The Hindu Business Line : `Clients sensitive to call centre outsourcing'

WIPRO Spetcramind, the business processing arm of Wipro Ltd, indicated that clients remain sensitive to call centre outsourcing at a recent technology conference hosted by Smith Barney, the investment-banking arm of Citigroup.

According to a recent SSB note, Wipro said that this sensitivity remains as call centre outsourcing "can present a very public face to a corporation's offshore strategy".

"This is a delicate issue now... .more so with Wipro which has this history of slips in Lehman Brothers and Capital One deals," an analyst with an European brokerage said. However, the strong pipeline that Spectramind has negates any serious concern over topline growth, he added.

Wipro Spectramind, which said voice works contributed 86 per cent to its revenue, reported rates in the range of $14-$15 per person per hour, in its annual earnings session last March.

Currently, Spectramind has close to 75 deals in the pipeline but employee attrition remains high. "However, call centre efforts do not contribute significantly to the bottomline as non-voice works do... so we guess the company would be bundling more of non-voice process in its new pitches to spur growth," the analyst added.

Meanwhile, Spectramind has signed "no-hiring" pacts with several BPO and call centre firms to check the attrition rush.

With the agreement in place, Wipro Spectramind and its partner in the pact, will not hire employees from each other.

Wipro Spectramind, the top BPO firm by staff strength, reported a net decline in employee strength to the tune of 156 people by the end of March quarter. The company's staff strength was 9,300 as on March-end, down from 9,456 a quarter ago.

Poaching is a common practice in the nascent BPO segment, where in executives up to one year of experience are wooed by rival firms with a salary hike.

It helps the prospective recruiter to cut down on its training costs and boost up its revenues with instant billable workforce.