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Call Centres : The First Step

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Voice&Data Bureau
New Update

So, you have decided to set up an off-shore-outsourced (third party) call
centre? Without
going into why you have done that, the article will put some record straight for you. It
will give you some facts collected after months of research. It is not an advisory
article. If you want to set up a call centre, you should still go to a consultant. Here,
the aim is to empower you with some relevant information that will help you talk
confidently to your vendors, consultants, and clients.

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DoT Guidelines for Setting-up Offshore Call Centres
  • Interconnectivity
    with other network/DTS link at India is not permitted. The PSTN connectivity is
    permissible only at the foreign end, not at the Indian end.
  • Separate
    earth station is not permitted, since VSNL is providing IPLC link.

    FIPB
    clearance, foreign equity, NRI involvement, e-commerce activity, and legal connectivity,
    with foreign-end collaborator are to be provided with application.
  • Schematic
    Network diagram with full equipment details with specifications, IPLC details,
    Indian/foreign-end locations to be shown clearly in all respects.
  • For
    call centres involved in e-commerce activities, the foreign equity cap is 49 percent and
    for others, there is no restriction (i.e., foreign equity can be 100 percent).
  • An international private
    lease circuit, mutliplexers with compression techniques, predictive dialers,
    EPABX,
    operator (agents) positions, etc. are permitted. For all purposes, the call centres at
    India is treated as extension of PSTN from foreign end.

 

 

 

Step-by-Step

The
first step to start any project is to get information. Good information will help you in
three following ways:

  • It will make
    you more realistic in your expectation from business

  • It will help
    you polish your idea.

  • It will make
    you confident so that no one can take you for a ride. This is one major fear of any

        entrepreneur in India.

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Where
do you get information? DoT gives certain basic guidelines (see the box below) for setting
up call centres. You can also find them on DoT’s web site. Then, you need information on how call
centre market operates. What are the questions that should be asked? Though there are no
Indian web sites, you can take help of some of the US and European sites. You can get a
list of links through any good directory like Yahoo! or search engines like
Northernlight. A recommended must visit resource site is
Call Centre News
Service. Go through the
FAQs. Another good site is
www.callcentre.net. However, the best information source are people who have either set up
offshore call centres or have been part of the set-up team in those call
centres. You get
a lot of practical tips from them that are relevant in the Indian context, which you do
not get from any published source. Vendors and integrators also give you information. But
you should take that with a pinch of salt, for obvious reasons. They have a business
interest in mind.

By
this time, you must have decided on the size of your call centre. Most Indian companies
begin with 100-seat call centres. Your location is an important consideration. You must
also have decided on your location. In India, Gurgaon is the hot
favourite. Chennai, Mumbai, and Ahmedbad are the other places where call centres are coming up. These are the
preferred locations for voice call centres. For e-mail/web-based help desks, even
Bangalore and Pune are good choices. But you should be close to your base.