We attempt here to share some knowledge which could be useful to the BPO community. We will list questions even if we don't have answers for them. Hopefully, one of you will respond to those queries. Please do feel free to correct/improve the knowledgeBase.
What are the pros & cons of outsourcing?
Third Party Service Providers(TPSPs)
|
Captive centres
Source: neoIT |
What are the pros & cons of outsourcing to third party vendors?
Advantages
|
Disadvantages
Source: neoIT |
What are the pros & cons of outsourcing to a captive centre?
Advantages
|
Disadvantages
Source: neoIT |
Which are the important IT/ITeS cities in India?
| IT Landscape of key Indian cities | |||
| City | Focus | Prominent firms | Employees |
| Delhi (includes Gurgaon and Noida) |
Call centres, transaction processing, chip design, software | GE, American Express, STMicroelectronics, Wipro Spectramind, Convergys, Daksh, ExL | 73,000 |
| Mumbai | Financial research, back office, software | TCS, MphasiS, i-flex, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup | 62,050 |
| Bangalore | Chip design, software, boi-informatics, call centres, IT consulting, tax processing | Infosys, Wipro, Intel, IBM, SAP, SAS, Dell, Tisco, TI, Motorola, HP, Oracle, Yaho, AOL, E & Y, Accenture | 109,500 |
| Hyderabad | Software, back office, product design | HSBC, Satyam, Microsoft | 36,500 |
| Chennai | Software, transaction processing, animation | Cognizant, World Bank, Standard Chartered, Polaris, EDS, Pentamedia | 51,100 |
| Kolkata | Consulting, software | PwC, IBM, ITC Infotech, TCS | 7,300 |
| Pune | Call centres, chip design, embedded software | MsourcE, C-DAC, Persistent Systems, Zensar | 7,300 |
How many jobs from US are moving offshore?
| Sl.No | Number of U.S. Jobs Moving Offshore | ||||
| Job Category | 2000 | 2005 | 2010 | 2015 | |
| 1 | Management | 0 | 37,477 | 117,835 | 88,281 |
| 2 | Business | 10,787 | 61,252 | 161,722 | 48,028 |
| 3 | Computer | 27,171 | 108,991 | 276,954 | 72,632 |
| 4 | Architecture | 3,498 | 32,302 | 83,237 | 84,347 |
| 5 | Life Sciences | 0 | 3,677 | 14,478 | 36,770 |
| 6 | Legal | 1,793 | 14,220 | 34,673 | 74,642 |
| 7 | Art, Design | 818 | 5,576 | 13,846 | 29,639 |
| 8 | Sales | 4,619 | 29,064 | 97,321 | 26,564 |
| 9 | Office | 53,987 | 295,034 | 791,034 | 1,659,310 |
| Total | 102,674 | 587,592 | 1,591,101 | 3,320,213 | |
| Source: U.S Department of Labour and Forrester Research, Inc. | |||||
Hot Cities / States that are likely to create new Jobs in 2005
Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pondicherry, Madurai in the South Delhi NCR and smaller towns like Indore, Jaipur in the North Pune, Mumbai.
Segment wise break-up of the new Jobs in 2005
- IT & IT Services - An estimated 70,000 new Jobs expected in 2005. Plus there will be additional hiring to replace industry attrition that is around 25%
- BPO and Outsourcing services - Around 1,25,000 new Jobs expected in 2005.
- Retailing and Lifestyle - It will create close to 25,000 Jobs directly and more than twice the number indirectly.
- Biotechnology - It is expected to create around 5,000 - 7,000 highly skilled jobs.
In a accounting/book keeping type of BPO work, what is the best way of receiving data for processing?
Majority of clients use QuickBooks. Few clients prefer to host the database server within their premises. In such cases both the client and the BPO provider need to have good amount bandwidth [Client: 512K, vendor: dedicated 64k]
What is the average age of debtors outstanding?
90 days
What would the cost savings for US companies typically be, if they operated in India?
Datamonitor, a leading UK-based business information company, research indicates that 67-72% of costs to call centers operating in the US/UK is directly linked to man power costs. India, on the other hand spends only 33-40% of costs on man power. This includes training, benefits and other incentives for labor.
