At iEnergizer, we have staff meetings every Monday. One of the agenda items is to compile a list of new call centers. This exercise is more to understand the various definitions of call centers prevailing in the market and less to track competition. The primary source of this information are calls that are received by our team from various recruitment consultants who represent large business groups. In our findings, although not a structured attempt by any standard, call centers mushrooming across the country fall under two broad categories. First, who have money, real estate and no management skills on the IT enabled services. Second, who have perceived or real business opportunity in North America, Europe or Australia. The scope of this article covers neither category. I would like to concentrate on a category, which is a combination of both.

Contrary to the chicken and egg theory prevalent about the IT enabled sector, there is only one approach to this business. Setup the infrastructure, get connected, showcase some staff strength and then approach the market for business. In my opinion, any other formula will not work. Customers, who are seriously considering India as a destination for outsourcing, will need to see the amount of investment that has already been made. In shortlisting the possible CRM partners, level of readiness is often a key parameter. ‘Virtual’ call centers (on drawing board stage) are not likely to get a client. During my last visit abroad to meet various potential clients, one client shared an interesting experience. After many months of planning a visit to India, he finally visited in December last year. He had a list of potential business partners to visit. Prominent amongst them was this very influential businessman, who had hounded him mercilessly for a visit. Almost two days were budgeted for this visit in Mumbai. He met a lot of related and unrelated individuals who had much to contribute towards the status of the industry. Even on the second day, there was no site visit. He insisted on being taken to the place where the action was. Somewhere in Navi Mumbai, one big patch of grass was shown to the client. The businessman proudly proclaimed, that was where his call center will come up in the next two months! Understandably so, this client wanted to see very concrete proof of our call center.

Such activities will go a long way to discredit India as a serious player in the call center business. Most Americans (I am sure Europeans too) spend quality time and effort in planning a visit to India to shortlist outsourcing partners. They are accountable for feedback they provide to their management. There is zero chance of getting long-term, high margin business if the facility cannot be showcased as almost ready.

Setting up an infrastructure in India, is probably the easiest part. The challenge lies in convincing the First World to do business with India. The selling starts at the country level, i.e. India vs. Philippine, India vs. Cuba, India vs. Mexico or India vs. Ireland. Many countries are being added to this list as time passes. China is also becoming a real threat now. Philippines and Ireland have demonstrated their capability. Both countries have awesome government support to take this industry forward. This was evident to whoever visited the CRM show in Los Angeles this year. Both Philippines and Ireland were represented at the country level. Mexico and Cuba have language advantage. Both can offer Spanish-speaking agents, which is a big plus point for North America. China will always beat anybody and everybody on price. The good news is that India has already established itself as a credible destination for IT related jobs and size, and the population of the country tilts the balance in our favor. While looking for business, it is worthwhile to be completely prepared to have good sales on the Indian pitch.

Assessing the kind of jobs, within the broad framework of IT, the jobs will become clearer, once the industry matures and we have experiences to share. For the time being, taking on pilot projects and then ramping up, is the norm. Pilots give the flexibility of judging the project in totality, including the operational bottlenecks, if any. Some decisions like voice-based jobs or web based jobs etc have to be taken at the infrastructure stage. Ramping up will require signing of fairly strict Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with client. In India, almost all call centers are fighting the SLA battle with their hands crossed. While they sign up, there is nothing in the backend to support this SLA. Connectivity vendors will not sign SLAs. Infrastructure and maintenance vendors will not sign SLAs. Therefore, the burden of execution is entirely that of the call center. This is a typical Indian problem. However, the initial players will have to just grit their teeth and sign on the dotted line. Hopefully, in the near future, suppliers will start providing SLAs to call centers, which in turn, will give immense confidence to the call centers on service delivery.

Having signed up a contract, a relevant and capable team is needed to take the project forward and ensure delivery as per the expected norm. The client also watches this team very closely. Whether the business acquires a sizable proportion, will depend on the insight and talent of the operations team. The players involved are recruitment consultants, training consultants, employees, etc, who will have to demonstrate tremendous self-constraint and help in building a solid industry base. Making quick and easy money will result in premature demise of a fledgling industry.

Sonali Verma, COO, iEenergizer Inc.