Neighbours Evil Eye

November 29th, 2006

This article in today’s Economic Times, sums up what I have been also saying for a long time.

Good management jargon may be used to explain away, what is basically an unethical act. Free market be true, but is it ethical to take away from some one else what he has spent time and efforts in building up.

And if every one gets into the same game of poaching, then how long will we remain low cost destination?

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/629963.cms

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The looming labor shortage

December 17th, 2005

Hello,
 
It looks like India’s BPO boom would have to face reality rather sooner than expected.
 
The labor shortage, which I have been talking about earlier is now catching the attention of mainstream media.
 
This article in the CIO Today magazine carries highlights from the Nasscom McKinsey study about the pitfalls of the scenario going forward.
The study carries some strong messages if India needs to keep the momentum going.
 
Meanwhile the fight for scarce resources is on amongst the players who have already landed here.
 
This results in shortage even to the domestic industry and other sectors. For example, a NY based law firm setting up operations here in Mumbai has taken about 300 Lawyers and para legals at salaries that are double what the market pays for such skill sets. This no doubt results in a shortage of lawyer for law firms who were themselves otherwise overburdened by the growing economic activity.
 
Venkat
 
 

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Two flooding

September 6th, 2005

Whew…some of my regulars might be wondering why I am  not blogging more often.
 
Well, my inability to contribute regularly started off with my travel to the US. A week or two before the trip, I was busy getting all the things I needed for the trip in order. While on the 2 week trip itself, I did 8 cities in about 10 working days. Except on two occasions over weekends, I did not sleep on the same bed for two consecutive nights. After coming back, I got busy meeting the deliverables that I had promised during the trip.
 
But what is more of a co-incidence is the two flooding that occurred. While I was in the US, Mumbai  ( and to some extent Pune ) received unprecedented 110 year record rainfalls. While Mumbai was flooded and non operational for over a week, our own delivery center faced flooding issues and had to shut down for two days due to power outages that exceeded the capacity of the Generators to keep powering.
 
Now that I am back in India, I am witnessing the news of the Katrina Hurricane and the damage that it has left in its wake.
 
While most disasters are unforeseen there can still be some degree of planning. Multiple locations being made fully operational is one of them. Both from the clients side and the vendors side.
 
The lessons are clear. If you want to be able to quickly tide over disasters, Disaster Recovery Management is critical.
 
Venkat
Vital Link Outsourcing

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Indian BPOs - 3 breeds - 1/?

July 16th, 2005

Many general participants do not realize that there are 3 distinct breeds of BPOs.
Each one of them have their own origins, imperatives and other such characteristics.
 
What are they?
 
1. Pure Play Third Party BPOs
 
Owned independent of the customers. Some background in the industry vertical / processes. Serves many customers and mostly no single customer forms a large percentage of its turnover.
 
2. Captives
 
Owned and set up by the customer. A captive back office for a US / UK corporation. Processes are defined and move to India.
 
3. Software Backed BPOs
 
Owned or promoted by Indian software companies. May share many characteristics with Pure play third party BPOs but are different enough to be mentioned as a separate entity.
 
 
What are their characteristics? How do they differ? Why should I know more about them?
 
Venkat
 
 
 

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Indian BPO’s help out in London Blasts

July 8th, 2005

After all the bad press in the UK arising out of the Sun’s so called sting operation here is some good news.
 
Indian call centers which handle National Rail’s calls were jammed due to the surge in communication needs arising out of the London blasts and rose up to the occasion.
 
P. Venkat
 
CEO
Vital Link Outsourcing

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The Sun Tabloid BPO fraud

July 7th, 2005

There has been yet more fraud and this too is unraveling itself in its myriad ways.
 
Most the world knows the penchant of British tabloids for yellow journalism. And the free availability of all sorts of content whether copy protected / data secured or not in South Asian countries.
 
Combine both of them and you have something that hogs the headlines in our Industry for a few days. But digging deeper into the facts, it is becoming murkier by the day. In fact what are facts and what are not is itself becoming confusing.
 
But then this kind of sting could have worked anywhere in the world. Even back home in UK. Nuclear secrets have been sold for far lesser motives and even lesser pecuniary gains.
 
When it comes to Data Security even in the US systems have been hacked into and identities stolen.
 
But then business is going on as normal.
 
The Economic Times reports that Fortune 500 companies favor India.
 
Venkat
 
 

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EX V/s Tally

April 2nd, 2005

About 10 -12 years back, at Vital Link Outsourcing, when we started BPO operations, we had to make a choice of choosing our accounting software. We had a choice of EX a accounting package from Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS ) from the House of Tata’s, India’s leading business house. The other alternative was Tally from a small no name business outfit in Calcutta.

The launch of EX was preceded by a slick advertising campaign, that many old timers from India will recollect. Naturally the strong ad campaign and the big house name behind the product made our decision veer in their favor.

Starting 1st April, 2005 we mark the end of our decade long tryst with a software that caused us more pain and anguish that we had bargained for. ( But aren’t all software like that you might ask :-) ) We made the decision and moved to Tally. If ever there was a most damning statement against the House of Tata’s this is one of them.

Why did we do that?

EX was never supported. Bug fixes were paid version releases. Usability issues were never fixed. User base of accountants / CAs was rather restricted and getting more limited by the day. Dealers were not interested in the product any longer and support was sporadic and patchy, at best.

TALLY on the other hand had acquired a large user base of folks who knew its intricacies. With the release of the VAT regime in India, Tally was all over the place with its VAT compliant upgrade. The folks at EX were sleeping on the job. In short Tally was the pre-dominant market leader in its category. And did we have a choice?

Why this had to happen? The simple fact is that for TCS, EX was a small division too miniscule to merit top management attention. For the Tally guys, it was their livelihood. It was Tally or bust for them. Naturally the Tally guys had the fire in their stomach, that the guys who ran the EX division of TCS sorely lacked, sitting on their fat behinds.

No one gets fired for buying IBM they say. So it would be, we thought, with TCS. But IBM just kind of closed the division, it looks like.

What does all this ranting of changing accounting packages, have to do with running a BPO unit in India, you might as well ask.

The question is whether your BPO vendor is solely focused on serving you or not. Or is he a current ‘must have’ BPO division of a large multi focused conglomerate?

At Vital Link Outsourcing we are seeing a lot of large names not satisfying their large name customers. Giving BPO a bad name in general on both sides.

All due to a strong lack of focus on the part of the service provider.

Venkat

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BPO Hype Cycle - Gartner Report

April 2nd, 2005

The Gartner report released about 4 days back is all that a report should be. Alarming, shocking and meant to make folks sit up and take notice. Propel them enough to go out and buy the report. After all the primary business of all analysts is to first and foremost sell what they generate.

Having said this, is the prediction that about 60 -70 % of all call center BPOs will shut shop true or not?

In one word the answer is YES.

In one word your question may be WHY?

The answer will now have to be a little longer. Most of these BPOs have been started in the first flush of enthusiasm by every Tom, Dick and Hari in search of the pot of gold at the end of the BPO rainbow. Most of them lack a solid business model, are undercapitalised or lack sheer grit and execution capability that would separate the men from the boys. What ever the reasons for the weakness, there has to be some element of culling that nature has ordained.

Is this good? Not if you are one of the those going to be culled.

But if you are the one who is strong enough to survive then it is good.

Those who are going to close will throw up lot of trained talent and other resources which the strong can grab and emerge stronger.

I can already see this happening and it is good for the industry.

Venkat

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