What are the current salaries in the BPO world in India?
- Customer Care Representatives [CSRs]: Rs 8,000 - Rs 15,000 per month
- Team Leaders: Rs 17,000 - Rs 26,000 per month
- Managers: Rs 3 lacs - Rs 5.5 lacs per annum
- Training Heads: Rs 8 lacs - Rs 12 lacs per annum
- Training Managers: Rs 5 lacs - Rs 8 lacs per annum
- Trainers: Rs 2 lacs - Rs 5 lacs per annum
Specialized ITeS professionals who posses MBA, BE, B.Tech, C.A. [CPA] and other expert qualifications or experience may be paid higher salaries depending upon the expertise required for the desired work profile and their level of experience. Frankly, this doesn't apply to just BPO field but to all fields.
Besides the salary employees are paid incentives depending upon attendance regualrity, achievement of targets. Don't be surprised if the incentive exceeds the salary!
Note: Rs 1 lac = Rs 100,000
This was last modified on June 21, 2004. We observed that only the CSR and Team Leader salaries are changing.
What is the cost of accent training?
The training costs for an employee in a call centre are quite prohibitive, ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 for 2-5 months session. For large size call centres that have high attrition it makes sense to have an inhouse trainer [but what if the trainer itself leaves ;-) ?]. We strongly feel neutral accent will become more popular than American/British accent. However, the need for American/British culture training will always be there.
How many BPO firms in India have reported a security breach?
83 per cent of Indian businesses had reported a security breach (against the global 64 per cent) and 42 per cent of these had three or more breaches. (as of Sept 2004)
What is the job growth in the BPO sector when compared to other sectors?
| Industry | New Employees | Period |
| Telecom | 10,000 | January-December 2002 |
| IT Enabled Services | 50,000 | April 2002 - March 2003 |
| Software Services | 30,000 | April 2002 - March 2003 |
| Retailing/Franchising | 35,000 | April 2002 - March 2003 |
What skills are required to work in each of the verticals?
| SEGMENTS | SKILLS |
| Call center | Good communication and language skills, accent understanding team leadership, basic computing skills |
| Remote customer interaction | Language and accent understanding |
| Date search, Integration | Computing, language and analytical skills |
| Human Resource Services | Country specific HR policies, rules and regulations |
| Remote education | Subject knowledge, computing and language skills |
| Engineering and design | Technical and engineering design and computing skills |
| Translation, medical transcription and Localisation | Language understanding, basic computing (word processing knowledge) and understanding of various medical terminologies |
| Animation | Drawing and creative skills, computer graphic skills |
| Finance and accounting | International/ country specific accounting rules |
| Market Research | Understanding statistical sales and marketing concepts |
| Network Consultancy and management | Understanding different network configurations and support equipment, technical/ computing skills |
Please list all those fancy numbers, including projections!
McKinsey & Co. predicts global market for IT-enabled services to be over $140 billion by 2008.
| These $142 Billion can be broken up and shown as below: | |
| Customer Interaction Services | 33.0 |
| Finance & Accounting Services | 15.0 |
| Translation, Transcription & Localization | 2.0 |
| Engineering & Design | 1.2 |
| HR Services | 5.0 |
| Data Search, Integration & Management | 44.0 |
| Remote Education | 18.0 |
| Networking Consulting & Management | 15.0 |
| Website Services | 5.0 |
| Market Research | 3.0 |
| Total | 141.2 |
| Source: NASSCOM McKinsey Study - India IT Strategies | |
| In that the opportunity for India will be $ 17 Billion. | |
Indian ITeS industry employed more than 100,000 people in 2001-2002. This industry clocked approximately 70% growth last year is expected to grow similarly in 2002-2003.
Global Market size estimates of BPO
- $712 billion in 2001
- Gartner/Dataquest: $ 544 billion in 2004
- Gartner: $173 billion in 2007, of which $24.23 billion would be outsourced to offshore contractors
- IDC: $300 billion in 2004
- IDC: $1.2 trillion in 2006
Does outsourcing really help a company?
