Financial services knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) industry is expected to be worth $5 billion by 2010, a study by KPMG said.

Sharing his views on the report, Pradeep Udhas, Global Partner-in-Charge, Sourcing Advisory, KPMG, has said that the success in offshoring business operations has encouraged many multinationals to start outsourcing key business processes and high-end knowledge work. The KPO phenomenon will have far reaching consequences for the global financial services industry over the next three years.

He feels that there is likely to be a significant shift in the boundaries between outsourceable and non-outsourceable activities; offshoring strategies are expected to embrace new locations and most global banks and insurers are expected to adopt KPO strategies, the study says.

Decisions about outsourcing may be accelerated to preserve and increase competitive advantage; boutique providers will leverage KPO to create new services and offerings and more rigorous regulatory and compliance control will likely be demanded as KPO providers deliver more complex services.

India is expected to remain a preferred location for KPO activity but organisations are expected to look for alternative locations for additional delivery centres, both from customer and service provider perspective.

The study also says that there are a few limitations on the potential growth of the KPO industry over the next three years like skill-set shortage, a declining U.S. dollar and compliance and regulatory pressures.

Some of the key challenges that can emerge in the industry are: maintaining high quality standards, investment in KPO infrastructure, lack of talent pool, requirement of higher level of control, confidentiality and enhanced risk management, it points out.

It says that the KPO industry has indeed come off age. Clients are recognising that process complexities, higher billing rates and skilled resources requirements differentiate KPO from BPO.

This is a very handy information for people who want to know which are the best BPOs in India.

BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) has become the latest buzzword for young career aspirants in India. BPOs not only attract millions of young job seekers, they also open numerous options for the companies that want to outsource their work.  To help out both job aspirants and clients, we have This article has listed the top ten BPO firms that deliver the best in terms of both customer and employee satisfaction. Our list is based on the Internet reviews, media reports, market research and feedbacks from students and employees. These companies listed here may not tell you about the pay structure, benefits and other terms and conditions, but they are the best in Indian BPO industry. Please note that we have just listed (not ranked) the following BPOs. They are not listed in the order of their rankings. Here you go:

