NEW DELHI - It is the kind of crisis
management only possible in an era of perfect
connectivity in a global world. Call center
executives based in the Indian state of Gujarat
are guiding residents of Texas afflicted by
Hurricane Rita.
The call center located in
the city of Gandhinagar is run by Effective Tele
Services and is informing affected Texas residents
about safer locations, evacuation and relief
operations.
The Indian arm of the US-based
firm came into play when its two call centers in
Texas were temporarily shut down due to fear that
they could suffer damage from Hurricane Rita. "I
received a frantic call from Robert Hurst, a
senior judge in Texas on Friday night," said Jim
Iyoob, the center's director in Gujarat and a
resident of Texas. "He requested me to set up a
helpline at the business
process outsourcing [BPO]
center to help evacuees in Texas find a temporary
shelter from the hurricane," he said.
The
helpline was immediately started, with executives
providing information sourced from the Internet by
monitoring websites and maps. "All calls from our
Texas office are being diverted to India," said
Iyoob.
Earlier, the Indian BPO industry,
under the aegis of the National Association of
Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), wrote
to the US Department of Homeland security offering
over 1,000 call center seats to assist rescue and
relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina in the months of August-September.
"We have written to the US ambassador to
India as well as the Department of Homeland
security to commit call center seats to handle
calls relating to information on missing people,
as well as information on aid and relief to
victims of Hurricane Katrina. All major BPO and IT
companies in India have offered to allocate seats
in their existing call centers," a Nasscom
statement read.
Another recent
international crisis was handled from India,
though on a much bigger scale. Indian call centers
took the bulk of the calls from citizens in London
and the rest of Britain in the aftermath of the
terror blasts in July.
The National Rail
Service of London outsources its enquiry service
mainly to two firms - British Telecom and Ventura,
which have been further sub-contracted to
Intelenet in Mumbai and Client Logic in Bangalore.
Both the companies witnessed a doubling of inbound
calls from United Kingdom posts after the blasts
and deployed additional staff to deal with the
situation. Intelenet chief executive officer Susir
Kumar said, "We have to live up to the
expectations of our client." Most of the callers
asked for transport assistance and enquired about
the situation in other parts of the city.
Experts say that information passed on by
the Indian call centers can be life-saving. This
is because the data available, even if basic, can
be effectively disseminated to people affected by
a disaster only from locations that are
unaffected.
A disaster-stricken population
may not have access to reports about weather
conditions, relief, safe areas, which may be
accessible to others through television,
government dispatches or the Internet.
In
such a scenario, a phone call could mitigate many
of the rudimentary information gaps and can
ultimately prove to be very useful. The
connectivity offered by call centers located in
another geographical location thus helps. During
the tsunami that struck the eastern coast of India
late last year, several Indian-Americans offered
call facilities from the US accessing material
that was available on the Internet.
Indian
call centers have been trying to promote their
cause by addressing some of the regular complaints
by international customers. One method is to
employ foreigners who belong to the region from
where the calls are made. They then train Indian
call center executives about the nuances of
dealing with inquiries, including cultural and
language specifics. Recruitment agencies are hired
by Indian BPOs in India and abroad to look for
foreign undergraduates and backpackers who may be
interested in short-term assignments to explain
aspects of the countries from which they come.
Several firms encourage their senior staff
to travel abroad and meet clients to familiarize
themselves with foreign environments. Many of the
BPO companies also undergo disaster management
routines to ensure that a sudden spurt in calls
can be dealt with in terms of manpower, network
and infrastructure. The stakes are high. According
to estimates, the Indian BPO sector will gross
over US$6 billion in revenue in 2005. Estimates
suggest that 200,000 to 400,000 jobs have moved
from the US since the outsourcing trend began in
the 1990s, which is still a fraction of the 138
million jobs in the US.
India controls
close to 50% of the global offshore outsourcing
market for software and back-office services, with
annual revenues close to $20 billion. A McKinsey
report on the IT-enabled sector has revised the
previous figure of $17 billion to $21-24 billion
by the year 2008. India is slated to garner 25% of
the offshore market, with the US the largest
source, providing 60% of business.
However, there are still problems, one
major one being a shortage of skilled labor in
call centers, which affects costs, quality and
security. The Indian IT-enabled services sector
employs nearly half a million people who work at
costs that are a fifth of Western wages. It is
estimated that Indian call centers will employ 1
million by 2009, with an expected shortfall of
more than 250,000 workers.
According to a
recent study by IT research and advisory company
Gartner, "A lack of skilled workers over time will
drive up labor costs as employees sell their
skills to the highest bidder, thus eliminating the
cost advantages. Resorting to recruiting
less-than-qualified personnel to run the many call
centers can cause the quality of services
delivered to suffer. Additionally, the risk of
fraud and theft of confidential data increases as
under-qualified employees perform jobs vital to
security.''
Indeed, it has not been an
easy ride for Indian call centers. There have been
several complaints against the sector, including
accusations of data theft and language and accent
barriers. Multinationals such as Dell have wound
up their overseas customer support operations due
to customer dissatisfaction. Indian executives are
regularly badgered by hate calls from Western
populations where jobs have been transferred to
low-cost locations.
The Indian BPO
industry is waking up to these requirements by
putting in place elaborate checks against data
pilferage and ensuring a system of selecting
proven manpower. There are efforts to make the
working environment more employee-friendly to
attract young talent.
Siddharth
Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.
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