A Bloomberg report noted how Atlanta-based Delta Airlines created 1,000 call-center jobs in India in 2003. he Indian operations saved Delta $25m in 2003, enabling the U.S. air carrier to add 1,200 positions for reservations and sales agents at home. But no Delta employees lost their job as a result of outsourcing.
In August 2003, McKinsey & Company estimated that every dollar of U.S. labor costs assigned overseas will generate $1.12-$1.14 in additional value for the American economy by making goods and services cheaper and companies more competitive.
Well, just give me the Indian Market size estimates
Indian Market size estimates of BPO
- Nasscom has estimated that the Indian ITES industry will gross over $5.7 billion by 2005 (based on a conservative year-on-year growth of 65 percent by Nasscom).
- Nasscom-McKinsey: In 1999 they estimated by 2008 it will be $17 billion but it has been revised to $21-24 billion by 2008. Indian can capture 25% of global BPO offshore market and 12% of the market for other services such as animation, content development and design services.
- Gartner: $1 billion (2002), $1.2 billion (2003). $13.8 billion by 2007. Gartner does not incorporate animation, medical or other (legal) transcription services, GIS, market research, data search, research and development, network consultancy and other non-business processes in its estimates on the ITES market size and potential.
| Revenue \ Year | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | CAGR |
| Offshore BPO Revenue | 1,322 | 1,825 | 3,017 | 6,439 | 12,563 | 24,230 | 78.91 |
| Indian BPO Revenue | 912 | 1,205 | 1,961 | 3,928 | 7,412 | 13,811 | 69.35 |
| Total BPO Market | 110,167 | 121,687 | 131,171 | 143,090 | 157,033 | 173,070 | 9.45 |
| CAGR in % 2002-07 | Figures in $ million | Source: Gartner Dataquest (May 2003) | |||||
With the growing demand in the ITes-BPO sector, what is the future of the market going to be?
The U.S is expected to be the largest source market for the ITes accounting for nearly 60% of the market. The share of the offshore component is expected to increase to 23% of the total spending by 2007. Europe is expected to be the second largest market for the ITes sector, accounting for 22% of total spending which is expected to reach Euro 129 billion by 2008. U.K and Ireland being the main markets for BPO in Europe are likely to account for about 45% of the European market followed by countries like Germany, Switzerland and Austria with a 20% share. The fastest growth expected within the European market is in the U.K and Ireland with a CAGR of 14%. However the maximum growth is expected n the Asia-Pacific region, with ITes-BPO spending to grow at 14.7% for the next two years.
Which are the main revenue areas for Indian BPO companies?
| India's BPO Market in 2008 | ||
| Service Line | First Estimate (1999) | Second Estimate (2001) |
| HR | 5.4 | 3.5-4.0 |
| Customer Care | 4.1 | 8.0-8.5 |
| Payment Services | 2.9 | 3.0-3.5 |
| Content Development | 2.6 | 2.5-3.0 |
| Administration | 1.3 | 1.5-2.0 |
| Finance | 0.7 | 2.5-3.0 |
| Figures in $ billion | ||
Do you have the HR BPO projections for 2004?
| HR BPO Projection 2004 | |
HR outsourcing forecasts by process in Asia Pacific (In $ million) |
|
| Payroll services | 761.20 |
| Benefits administration | 535.65 |
| Education and training | 555.99 |
| Recruiting and staffing | 347.98 |
| Personnel administration | 167.16 |
| Other HR functions | 191.97 |
| Total | 2,560.00 |
| Source: Gartner | |
Fantastic, does it mean I should dump all IT stocks and buy ITES stocks?
Hmm...not exactly. IT Services will still be the largest contributor to the exports pie.
| Year | ITES | IT Services |
| 1999-2000 | 14% | 86% |
| 2000-2001 | 14.5% | 85.5% |
| 2001-2002 | 19% | 81% |
| 2002-2003 | 24% | 76% |
| Source: Nasscom | ||
Few companies are into both IT and BPO. What percentage of the revenue is contributed by BPO?
| Company | June 2002 | Sept 2002 | Dec 2002 | March 2003 | June 2003 |
| Mphasis | 16.48% | 21.71% | 22.61% | 25.24% | 28.9% |
| Wipro | 4.85% | 5.78% | 6.81% | 7.785% | 8.61% |
| Infosy | 0.027% | 0.23% | 0.85% | 1.01% | 1.175% |
| Digital Globalsoft | N.A. | N.A. | 1.454% | 3.53% | 5.9% |
| HCL Tech | 5% | 5% | 6% | 9% | N.A. |
How did the BPO sector perform in 2002-2003?
