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Part - IX

• Is the work strategic
• Can the work be performed more cheaply in house

Work that is strategic to a company's core business operations should not quickly be outsourced. There is a real danger in creating a hollow company if the direction of a company placed in the hands of another. Executives must take the time to analyze the importance of these projects. Outsourcing companies cannot be listened to blindly.

Additionally most work is "back-office" and does not involve direct client contact. Sufficient supervision and lower costs more than offset these concerns.

Recommendations

The growth of BPO industry in the near future will result in significant infrastructure development including industrial parks, townships, communication and transport infrastructure in cities beyond the metros and state capitals. One also hopes to see new policy initiatives that will aid infrastructure development and expansion of the manpower pool. As a result of higher customer expectations, global competition and regulations, the industry will become more quality conscious. The BPO industry is likely to become a significant contributor to growth of the services sector.

In such a scenario key differentiators, which would define a long-term BPO player would be its investment in redundancies (physical infrastructure, technology bandwidth, recruitment machinery), its scalability by virtue of access to funds and experience in migrating and executing complex back-office tasks across varied industry verticals. "Indian BPO vendors are being challenged by insufficient quality of service, lack of service specialisation/expertise, and ballooning unused capacity. This situation will lead to the emergence of a set of Tier 1 providers capable of surviving while leaving unfit players to wind up or sell their assets. The future looks promising as the BPO industry is set to grow, but the business case should be approached with a clear long-term perspective.

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*Contributed by -
Shuchi Singla,
Global Business Operations, Semester-11,
Shri Ram College Of Commerce,
University Of Delhi.