• Genpact -
  Founded in 1997, Genpact has emerged as the largest employer in the IT and BPO operations with more than 50,000 employees. Genpact helps clients improve the ways in which they do business by continuously improving their processes. The company achieved another milestone by acquiring Citi BPO for USD 630 million in 2007.Genpact has more than 30 operations centers in nine countries including India, China, United States and Philippines. In India, Genpact has branches in Gurgaon, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Jaipur.
• WNS Global Services-
  WNS Global Services is a leader in business process outsourcing (BPO) operations. The company has proved itself in critical business processes, by catering to the needs of both Indian and foreign clients. WNS Global Services offers services in various fields such as travel, insurance, finance, healthcare, manufacturing and other professional services. It also deals with accounting, HR and payroll.The corporate office of WNS Global Solution is located in Mumbai. In addition to four Indian locations, the company has branches in the UK, USA, Sri Lanka and Romania.
• GE India -
  GE has been a leader in Indian BPO industry, although some other companies have emerged as front-runners in the last few years. GE is made up of six businesses, each of which has a separate division for operations. The six business operations of GE are GE Commercial Finance, GE Infrastructure, GE Healthcare, GE Money, GE Industrial and NBC Universal. GE India has its head office at John F. Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore. It also has branches in Gurgaon and Delhi.
• TCS BPO –
  Although TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) began its operation as a software company and is considered as one of the top three IT companies in India, it excelled in BPO operations within a short period. TCS BPO is undoubtedly one of the leading BPO Companies in India. In 2006, TCS BPO was named as one of the world’s top BPO providers by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals.TCS BPO offers quality services in areas such as Finance & Accounting, Banking, HR Outsourcing, KPO, Insurance, Payroll, Healthcare, Telecom, Media, Travel and Entertainment. TCS operates from more than 41 countries and has more than 155 offices across the globe. Its head office in India is located in Bangalore. It has branches in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Goa, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow and many other places in India.
• IBM Daksh –
  Daksh is a big name when it comes to Indian BPO industry. Even before it was acquired by the IBM, Daksh always received awards and recognition for excellent employee and customer satisfaction. The company has 14 service delivery centers in India (4 in NCR, 4 in Bangalore, 1 each in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata and Chandigarh). It also has two branches in Manila, Philippines.IBM Daksh offers solutions in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), financial services, industrial services, communication, travel, retail, hospitality and distribution industries. The company has both call centers and back office operations.
• Accenture –
  Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, which is committed to delivering the best when it comes to client and employee satisfaction. Accenture has a good track record in Indian BPO industry. It has received accolade both in India and abroad.Accenture offers services in Airline, Automotive, Banking, Finance, Communications, Energy, Electronics, Insurance, Media, Entertainment, Health, Public Services, Travel and many other areas. Accenture has offices and operations in more than 150 cities across the world. In India, it has offices in Bangalore, Pune, Hyderadabad, Mumbai, Delhi and Gurgaon.
• Transworks –
  Transworks BPO is a part of Aditya Birla Group in India. It is now known as Aditya Birla Minacs. Aditya Birla Minacs recently featured in the Leaders category of the 2008 Global Outsourcing 100. The list was released by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP).
  The company has offices in six countries including India, USA, Canada and Philippines. In India, its head office is located in Bangalore. It also has branches in Mumbai and Baroda. The key services offered by Trnasworks or Aditya Birla Minacs are knowledge process outsourcing and integrated marketing services that include sales, customer service, back office administration and channel support operations.
• Wipro BPO-
  Wipro BPO, powered by its parent company Wipro Technologies has achieved significant growth over the past few years. After the acquisition of Spectramind in 2002, Wipro BPO took a quantum jump in the BPO services. It operates from 9 different locations in the world including India and Eastern Europe.Wipro BPO offers BPO services in Banking, Insurance, Travel & Hospitality, Hi-Tech Manufacturing, Telecom, Healthcare, HR Services, Legal Process Outsourcing and Knowledge services. Wipro BPO is now called as Wipro Spectramind.
• HCL BPO –
  Like Wipro and TCS, HCL BPO is powered by the leading IT company HCL, which was founded by Shiv Nadar in 1976. HCL BPO is one of the early players in the BPO industry. It has more than 12,000 professionals working from India and Northern Ireland. HCL BPO runs 11 centers in India, two centres in UK and one centre in Malaysia. HCL BPO Services is the largest in Northern Ireland.HCL BPO offers services in Telecom, Retail, Banking, Finance, Insurance, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management, Accounting, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, Legal and Technical Support Services. It ranked third in Highest Satisfaction for Business Process Outsourcing by the Black Book of Outsourcing in 2007.
• Convergys –
  Convergys India is a part of Convergys Group, which is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It has 77 customer contact centers, three data centers and other facilities in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In India, Convergys has branches in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Thane.Convergys is known for high-value services and client satisfaction. It offers services in Communications, Financial Services, Healthcare, Government, Manufacturing, Retail, Insurance, Technology and Transportation. Convergys has both call centre and blended processes.

There used to be a time when an employee in a BPO joined a company with the sole aim of growing up the ladder as early as possible, so that he could get off the "Calling job", which he termed as monotonous and repetitive with no excitement. But as the industry matured, the options to grow vertically to a management position reduced and the responsibilities that came along with these management positions increased. Increased responsibilities meant additional burden, more stress and so on. Suddenly the odd new employee in a BPO realized that what he wanted is money and not position that demanded extra work, more burden and a life full of stress. He chose to be at the same position and did not want to opt for growth. But staying at the same position did not get him that extra money that was looking for and he started jumping jobs for an extra Rs. 1500. In doing what he lost was his continuity and his specialization.

With the industry, maturing companies too, have now realized that there would only be able to provide the best services if they are able to retain people and utilize their specialization. Employees who were in a certain role for some time knew the policies and processes in and out and were much better equipped to handle customers, thus generating better customer satisfaction. This is when they decided that they would empower their frontlines and give them additional benefits for staying in the current role. They also decided that they would not stop the growth of this employee in this process, rather would treat them as special – special employees of the organization.

This solved the needs of that employee wanting to stay in the current role and the organization who wanted to retain a specialized and exprienced employee.

With services like customer care, technical support, back end processing etc. requiring specialized hands, companies are now come up with this idea of rewarding employees who are in the core role in a BPO and wants to be in the same role, but at the same time are looking for better and increased salaries and a change in grades. These companies are paying such employees much more than what a management level employee at the same grade would get and in addition to this are giving them extra benefits.