As on March 31, 2003, the sector employed 171,000 professionals. It has $1 billion invetsed in it, creating about 100,000 smart cubicles in 7.5 million saq ft of space. It generated revenues of $2.3 billion in 2002-03.
How big is publishing outsourcing market in India?
As of Jan 2006, the outsourced publishing business in India is estimated at Rs 1,500 crore.
How big is the IT infrastructure outsourcing market?
IT infrastructure is critical for firms globally. Organisations invest huge amount of money to build IT infrastructure that support their business goals and objectives, but many fail to set up even the most basic tools to effectively manage their IT resources.
Help desk management, configuration management, and application packaging and migration services are some of the infrastructure-based activities that are currently being delivered from an offshore location and they may serve as platforms into broader outsourcing deals.
According to a Nasscom report, an estimated that 40-60 per cent of the overall Infrastructure Management Service pie may be efficiently delivered through a global delivery model. This translates to a market potential (for offshore infrastructure management) of approximately $ 55 billion.
Forrester Research, the global business intelligence major, which has estimated the infrastructure outsourcing opportunity at $ 111 billion, has indicated that it can bring almost $1 billion earnings for India, provided Indian outsourcers strengthen their cost, quality and security strengths.
According to Gartner, by 2006, Infrastructure services delivered in a Global Delivery Model from India to US companies will surpass $1 billion (with 80% probability).
Any latest rankings of Indian BPO vendors?
| Top 15 BPOs in India | ||
| Sl.No | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| 1 | WNS | Genpact |
| 2 | Wipro BPO | WNS |
| 3 | HCL Technology BPO Services | Wipo BPO |
| 4 | IBM Daksh | HCL BPO Services |
| 5 | Exl Services | ICICI OneSource |
| 6 | MphasiS BPO (formerly MSource) | IBM Daksh |
| 7 | Intelenet Global | Progeon |
| 8 | ICICI OneSource | Aegis BPO Services |
| 9 | GTL | EXL Service Holdings |
| 10 | Progeon | 24/7 Customer |
| 11 | 24/7 Customer.com | MphasiS BPO |
| 12 | Datamatics Technologies | Intelenet Global Services |
| 13 | Hinduja TMT | GTL |
| 14 | Transworks | TCS BPO |
| 15 | Tracmail | Transworks |
| Source: Nasscom 2005 Survey | ||
Do Indian BPO Vendors figure amongst world's BPO best vendors?
| World's 50 best managed BPO vendors | |||
| 1 | IBM Global / Daksh | 26 | Getronics |
| 2 | Accenture | 27 | Covansys |
| 3 | Hewlett Packard | 28 | Syntel |
| 4 | MphasiS | 29 | Ceridian |
| 5 | Ernst & Young/Capgemini | 30 | Spherion |
| 6 | Wipro Spectramind | 31 | ADP |
| 7 | ICICI OneSource | 32 | i-flex |
| 8 | eFunds Global Outsourcing | 33 | Tata Consultancy Services |
| 9 | Convergys | 34 | General Electric |
| 10 | Affiliated Computer Systems | 35 | Siemens Business Services |
| 11 | Sutherland Technologies | 36 | Atos Origin Intl B.V. |
| 12 | Oracle | 37 | InfoCrossing |
| 13 | Hewitt/Exult | 38 | Datamatics |
| 14 | HCL Technologies | 39 | Outsourced Partners Intl |
| 15 | Xansa | 40 | TechBooks |
| 16 | CSC | 41 | iGate |
| 17 | Unisys | 42 | Office Tiger |
| 18 | Keane | 43 | Perot |
| 19 | Satyam | 44 | EDS |
| 20 | CGI | 45 | Patni Computer |
| 21 | Cognizant | 46 | Gevity HR |
| 22 | 24/7 Customer | 47 | VCustomer |
| 23 | Intelligroup | 48 | SourceNet Solutions |
| 24 | Northrop Grumman IT | 49 | WNS Global |
| 25 | Infosys | 50 | Deloitte |
| Source: The Black Book of Outsourcing (Brown & Wilson, Wiley Publishers) | |||
Do you have any statistics of the number of employees in Indian call centres?
