As the country moves forward to a new era of telecom revolution and increasing opportunities in the area of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), it needs to tap the unexplored markets and territories within the BPO segment. Manish Kejriwal, Principal at Mckinsey & Company, stated this while speaking in the IITF at Gitex, Hyderabad 2003.

"We need to go into areas other than traditional financial services, retail chain operations or other common outsourcing areas to some niche areas like automotive sector, utilities, entertainment, hotel industry, aerospace and pharmaceuticals. All these industries are capable enough to be developed into BPO industries of their own and we just need to build companies concentrating on each of these activities," he added. Commenting on the geographic patterns adopted by the industry, he said that at present the US is accounting for most of the BPO operations and to some extent it is Europe. But, now it is high time that India should also look at other countries outside of the US for getting BPO deals.

"There is a great opportunity which is lying untapped and it is not all there in the US but in other countries as well, we need to address this properly and the result would be a multi fold increase in our business potential. We are just concentrating on English as a language for call centers and BPO operations as of now, but if we look at Europe there are a lot of other languages as well. So we need to build a multi-lingual talent base to address that vast pool of business potential for the country," he explained.

Speaking at the IITF, James E Dodd, Chairman European Telecommunications and Technology (ETT) said that Indian ITES/BPO companies should look to concentrate on their competencies and try to outsource their networking needs to an external vendor. "Investments in a well integrated, seamless global communication network will give India the much needed competitive advantage against countries like China," he added.

ETT has recently signed a MoU with the AP government to work with AP First, the single nodal ITES promotional agency within AP. "We are working closely with AP First to provide connectivity and data solutions for companies selecting AP as their BPO or ITES destination. As of now we are having about 50 MNCs as our global clients and seven of them are based in India, " he informed.

At the second edition of Gitex Hyderabad 2003 - the IT and telecom event held annually in association with Dubai World Trade Center and the Government of Andhra Pradesh - the number of exhibitors participating in this year's event has grown significantly from last year, resulting in a good response from trade visitors across the globe. According to organizers, the show's continued growth reflects the importance of new technologies and products that continue to provide for a nation intent on leading the region's IT revolution.

(CNS)