MARKET RESEARCH: Of Q&As and Money

One of a major manpower intensive industry is the market research industry,
which collects data about businesses and individuals, through telephonic
surveys. Whole or part of these surveys are sponsored by organisation whose
products and services are used by the respondents of the surveys. Such
information leads to a database of individuals/businesses which can be ready
targets for focussed marketing efforts of the survey sponsors.

Today, many market data research organizations are moving a significant part
of their business to offshore BPO providers. The service providers today offer
clients business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) market
research surveys for end users in UK and the US. Most of these large market
research companies operate in their own country of operation as well as in
offshore locations. Hence, different centers of operations of the same
outsourcer, serve as competitive benchmarks for its outsourcing partner. In such
scenarios, the SLAs are often very stringent and are monitored at regular
intervals, which can also turn into real time monitoring. The BPO providers need
to provide a real time (like on-line) access to data and reports of the process
to its clients, thus providing the client with full control over the outsourced
process. That is extremely important for the business.

The volume of market research is at times seasonal, as it is affected by
factors like festivals and public holidays. Thus an offshore service provider
might be required to ramp up its infrastructure at a short notice; this includes
the physical infrastructure as well as manpower. A recent innovative training
initiative at our company increased the pass percentage for a mandatory
certification exam for their back office insurance compliance process, from 60
percent to 93 percent. The training program was also re-constructed to collapse
the training time from 6 months to 4.5 months for the same certification.

The attrition rate in the US and UK is close to 80 percent, partly due to the
repetitive nature of the task. Indian outsourcing providers will also have to
address the issue of high attrition and high absenteeism when the process is
migrated to India.

R Venkatesh Iyer, president, NIIT SmartServe

CASE STUDY: B2B and B2C Surveys for a UK-based Marketing Database Provider

NIIT SmartServe’s client is a UK-based organization that gathers prospect
data for its clients. Some of UK’s largest companies sponsor or buy whole or
parts of the surveys conducted by our client. The surveys, which include
information on buying habits and intentions, allows you to use the database for
focused marketing.

• The business-to-business surveys conducted by our client have been
  designed to update and capture important details about purchases and
  purchasing intentions.

• Through business-to-customer surveys our client contacts
  a large number of potential household consumers in the UK, to understand
  about their lifestyles and buying habits

In both types of surveys, the respondent is aware that the
aim of the surveys is to market products and services and that she might be
contacted in the future by the marketer. Thus, our client provides an ‘opt-in’
prospect data with vital information allowing easy ‘targeted’ marketing by
its sponsors, who benefit from the information given.

The client expected an increase in productivity,
effectiveness and quality of operations.

• Higher average ‘login hours’, total number of daily
  calling hours per person, with minimum down time and idle time caused due to
  technical, process related or people related issues.

• Higher number of accurately completed surveys per hour,
  per person.

• Reduced ‘handling time’.

Service Execution Model

The project requirement was to create a master survey vehicle to carry out
large scale data collection related to consumer behavior patterns. It required a
master software script framework that could accommodate requirements from
several of the client’s customers dynamically in a single survey on an ongoing
basis.

The customer’s primary objectives were to update the database at lower
costs, and improve quality and productivity compared to their call center in the
UK. The target performance metrics provided by the customer were customized to
achieve these objectives. NIIT SmartServe exceeded customer’s expectations
within four weeks of launching the program. The company achieved the targeted
SLA parameters and has taken the process to a steady state in a short span of
time, exceeding the customer’s expectations.