| Company | Number of Employees |
|---|---|
| EXL | 4,500 |
| Spectramind | 2,600 |
| Daksh | 2,000 |
| WNS | 1,600 |
| vCustomer | 1,500 |
| Tracmail | 1,365 |
| HCL e-serve | 870 |
| Epicentre | 700 |
| ICICI OneSource | 650 |
| GTL | 650 |
| Source: Nasscom ITES directory September 2002 | |
| Captive Centres | Number of Employees |
|---|---|
| GE Capital | 12,000 |
| e-serve International | 3,149 |
| eFunds | 1,646 |
| HSBC | 1,128 |
| Healthscribe India | 1,126 |
| American Express | 979 |
| Sitel India | 584 |
| Global e:Business Operations (HP) | 475 |
| Axa Global | 350 |
| Source: Nasscom ITES directory September 2002 | |
Do you have any rankings of call centres based on revenues?
| Ranking of Call Center & BPO players | ||
| Ranking | 2002-03 | 2003-04 |
| 1 | Wipro Spectramind | WNS Group |
| 2 | WNS Group | Wipro Spectramind |
| 3 | Daksh e-services | Daksh e-services Pvt Ltd |
| 4 | ExlService (I) Pvt Ltd | Convergys India Services Ltd |
| 5 | HCL Technologies BPO Services | HCL Technologies BPO Services Ltd |
| 6 | Convergys | Zenta Technologies |
| 7 | GTL Ltd | ICICI OneSource Ltd |
| 8 | MsourcE India | Mphasis BPO Services |
| 9 | Hinduja TMT | EXL Services |
| 10 | ICICI OneSource | Tracmail Group |
| 11 | Sutherland Technologies | GTL Ltd |
| 12 | Epicenter Technologies | vCustomer |
| 13 | Zenta Technologies | Hinduja TMT Ltd |
| 14 | 24/7 Customer | 24/7 Customer |
| 15 | Datamatics Technologies | Sutherland Technologies |
| Source: Nasscom | ||
| Revenue (in $m) | Headcount | |
|---|---|---|
| GE | 250 | 12,000 |
| Wipro Spectramind | 95 | 11,500 |
| Convergys | 94 | 9,800 |
| IBM-Daksh | 65 | 6,300 |
| MphasiS | 60 | 4,800 |
| WNS | 55 | 4,500 |
| EXL | 44 | 4,600 |
| ICICI OneSource | 42 | 4,100 |
| HSBC | 41 | 6,000 |
| Amex | 40 | 3,800 |
| Source: Economic Times (August 2004) | ||
Do you have any statistics regarding number of employees Vs revenues sector wise in India?
| Growth trend of the outsourcing industry | ||
| Service Area | 2002-03 | |
| Employment | Revenue (in $m) | |
| Customer care | 65,000 | 810 |
| Finance | 24,000 | 510 |
| HR | 2,100 | 45 |
| Payment service | 11,000 | 210 |
| Administration | 25,000 | 310 |
| Content development | 44,000 | 465 |
| Total | 1,71,100 | 2,350 |
| Source: Nasscom | ||
Do you have the number of call center seats in other countries?
| Number of Seats In Call Centers | ||
| Country | 2003 | 2004 |
| Australia | 1,35,000 | 1,46,000 |
| India | 96,000 | 1,58,000 |
| China | 38,000 | 54,000 |
| Philippiness | 20,000 | 40,000 |
| New Zealand | 12,000 | 13,500 |
| Thailand | 11,000 | 13,000 |
| Singapore | 10,000 | 10,100 |
| Hong Kong | 10,000 | 10,700 |
| Total | 3,32,000 | 4,45,300 |
Do you have any statistics/projections of employment vs revenues?
