FACT FILE CEO Sanjay Kumar POSITIONING A tech support company, with some exposure to retail STARTED IN 1999 OWNERSHIP Sanjay Kumar (promoter), Oki Developments, Warburg Pincus, WestRiver Capital TOTAL FUNDING $19 mn REVENUE (2002-03) $15 mn NO OF PEOPLE 3200 (as on 31 Oct 2003) CORPORATE ADDRESS 520 Kirkland Way, Kirkland, WA 98033 USA WEBSITE www.vcustomer.com  NO OF CLIENTS 11 QUALITY ISO 9001:2000 under implementation Six Sigma used Deploying Kaizen LOCATION FACILITIES: 3 (Delhi—3) SALES & MARKETING: San Jose and Pittsburgh, US

One of the first remote services companies that started way back in 1999, vCustomer has remained thoroughly focused as a tech support company, even with a headcount of more than 3000. It is not just the biggest tech support company in India, it is probably the biggest specialized BPO company in India.

Promoted as a tech support company by an ex-Microsoft techie, Sanjay Kumar, way back in 1999, vCustomer added inbound catalogue order taking on the way to its services portfolio.

In 2002-03, percentage share of its revenue from tech support dropped to 60 percent—its lowest—which the company hopes to raise again to 75 percent by the end of 2003-04. More than 65 percent of the company’s employees are engineering graduates.

vCustomer is an out and out techie company. Its commitment to technology is not just reflected in its focused service offering, but also in its commitment to what it calls VC Labs, a focused initiative to develop technology applications for the call centers, derived directly from its own needs and now productized. The company plans to commercialize them in near future.

The Labs also helps the operations in providing engineering solutions when needed. If that does not convince you about its love for technology, take this one. It is Cisco’s largest IP-based contact center worldwide and one of the first ones to deploy that solution. In fact, quite a few applications developed by VC Labs is around Cisco technology.

On the business side, the company, has a very strong image as a tech services company. However, the company is extremely dependent for its revenue on its largest customer, HP; and significantly on its largest customer in retail segment, Target Corporation. However, its extremely good relationship with HP is a major strength. In fact, vCustomer is HP’s biggest outsourcing vendor globally.

However, despite focus and strong image in target market, the story has not been smooth for the company. First, it was vCustomer’s tie-ups with US based call center companies ICT Group and ClientLogic which did not work out. Moreover, the constant change in local management did not exactly help the company’s reputation either.

The fact that all senior management were based in the US meant there was no spokesperson for the company in India to clarify company’s position. That created a major image gap—very detrimental to attracting local talent—which the company is now aggressively trying to rectify.

Hopefully, with the coming in of industry veteran Sujit Baksi, who successfully built the HCL BPO operations, there would be a positive change in local operations.

The company is on a growth mode now. Apart from looking at a new destination within India (most likely to be Pune), the company is also looking at a base abroad for balancing geopolitical risks.

The company is profitable and claims that the entire $15–$18 million needed for expansion would come from internal accruals.

Companies like vCustomer are exceptions and their success is crucial for the industry as a whole to be innovative.