BPO Companies Should Not Create Hype: Talwar

"Indian companies and the media should refrain from overplaying the BPO achievements and opportunities of the country," said Vikram Talwar, CEO, EXL. Speaking at the India BPO & contact Center Summit, organized by Voice & Data, a leading communications magazine from the stable of Cyber Media. Talwar stressed that it was important that companies take cue from the recent outcry in US against outsourcing of work to India and start behaving in a more mature manner. "The more you talk about it, the more it would trigger off negative sentiments amongst the recession-battered local population who see a loss of job opportunity in every big order that an Indian company bags," he said. 

The BPO summit was divided into four sessions-Client Acquisition, Technology, Strategy and People and Process. Experts and panelist at the session also suggested that as India had already established its credential as the outsourcing nerve center of world, there was a clear cut shift in the sales pitch of BPO companies-from why India to which company or which region in India. The summit also concluded that with the BPO space becoming more competitive, it was becoming imperative for Indian companies to find and concentrate on the niche in which they want to play.

Selection of partners was another area of concern and most of the experts agreed that while Indian companies definitely need to have their representatives in the overseas market, they also stressed on the need for local presence. Besides, Indian companies should also appoint partners to help in the search and acquisition of customers globally.

The summit also concluded that contrary to popular belief, US was not the only market important from outsourcing point of view. Indian companies should explore virgin markets and also concentrate on providing services in languages other than English. Urging the government to play an important role in convincing countries to outsource their business processes to Indian companies, the panelists also suggested that the sector urgently needed government intervention in controlling the mushrooming growth of non-serious call centers which are eating into the pie of the serious players.

(CNS)