Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) can be defined as the transfer of an
organization’s non-core but critical business functions to an external
vendor who uses an information technology (IT) based service delivery. Since
delivery is IT based, BPO is also referred to as IT enabled services (ITES).
The term BPO refers to outsourcing in all fields. BPO offers different kinds
of services including customer support services, telemarketing services,
technical support services, employee IT help-desk services, insurance services,
data entry services, data conversion services, scanning OCR with editing
& indexing services, online research and form processing services.
BPO companies are dynamic, challenging and fast-paced. There are definite
growth prospects. The BPO industry is one which always offers a job to a
fresher at a high salary. The BPO Industry is growing by leaps and bounds
in India and the prospect of finding employment with a good company is really
bright. According to an estimate by the National Association of Software
and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the Indian BPO sector will generate 1.1
million jobs by 2008. One is always in demand by competing companies and
business houses if one has acquired the right blend of skills from a good
training institute.
India has emerged as the leader in Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) in the new millenium. This industry has created thousands of BPO jobs across India. Starting a career in the BPO sector is easy as most of the BPOs provide in house training to the employees. Generally, a candidate with graduation in any discipline can join the BPO companies. They don't require any academic specialization. There is no specific age bar. Most of the BPO companies offer good work environment. The employee can get good wages along with some excellent benefits. Jobs in the BPO sector attract youngsters as most BPO companies provide transport facilities. Most of the people are fascinated towards the attractive lifestyle and flexibility of time that they offer. Due to these advantages, numerous people strongly wish to develop a career in the BPO sector.
Eligibility For Career in BPO
The eligibility criteria for getting admission into most call centre training programmes is the completion of 10+2 or H.S or equivalent or the Bachelor`s Degree. However, no specific educational qualifications are required in order to work in a call centre as a customer service officer / operator; call centre adviser / representative or customer service representative. But some reputed institutes demand basic computer knowledge.
BPO Job Prospects
BPOs offer two types of non-voice jobs:
Data Entry : This requires updating organisation databases on various details
of customers and clients.
Transaction Processing : Answering customer queries and enquiries, and responding
to complaints over the e-mail.
The best way to search for non-voice jobs is to get in touch with recruitment
consultants, or visit job portals like jobsahead.com and naukri.com, which
give a clear distinction of voice and non-voice based openings in BPOs.
The performance of the candidate is constantly tracked (calls are regularly monitored, feedback constantly given). Each process (in a call centre) also has an individual assessment every six months, and an appraisal every year. The promotion to various levels depends on performance at these levels. To be promoted internally as a Team Leader, one requires to be an agent with the company for at least a year, with excellent results. This could vary with different call centres, since each has their own specific internal tracking and promotion procedures. After proving yourself as a team leader, you can become Manager of a Process, Training, Quality, or any other support function. As you continue to grow in the company, you could be promoted to Head of Process and then to Head of Call Centre Operations. The time frames between promotions depend on performance and on individual company procedures. To work in a BPO, though, you must be prepared for a challenging job, which would also require you to work during non-morning hours (night shifts), because the clients are international (mainly from the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe).
Required Skills in BPO Industry
The main requirement in this field is an excellent command over the English language.A candidate must possess good communication skills. Knowledge of consumer behaviour and marketing skills are equally important in this profession. One should also be unfailingly polite and reasonably intelligent. Since working in an international call centre entails long and odd work hours, patience and hard work are the essential qualities required in one who wants to make one`s career in the BPO industry.
Some of the important business prospects for the BPO industry that are opening up in the near future according to NASCOMM include:
1. Customer support services: functions include technical help & help desk features where in the operators located in call centers provide assistance to the clients and personnel of their corporate clients. This requires direct customer interaction.
2. Marketing services : this includes sales and marketing activities. Content development and consultancy for automated voice broadcast campaigns is an important aspect of this telemarketing activity. Sales activity involves attending to customers who place orders over the phone.
3. Human resources services: functions that are being outsourced include payroll, benefits, education/training, recruiting, personnel administration, contingent workforce management, and workforce analysis.
4. Finance & accounting services: though this started with transaction processing activities, the market is expected to move to offering financial analysis solutions to help the clients in making their business decisions.
5. Engineering services : these are meant to provide technical consultancy in the creation of a product or service. Functions include research & development, product design, testing, project management, documentation and engineering analysis.
6. Logistics : this includes supply chain management issues meant to reduce inventory costs and improve delivery schedules. The services also include invoice collection, payment processing, transportation route optimization, warehousing and inventory control.
7. Healthcare : the industry started with medical transcription services and the trend is towards services such as disease management and medical imaging.
With increasing scope of BPO industry, many top-ranking software companies
have established their BPO centers in India making a career in the BPO sector
lucrative. Some of the well-known BPO companies in India are WNS Group, Convergys,
Zenta, Wipro Spectramind, EXL, ICICI Onesource, Daksh e-Service, Tracmail,
HCL Technologies, MphasiS, GTL Ltd, Sutherland Technologies, vCustomer, HTMT
and 24/7 Customer.