess up will not happen again. All service industries, run on word of mouth publicity. One bad mouthing customer, can literally mess up the profits of the whole organization because this person is going to speak about the lousy service to everyone. As they say, bad news always travels faster than good news. CHAT SUPPORT In airports, there are lots of computer terminals. Businessmen normally have hectic and last minute schedules. When a businessman comes to the airport, he can go on an online chat, and get all the details about any flight, very quickly. WEB DESIGNING A web designer designs the website of a company. All professional organizations have a website. If the website of any company is not professional, it will totally spoil the reputation of the organization even if the organization happens to be a market leader in that field The job of a web designer is to decide the color combinations of the website. Apart from this, he has to decide where the information has to be put, how it needs to be structured, which points need to be highlighted and so on CONTENT WRITING The job of a content writer is to design the written part of a companys website. There are several profiles of people who will visit a companys website. It could be a prospective employee wanting to make a career, a supplier, a customer or a bank. The information required by each of these people, are different. The content writer has to fully understand all the details about the organization, and accordingly decide on the language to be used. He should also cater to all type of people who are bound to access the companys website, and also take care on how to structure and put the information. Both the web designer and the content writer normally work hand in glove, because it requires lot of coordination between them.

TECHNICAL WRITING The job of a technical writer is to convert complex information and put it in a simple language, which a layman can easily understand and comprehend, To give you a very simple example, when we buy a mobile handset, there is a manual which comes with the set. The manual is written in a very simple language. This manual is designed by the technical writer. KNOWLEDGE PROCESS OUTSOURCING KPO is an emerging field. A professional with around 5-8 years of work experience in a specific filed and having expertise can get into KPO. He need to know his function like the back of his hand, since he will be handling the client him self. RECRUITMENT PROCESS OUTSOURCING When a company wants to recruit people in huge numbers, they first need to release an advertisement in the newspaper. They have to then shortlist the candidates, send interview letters to the short listed candidates, conduct all the selection rounds and ultimately narrow down on the right candidate. Those candidates who are selected need to be sent offer letters and then followed up. Practically when we look at this entire process, all employees of the HR Department get involved in this exercise. In the case of RPO, the company will identify a reputed placement organization, give its requirements, and ask the consultant to take care of the entire selection process. This gives a huge advantage to the company, because the HR team can then focus on more critical issues, which require immediate attention. MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION In Medical Transcription, the conversation between the doctor and the patient is recorded in a voice file. This file is sent to India on the same day. A medical transcriptionist has to listen to the recording, and type it word to word and send it back on the next day to US. This line is a very lucrative field but also equally challenging. Any medical transcription company, provides a training of one year to selected candidates. They are then made to sit with experienced transcriptionists to understand the process. This line is difficult, because you need to have an excellent understanding of all the medical terminologies. Apart from this, you also need to understand the accent. Normally one voice file of 15 minutes, takes around two hours to be translated verbatim, by an experienced medical transcriptionist. MEDICAL BILLING In the case of Medical Billing, an agent has to maintain all details, pertaining to a patient. Let us take an example of patients admitted in an hospital, in the US. The agent has to update the record of each patient, in terms of the date of admission, diagnosis, the name of the doctor, details of operation, if any, and the daily cost of the treatment, which would include the tablets, injections, doctors visit, operation charges, room rental and so on.

In my next write up, I will be covering the various call centre terminologies, and share with you, inputs, on how the resume needs to be prepared for a BPO job, and details on the various rounds which form part of the selection process.