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When
you think of a call centre, what instantly comes to mind is hordes
of well-dressed youngsters, campus spirit, bonhomie and camararderie.
This image is in for a changeover. With the Indian ITES industry
realising that to stay in premium space it is essential to be ahead
of the curve, they have started focusing on value-added services.
So experienced specialists from as diverse fields as accountancy
and biotechnology, medicos and language experts, are being wooed
to join the New Age industry. For hiring agents, attracting such
professionals from their traditional folds has not altogether been
a difficult task, the prospects of the sunrise sector is lure enough
to get some of the best talent from various fields.
 While
an organisation like Spectramind has hired PhDs in molecular biology
and genomics, Msource is attracting CAs, and Infowavz has been recruiting
a large number of people from the hospitality industry. The career
opportunities are vast and extensive. “Any work that lends
itself to remote operations is an opportunity for Indian talent,”
says Ravindar S Datar, senior analyst, IT services-India, Business
Processing Outsourcing-Asia Pacific, Gartner India Research and
Advisory Services. These include radiologists and doctors for remote
analysis and diagnosis based on medical records and scans; lawyers
as research associates and for legal transcription; language and
animation specialists for proofing text and doing graphics and animation
work for publications and corporate presentations. “Those with
experience in insurance selling and claims processing are also getting
lucrative offers from ITES companies, along with engineers doing
design and drafting work remotely,” adds Datar. There are also
many options in technical support and Internet-based secondary research.
While people knowing multiple languages can pick up jobs as translators,
there is also great potential for HR professionals in the industry.
Finance
background
Currently,
the most in demand are people with a finance background, as the
financial services support is the fastest growing sector in the
ITES industry. MBAs, CAs, CFAs, BCom graduates and people with experience
in financial services industry like banks, financial institutions,
insurance and credit card companies. Elango R, associate vice president,
HR and training, Msource, says, “We did an analysis and found
that people with BCom are more likely to get hired by us and also
stay with us. Specialists are hired according to the domain. We
work in banking, finance and brokerage and hire qualified and competent
people with experience in each space, for instance CAs. We also
recruit collection experts for retail banking.” Elango reveals
that it is easy to entice experts into the industry. Even 10 months
back this was a difficult task. Awareness about the industry has
changed the scenario, though there is an initial reticience about
the growth prospects.
Infowavz
International also recruits people from banks, insurance companies,
asset financial companies (e.g. consumer goods, auto and home finance)
and those specialising in collections. Zia Shiekh, CEO, Infowavz
informs that they also hire in large numbers professionals with
degrees/ diplomas in hotel management and subsequent experience
with airlines, catering companies, hotels, restaurants and resorts.
“Having been in the service industry these people have excellent
orientation in customer service and support; apart from good English
and communication skills,” adds Shiekh.
Training
requirements
Apart
from client-specific product and services training, Infowavz provides
specialised training in the areas of collections, mortgage origination,
consumer and auto finance, credit card support, banking, finance
and accounting support. “The industry training provided typically
includes elements about legal and regulatory structures in the client
country, specific industry jargon that is used in those nations,
and of course, additional voice, accent and cultural training,”
says Shiekh. He adds that for the first six months the specialists
have to further refine their knowledge for understanding better
the support requirements in the international call centre/BPO environment.
The company also has a buddy-system in which experienced agents
are made to work with new recruits, to facilitate and accelerate
the learning process.
At
Epicentre a new entrant has to go through a three-pronged systematic
training programme to improve their skill sets and get a good grounding
in the organisation’s philosophy and value system. “There
is a total 240 hours of training designated for each employee. They
go through voice and accent data training session for cultural orientation,
accent neutralisation, pronounciation, vocabulary and voice modulation.
The new recruits are also given a thorough training in actual floor
working and functional area of work like product and systems training.
Other training issues are need based and depend on customer requirement,”
informs K Vijay Rao, CEO, Epicentre Technologies.
Most
training houses have launched exclusive programmes to cash in on
the ITES boom. Aptech has introduced courses called ACPG leading
to domain specialisations in BPO space. These are in the fields
of banking, accounting, sales and marketing. The training major
has also tied-up with organisations like i-flex solutions, NETg
and Tack Training, to give an added edge to its students. “We
have entered into an alliance with i-flex solutions for its
banking
course, which is the first of its kind in the country and will enable
students to gain hands-on experience on i-flex’s proprietary
Flexicube software. In the sales and marketing segment we have tied
up with Tack International and NETg,” states V Balasubramanian,
executive director and head-global IT, Aptech.
Monica
Doshi, vice president of KITES, a division of Karrox Technologies,
believes that training should be holistic rather than deconstructed
elements. “Too much time is spent on product explanations and
too little on the `soft skills’ such as customer service,”
she says, adding that different training requirements are needed
for different levels. The industry being at a nascent stage it is
not easy to find people with relevant experience at managerial levels.
At this level it is important to have a good undertanding of the
entire operations and not just one’s specific domain. Karrox
has tied up with the AT&T College of Call Centre Excellence
to offer training on areas covering HR, customer satisfaction, workforce
management, leadership and technology. In fact outside the US this
training is only provided by Karrox and by trainers who are certified
by the college. Karrox also offers training on quality and project
management.
Growth
prospects
Growth
opportunities are limitless in an industry, which is growing at
an exponential rate of more than 70 percent in India. “Progression
is driven by performance, aptitude and an ability and willingness
to learn and be both lateral and vertical,” says Vijay Rao.
These specialists become subject matter experts (SMEs) and can grow
quickly in the organisation and have an obvious advantage over others.
They can later move into a team mentor/coach position and are given
the responsibility of a small team. Later, on proving themselves,
they are promoted to positions of team leader/ supervisory roles.
Shiekh reminds that even within the domains people can specialise
in inbound customer care; outbound telesales and telemarketing;
finance and accounting processing; HR processing; Web chat and collaboration/
Internet support; claims processing; collections; data processing;
etc. People often prefer to grow horizontally moving from one process
to another or one operation to another, e.g., from training to project
management to quality control.
“With
experience and expertise in the field of operation, an ITES profession
can rise up to ranks of a solution architect, where he will be able
to draw the blueprints and strategies regarding solutions that the
company can offer to prospective clients. The role of a solution
architect offers global career to ITES job aspirants as they are
regularly in touch with market needs and demands of global customers
while dealing with them,” says Balasubramanian. Evidently,
they possess an advantage in terms of global careers over their
counterparts who do not possess overseas exposure.
Trained
personnel have an advantage over others as they display a better
grasp and are quick on the uptake. “The prospects are immense
as BPO is the thing of the future, simply because it accelerates
a company’s ability to compete in the market in areas where
it does not possess much expertise,” agrees Subramanian. It
is also important for professionals to be aware of the performance
evaluation criteria and appraisal parameters of their company. “This
will ensure that they are focused, know how they can grow in the
company and what it takes to get there,” points out Doshi.
Datar
rues that while there is an abundance of trainable human resources
in India, there is a dearth of trained professionals attuned to
address the challenges of the ITES kind of work. “It is important
that the candidates have the right attitude to be able to service
clients thousands of miles away, in a very different culture, and
also a good mix of skills and knowledge for the same,” he adds.
As
a nascent industry the ITES sector might have opened a world of
opportunities for English-speaking young graduates in India, the
future has all indications of being different. As value-added services
continue to grow, only people with specific expertise will find
an entry into the industry.
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