India’s phenomenal BPO success story itself may have charted its fall in the sector, as rising wages and inability to churn out enough graduates put it in a rough terrain.
Rising wages and inability to churn out enough graduates may undo success story
NEW DELHI: India’s phenomenal BPO success story itself may have charted its fall in the sector, as rising wages and inability to churn out enough graduates put it in a rough terrain, according to Convergys president, international, Jean-Herve Jenn.
While these factors may not be an immediate worry, if the trend continues, it would be difficult to handle, Jenn said.
Currently in India to meet potential clients in telecom industry for its billing system division, Jenn is looking at a big opportunity for Convergys in 3G spectrum and for global telecom operators, who want to enter India and vice versa.
Shoving aside any idea of further investment in the BPO business in India, which offers technical support, customer service, sales, retention and back office services across a number of verticals, Jenn elaborated that offshoring is a game of low-costs.
With India offshoring work to destinations like Sri Lanka, moving up the value-chain of IT services is the way to go. “We are looking at India as a new emerging market, rather than as a cheap labour supplier,” says Jenn. Convergys operates from centres located Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Pune and Thane.
Convergys, which employs over 10,000 people in India for call centre operations, has around 9,000 employees in Philippines, and is likely to hire more there.
“For Americans it is easier to understand the Philippine accent which is as cost-effective as India. Skill is not an issue yet because we have the first mover advantage,” justifies Jenn.
China is another nation that is preparing hard to enter the IT-ITeS race, says Jenn. With an office at Dalian in China, Convergys is readying to service Japanese, Korean and Chinese customers by planning to set up a software development facility there once the intellectual property rights issue there is sorted out.
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