| IT Enabled Services: Market Segmentation | |||||||||
| (Rs crore) | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02(Estimated) | 2008(Forecast) | |||||
| Employment | Rev. | Employment | Re. | Employment | Rev. | Growth Rev(%) |
Employment | Rev. | |
| Customer Interaction service including call centers | 8,600 | 400 | 16,000 | 850 | 33,000 | 1,650 | 94 | 270,000 | 20,000 |
| Backoffice operations/Revenue Accounting/ Data Entry/ Data Conversion incl. Finance & Accounting/ HR services | 15,000 | 950 | 19,000 | 1,350 | 35,000 | 2,850 | 111 | 300,000 | 21,000 |
| Transcription/ Translation services | 5,000 | 120 | 6,000 | 160 | 5,200 | 150 | -6 | 50,000 | 4,000 |
| Content development/ Animation/ Engineering and Design/ GIS | 15,000 | 820 | 27,000 | 1,600 | 30,000 | 2,100 | 31 | 300,000 | 25,000 |
| Other Services including Remote education, Data Search, Market Research, Network | 1,400 | 110 | 2,000 | 140 | 3,000 | 210 | 50 | 180,000 | 11,000 |
| TOTAL | 45,000 | 2,400 | 70,000 | 4,100 | 106,200 | 6,960 | 70 | 1,100,000 | 81,000 |
| Source: NASSCOM | |||||||||
How have the Southern states performed in 2002-03?
| State | Revenues | Comments |
| Andhra Pradesh | Rs 1,411 crore | Andhra Pradesh already gets a hefty 40% of its IT revenues from ITES. |
| Karnataka | Rs 988 crore | The number of approved ITES companies increased from 28 to 41 in fiscal 2002-03. Revenues earned by them also grew to Rs 988 crore, which is 8% of the overall exports of Rs 12,350 crore earned by the state. |
| Tamil Nadu | Rs 523 crore | ITES earnings have jumped 8.3% to Rs 523 crore last fiscal from Rs 340 crore the year 2001-02. |
| Kerala | Not available | The number of ITES companies in Kerala which is pushing very hard to be among the preferred ITES destinations is said to be below 10. |
Do you have any comparison of India Vs US BPO operating costs?
| US$ Cost per FTE (Full Time Employee) |
United States | India | India as % of US costs |
| Personnel | 42,927 | 6,179 | 14% |
| G&A Expense | 8,571 | 1,000 | 12% |
| Telecom | 1,500 | 2,328 | 155% |
| Property Rentals | 2,600 | 847 | 33% |
| Depreciation | 3,000 | 1,500 | 50% |
| TOTAL EXPENSES | 58,598 | 11,854 | 20% |
| Source: Industry Sources, Merill Lynch 2003 (From the Nasscom Strategic Review 2003) | |||
Do you have any SWOT analysis on Indian ITES sector?
Strengths
- Highly skilled, English-speaking workforce.
- Abundant manpower
- Cheaper workforce than their Western counterparts. According to Nasscom, The wage difference is as high as 70-80 percent when compared to their Western counterparts.
- Lower attrition rates than in the West.
- Dedicated workforce aiming at making a long-term career in the field.
- Round-the-clock advantage for Western companies due to the huge time difference.
- Lower response time with efficient and effective service.
- Operational excellence
- Conducive business environment
Weaknesses
- Recent months have seen a rise in the level of attrition rates among ITES workers who are quitting their jobs to pursue higher studies. Of late workers have shown a tendency not to pursue ITES as a full-time career.
- The cost of telecom and network infrastructure is much higher in India than in the US.
- Manpower shortage
- Local infrastructure
- Political opposition from developed countries
Opportunities
- To work closely with associations like Nasscom to portray India as the most favoured ITES destination in the world.
- Indian ITES companies should work closely with Western governments and assuage their concerns and issues.
- India can be branded as a quality ITES destination rather than a low-cost destination.
- $69 billion ITES business by 2010
- $97.5 billion IT (consulting, software solutions) market by 2010
Threats
- The anti-outsourcing legislation in the US state of New Jersey. Three more states in the United States are planning legislation against outsourcing Connecticut, Missouri and Wisconsin.
- Workers in British Telecom have protested against outsourcing of work to Indian BPO companies.
