As India assumes center stage in the outsourcing world, it will come under intense scrutiny. Partly because as a leader there are many who are closely following the India model and also because there are many who are waiting for cracks to show. Only with the help of training can the industry avoid the pitfalls as well as position itself as the ultimate offshoring destination of the world.

As many competitive destinations emerge and as India's own cost structure increases, the only differentiator between competing destinations would be the quality of service. Ironically, while India touts the availability of talent, it is also true that most of this talent is unpolished. Training this pool of talent is a huge challenge.

Contrary to the myth of a huge talent pool, the resources are very limited. A statistic from McKinsey says that only five percent of the available talent is ready for call centers. It adds that 15–20 percent of the talent pool that can be trained for deployment. The rest, 75–80 percent, is so poor that it is not economically viable to train them for deployment. The industry is therefore doing a tightrope walk between the need to expand and doing it in a cost-effective manner.

WHAT TO OUTSOURCE
Usually, most companies would like to train internally as much as possible but it is not always feasible because the requirement levels are so huge and often the raw material is very poor.

Besides, there are some very specific skill sets for which the company has no option but to look for training solutions outside. Let us consider some scenarios under which outsourcing the training is desirable.

• During ramp-ups the in-house training team will not be able to handle the requirements of new recruits. Neither is it feasible to hire a huge training team to cater to such seasonal requirements.

• It is a good idea to hire external trainers when it comes to learning about culture. External trainers usually cost a packet but they do a good job too. A smart thing to do during the training is to have an internal trainer shadow the external trainer and learn the structure of the program and attempt to do it internally the next time.

• Behavioral training is usually outsourced. This relates to leadership development as well as customer interaction issues like handling pressure. Such trainers are usually very experienced and bring a mature insight into an industry that is brimming with youngsters yearning to grow. From agents to team leaders to supervisors to project managers, these youngsters have to constantly develop and hone their team spirit and leadership qualities.

• Training for specific skill sets, such as workforce management, has to be necessarily outsourced as they are highly specialized. Sometimes, such skills are so specialized that companies enroll employees with overseas universities for online training through the Web.

• Training for high-end BPO work such as legal transcription and financial accounting are usually outsourced.

CHOOSING A VENDOR
While the brand of the vendor does play a role, it is often individual trainers that make the difference. Therefore, it is not so much about selecting the vendor as much as being able to identify the good trainers with the vendor that is more important. This can be achieved by asking the trainers to make short presentations and assessing them on the basis of presentation skills and to ability to connect with the audience.

The vendor should have a customized training module for your organization. Just as one size does not fit all, similarly all training modules have to be customized to suit the organization's specific needs.

For that, a critical differentiator is the vendor's ability to understand the client's processes, understand its needs, and customized the offering. Therefore it is important to distinguish between a vendor who simply delivers vis-à-vis a vendor who also does consulting and delivery.

DOING it IN-HOUSE
So what do the in-house training people do? How much training a company wants to do in-house or outsource also depends a lot on what the organization wants. Initial training including voice, accent, and customer care are hygiene factors and are taken care of internally. Besides, it is important to handhold and conduct refresher training programs on a sustained manner.

The training team works in close coordination with the operations team to conduct these trainings. This is because agent performances are constantly monitored and training needs evaluated.

Most of these refresher courses are customized to cater to specific situations. The training modules are developed from the point of view of current need and therefore are highly result oriented. At the same time, it is important to design tools to evaluate the results of such performance-enhancing training.