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The Indian BPO Industry: an overview
By Shashank Shalabh | December 19, 2008
Contrary to the popular notion that the BPO Industry (popularly referred to as the Call Centre Industry) is reeling under the effects of high attrition rate, economic slowdown, and a number of other economic jargon (which often I fail to decipher), statistics shows that the Indian BPO Industry is all set to boom incredibly in the offing.
So all you folks who have been losing sleep over the mythical crash of the BPO industry, it’s time to relax and save your worries for other issues. Plainly speaking, the BPO industry is here to stay (I can hear the rumor-mongers shrieking).
The question that has been haunting the thoughts of BPO biggies and managers lately is undoubtedly- How to accelerate agent productivity? Isn’t it a little weird that despite the availability of high-end technology like VOIP (which by the way is also an effective cost-cutting solution), many established call centers fail to multiply agent productivity?
It’s been observed that a major chunk of investment goes into recruiting and training agents. It is therefore quite obvious that agent productivity and the overall productivity of call centers are directly proportional to each other. Blatant incentive packages do help in increasing productivity, but they are not a foolproof solution to ensure consistent growth of the organization.
Let’s list some of the myths associated to the BPO industry in general and contact centers in particular:
Myth1- Reduction in Call-Handle time translates to increase in agent productivity
Myth2- Expensive technologies can singlehandedly boost agent productivity
Myth3- Cutting down on training costs can significantly minimize losses
In a nutshell, the future of the BPO industry in India seems quite bright. Indian Call Centers need to address the aforementioned issues to pave way for the growth of the Indian BPO Industry.
Topics: Call Centers, Technology |