- Other ITES destinations such as China, Philippines and South Africa could have an edge on the cost factor.
- Slowdown of demand
What is the sex ratio in the ITeS sector?
As of March 2003, the male:female ratio is 35:65.
What is the attrition rate in the ITeS sector?
BPOs in India are expected to employ around one million people by 2008, but the challenger is to find quality human resources given the current attrition rate of around 35-40%. Currently it is about 35% in non-voice and 45% in voice call centers. However what the number don't show is that more than 60% of those who leave a particular BPO do not leave for a competitor, but leave the industry as a whole. Here lies the danger for this sector and the challenge for HR consultants.
Agents want to become team leaders. Team leaders want to become supervisors. Supervisors wants the job of the CEO.
At an attrition rate of 40%, the cost of attrition in the industry is 1.5 times the annual salary.
Some of the reasons could be:
- Many see this space to be an Internet sweatshop where all that the employees are required to do is just mechanically input numbers into excel sheets or, worse still, answer phone calls inthe same tone and repeat the same lines at least 100 times a day/night.
- People who join a BPO usually do so to make a 'quick' buck. They are bound to quit because sooner or later they will find something more attractive in terms of the job profile and/or pay.
- The industry has concentrated on hiring young, dynamic and these are looking for more than just a job.
- Talent in this space is generally overlooked, which leaves the deserving few disgruntled with top management and hence fosters attrition.
To fix this problem BPO firms are trying to solve this big problem
- By hiring mature talent [i.e. people over 35 years in age].
- HR must realise that fatter pay cheques can never be a sure-shot way to retain employees. More important aspects like a secure career, benefits, perks and communication cannot be overlooked at any level.
- Employee rentention must be the focus, which means that talent must be recognized and suitably rewarded.
- Hire outstation candidates (from small towns) and provided them with shared accomodation.
- Offer management diplomas and MBA courses.
- Only 5 out of 150 employees become team leaders in a year, hence cash incentives is one way to keep the employees happy. Daksh shells out about Rs 4,000 bonus per onth to almost 85% of its workforce.
- Use psychometric tests to get people who can work at night and handle the monotony.
- BPO must concentrate on becoming an 'employer of choice'. A comprehensive process framework and access to proper infrastructure in the work place goes a long way in retaining employees, as a congenial work environment is critical.
Do you have any Voice Vs Non-Voice statistics?
| Voice Vs Non-Voice | |||
| Company | Revenues ($ Million) |
Employees | Voice: Non-Voice |
| Wipro Spectramind | 41 | 5,000 | 80:20 |
| Daksh eServices | 35 | 4,000 | 70:30 |
| OfficeTiger | 25 | 1,000 | 0:100 |
| HCL Technologies BPO | ? | 2,346 | 90:10 |
| ICICI OneSource | ? | 2,175 | 70:30 |
| World Network Services | 35 | 2,500 | 65:35 |
| exl Service.com | 28 | 2,300 | 75:25 |
| MsourcE | 20 | 3,162 | 93:7 |
| Hinduja TMT | 24 | 1,400 | 66:34 |
| Tracmail | 11 | 1,000 | 50:50 |
| Progeon | 4.4 | 685 | 30:70 |
| Source: Business World (4 August 2003) | |||
How do the salaries of voice vs non-voice employees compare?
Typically an employee in a voice call center costs about 15% more than in a non-voice center.
What is the approximate cost of maintaining a dialer?
The dialer costs $0.5-1.0 million and the maintenance costs approx. $100,000 a year. This translates to about $1.5 per person per hour.
How is the revenue pie being sliced?
Labor costs account for about 30-35% of the revenues. Customer acquistion accounts for 10-15%. Employee training costs Rs 40-50,000 per employee. The weakening dollar is not helping the cause.
How good is the quality of English in India?
According to McKinsey, apart from Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, the quality of graduates applying for jobs in the ITeS industry needs to improve. India produces over 100,000 graduates every year but the quality of English is not very good in small towns.
Our view: Needless to say this report is worrysome. We sincerely hope the fanatics in the political circles stop hindering English education in India. This kind of policy will only encourage clients to move to Philippines, Ireland and Singapore.
