The Hindu Business Line : `BPO cos need to upgrade to meet global challenges'

THE IT services outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO) sectors, which have created the India brand, need to upgrade to Version 2.0 to brace up to the emerging challenges and meet competition from other countries.

The Managing Director of the View Group, a US-based Venture Capitalist and Vice-President of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), Mr Gopal Jain, told Business Line that Indian companies need to watch out against being complacent given the recent concerns about outsourcing in the US and its implications.

It is important to understand that outsourcing sector is not an adjunct to the ITES. The only connection with IT is that the sector is IT-enabled.

"India is yet another country handling outsourcing and cannot emerge as a leading player unless it upgrades to Version 2.0. Outsourcing is a reality and going forward, industry players need to address issues beyond the present concerns such as scaling up the value chain to focus on new areas of expertise and particularly human resource concerns and attrition blues".

Yet another matter that needed a constant thrust was one of sustaining quality that could differentiate one company from another," he explained.

"The industry is faced with the task of continuing to be competitive by handling the growing demand for quality manpower. If you look at the hiring trends in the BPO sector, typically, the recruitment is in 100s and not in 10s as is the case with the services sector.

Given the potential for growth, there are sectors such as manufacturing and engineering design applications, where there is huge untapped opportunity," he explained.

To address these issues, a networking platform called Global Offshoring and Outsourcing Summit 2004, and a premier BPO conference are being organised by IACC in Mumbai on April 21-22.

The theme of this year's summit is Version 2.0 of the India Offshore Outsourcing Advantage, he said.

IACC has focused on development of trade and commerce between the two nations.

Mr Jerry Rao, Chairman and CEO, MphasiS BFL and Chairman, Nasscom; Dr Lalit Kanodia, Chairman, Datamatics Technologies; Mr Paul Morrison, Director, Percept Risk & Strategy, UK, are among several other industry representatives.