So now, you have more reason to join a BPO. Grow with your favorite company and earn more while doing what you have always wanted to do.

The Quality Assurance department, as the name suggests is the department that ensures everything that is produced complies with the quality standards. When we say this, the biggest question that arises is what is “being produced” in a BPO? If there is nothing that is being produced, then what does the Quality Assurance team check and approve?

In a BPO, the product is the calls that are either made (in case of outbound calling BPOs) or, received (in case of Inbound BPOs). Now ensuring that this product complies would mean that the activity would only happen after the product is manufactured and delivered. Wondering why? This is because a call is a live call with the customer on the the other side of the phone and the moment the call is completed, the product is delivered. Then what is the purpose of Quality Assurance.

In an outbound calling BPO, every call that is made is to sell a product. Hence not all calls result in sales. Here the QA team actions only on calls that were sales and where a product was sold to a customer. The final processing and delivery of this product is done after the QA team approves the sales. Here what they do is monitor the sales call, which is also called as “verification” and check if the sales representative was transparent to the customer, disclosed all that the customer should know about the purchase, did not force the customer into buying and was polite to the customer. Once they have ensured that all of these were complied with, they pass or, qualify the sale.

In an Inbound scenario, the purpose of QA is different. Here since the call is complete by the time the QA listens or, verifies the call, the purpose is to ensure that all customer service representatives comply with basic customer service ettiquettes like apologizing to the customer in case of mistakes, speaking politely iwth the customer, understanding the customer, providing them with the correct resolution to their problem and so on. Hence the activity of a QA exceutive involves both “Monitoring (Listening to a call as it happens)” and “Verification (Listening to recorded calls)”. The verification is normally done to ensure that the Customer Care representative is given a feedback of the “Do’s and Don’ts” observed in the call.

Though the activity seems very easy, it is not just vague parameters that a QA executive follows to check the accuracy of the call. Every BPO formulates a guideline for every process that they handle which is called as the CTQs (Critical to Quality). It is based on these guidelines that the calls are evaluated and verified.

The activity is very interesting as it involves a lot of mentoring and feedback to the representatives and hence requires leadership skills.

The result of these news is that people are panicking, employees from these organizations are quitting their jobs and looking for other options.Some of these news are rumors. But it is indeed a fact that there are certain organizations that are contemplating, selling their businesses to other outsourcing companies because of the reducing margins.But this doesn’t mean that prospects in a captive BPOs are limited now.

What employees of these captive BPOs need to understand is that even if there is an acquisition happening, their jobs are not at stake.They are secure and will continue in their positions with the only change that they would now be working under a new brand name.Hence employees working in these organizations need not panic and resign from their jobs.

For people who are aspiring to join captive BPOs, you may still keep your options open and look for opening in these companies because there is nothing to loose.You only stand to gain by working in these organizations.

Before we understand the growth options we have, lets discuss what are the departments in a normal BPO, where you can look forward to move into.A BPO has departments like the following that would provide employees an option of growth.

• Call center Operations (CCO, in short)
• Hiring
• Process engineering
• Data analysis
• Quality assurance

Certain BPOs have a hierarchy in grades and certain other in designations.We will only discuss the ones that have a hierarchy in designations for a clearer understanding.
The normal hierarchy is as follows:

• Head of department
• Manager – Operations
• Dy.Manager – Operations
• Asst. Manager – Operations
• Team leaders
• Asst. Team leaders
• Sr.Representatives
• Representatives

There are other hierarchies that are specific to certain organizations and we would not include them here.Some of the above mentioned designations like , “Dy.Manager” and “Asst.Team Leader” are again designations that doesn’t feature in certain BPOs.

Growth to a Sr.Representative is not based on interviews but is based on the tenure in an organization.But all other designations have an interview-based screening.A dedicated and hard-working employee with the minimum required skills should be promoted to the position of a team leader in about an year.This will again depend on individual performances. Similarly the growth to an Asst.Manager should again take another year and a half. The best part of all this is that positions like Asst.Manager and Manager-Operations involve handling huge teams and the employees are groomed to develop into these roles.These kind of grooming and learning is something that has made the BPOs stand-out from the rest of the industries.