What is the cost of living ranking in India?
| Cost of Living Rankings | |||
| Rank | |||
| City | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |
| Mumbai | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Delhi | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Ahmedabad | 3 | 7 | 6 |
| Kolkata | 4 | 5 | 7 |
| Pune | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Chennai | 6 | 3 | 5 |
| Bangalore | 7 | 6 | 3 |
| Lucknow | 8 | - | - |
| Kochi | 9 | - | - |
| Patna | 10 | - | - |
| Jaipur | 11 | - | - |
| Hyderabad | 12 | 8 | 8 |
What are the rates charged by Indian BPOs for Telemarketing (outbound) to US?
Anywhere from $9-12/hour. The login hours is anywhere between 6.5 to 7.5 hrs excluding lunch & tea breaks. In more than 95% of the projects the billing is by login hours and not man month basis.
Billing is based on a base rate plus incentive for achieving the target which will give you anywhere between $9 to $12 per hr. $12 is probably the best case scenario.
How big is the Indian KPO market?
According to industry estimates, by 2010, the size of the KPO industry would be worth $17 billion globally, out of which India would hog almost $12bn. Nasscom and Evalueserve estimate that by 2010, 300,000 jobs would be created in the KPO space and 70% of these jobs are expected to come to India. But the picture is not as rosy as it looks. The KPO industry will have to wade through many challenges to keep up the expectations and predictions for its bright future.
One of the major problems faced by the KPO industry is the dearth of skilled manpower with domain expertise. The client's expectations and quality requirements are very high. Also in the KPO space, client conversion and development takes longer compared to other processes. If India wants to get 70% of KPO jobs by 2010, then serious intervention at the educational level and investment in training are imperative.
Are Indian BPOs purchasing liability insurance?
IT and BPO companies were exposed to an intensely litigious international environment. This was one of the major factors that was driving their purchase of such policies. The insurance placements were entirely made with insurers that had international ratings above `BBB' assigned by globally recognised ratings agencies.
More mid-size companies were also taking cover, as they were driven by the outsourcing revenue models of foreign companies. Among the major risks Indian companies face from these entities are glitches in software products, including deviations from product specifications and issues relating to breach of contractual deadlines. The cover against such risks all constituted liability cover.
What is the cost of education in India?
| Cost of Education in Cities | ||||
| School Fees | Private Tution Fees | Conveyance | Total | |
| Delhi | 1,599 | 1,197 | 644 | 3,440 |
| Kolkata | 1,017 | 1,141 | 345 | 2,502 |
| Mumbai | 1,688 | 1,682 | 914 | 4,284 |
| Chennai | 772 | 371 | 322 | 1,465 |
| Lucknow | 1,839 | 622 | 510 | 2,972 |
| Patna | 1,288 | 953 | 531 | 2,772 |
| Ahmedabad | 1,015 | 489 | 457 | 1,961 |
| Hyderabad | 355 | 129 | 250 | 734 |
| Jaipur | 846 | 600 | 293 | 1,758 |
| Bangalore | 819 | 585 | 357 | 1.726 |
| Pune | 586 | 771 | 229 | 1,585 |
| Kochi | 1,068 | 402 | 356 | 1,827 |
| June 2004 (Rupees per month) | ||||
Which other country(ies) is a serious competitor of India?
Philippines boasts of strong skills in finance and accounting. The other countries India is competing with are Mexico, Canada and Ireland. In terms of cost, Philippines and Malayasia are competitive with India. However, India's main competitors in the BPO space produce a fraction of the graduates that India does.
| Cost of Education in Cities | ||
| Country | USP | Limitation |
| Philippines | Understands the US market; voice work; low attrition | More expensive than India; small talent pool |
| Canada, Ireland, Australia | Understands the US market; high-end skils | High costs |
| South Africa | Time zone similar to Europe; 25% cost saving, good for niche work | Skill shortage |
| China | Low costs | Quality of English not good |
| Russia | Technology skills | Poor infrastructure; corruption; language |
| Czech Republic, Hungary | European language skills | Small talent pool; high costs |
| Mexico | Immediate neighbor of US, 30% cheaper than US; Spanish skills | Good only for low-end jobs |