Almost all of the departments will have a similar kind of hierarchy except that there would be no roles called “Representatives” and “Sr.Representatives” there. What are the functions of these departments could be a point of discussion in another post.

That all these organizations are offering similar facilities as that of other International BPOs is what is interesting.Also in addition to the fact that, one would not have to work night shifts, fluency and accent would also be a relief in these BPOs because they are majorly catering the Indian market.

With this, the fear that the BPO sector would die a death like the medical transcription industry has been put to rest. After all who would deny the fact that consumerism is here to stay and that the Indian market is becoming more and more customer oriented.

According to a recent survey released by the National Association of Software & Services Companies & (NASSCOM), the information technology enables services (ITES) – business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in India is growing steadily and could reach $8 billion in 2007.

“In 2005-06, the industry size and growth exceeded our forecasts, reflecting strong demand. The entire software and services industry is expected to record revenues of $36-38 billion in fiscal year 2007; we expect the ITES-BPO segment to continue its growth momentum and expect exports to cross $ 8 billion during 2007, ” said Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM.

NASSCOM’s annual studies on the IT-BPO industry show growth and gains for the sector on all fronts.

NASSCOM’s annual study on the performance of the IT services and BPO sector in 2006-07 has shown that it exceeded analyst expectations. The IT software and services segment alone notched up revenues of US$ 39.6 billion and a growth of 30.7 percent during the year. Based on these spiraling figures, NASSCOM is estimating 2007-08 growth statistics to touch anywhere between 24 and 27 percent.

The growth that this industry has seen in the year 2005-06 will continue or, exceed this year and the preliminary statistics already says that the growth for this year till now is greater than what was anticipated.

But the sustenance of this growth depends on the employees and the management of these BPOs, to a great extent. If we are able to provide the kind of quality that is being expected of us, outsourcing will keep happening and BPOs will keep growing.

According to Gartner, a market research firm, the size of the global BPO market by 2007 would be $173bn, of which $24.23bn would be outsourced to offshore contractors. Of this, India has the potential to generate $13.8bn in revenue. The projection includes revenues of pure play Indian BPO service providers, captives operations of MNCs operating in India, third party service providers and BPO subsidiaries of IT services firms.

North America will remain the dominant market for ITES-BPO services, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the total ITES-BPO market in 2006. The main verticals in the North American ITES-BPO market are telecommunications, financial services, health care and energy. Commonly outsourced processes include internal auditing, payroll, human resources, benefits management, contact centers/customer care, payments/ claims processing, real estate management, and supply chain management.

The Western Europe ITES-BPO market is expected to account for 22 percent of the market by 2006. The financial services sector is the largest consumer of BPO-ITES services in Europe, followed by utilities and telecommunications. Human resources, finance and accounting are expected to be the fastest growing service lines.

The Asia Pacific ITES-BPO market is expected to account for 18 percent of the total ITESBPO market in 2006. Companies in the Asia-Pacific region have traditionally outsourced only manufacturing activities. Given the relative infancy of the ITES-BPO market, this region is expected to experience rapid growth over the next few years. Growth will primarily be driven by cost-reduction and the need to focus on core competencies. HR, finance and accounting are expected to be the key growth areas in the Asia-Pacific region in the years ahead.

(Source- BPO India)

With business wanting to score over their competitors, the only edge they have is customer service. And with customer service being the ask of the day, Call centers are gaining importantce every single day. Call centers are generally large offices with representatives who either make or receive phone calls. Depending on the type of work, call centers may have a single office employing a few people or large office with thousands of employees. The main activity in some call centers is answering inbound calls, such as a bank or, a telecom company that gives out a toll-free number for customers needing help. At the same time there are some call centers that focus on outbound calls too. With most of the urban population using a mobile phone today, this idea of a call center should not be sounding Greek to you ears, because of the number of calls one makes to the customer care of these telecom companies.

Hence Call center can be called to be a part of the business process outsourcing industry. With increase in outsourcing, call centers are also becoming popular. By way of outsourcing, companies contract out some functions to other companies located mostly in cost effective destinations like India. In this field India enjoys several advantages over a number of developed counties. In India, we a have large pool of qualified people; English speaking graduates and IT professionals. In addition to this India have some other advantages like cheap labor, flexibility in working hours and time zone difference. This is the reason why a number of MNCs are outsourcing their business activities to India.