The beginning of the “Dynamic India” series lists five conditions that are reinforcing each other to great positive effect. This post focuses on the first on the list:
A well-educated workforce with skills including willingness to work in new languages, ability to adapt to working on demand basis (call and support centers, development schedules, development labs, etc.), and the diversity of Indian society contributing to working with other societies
None of the current reputations for service and low costs were achieved by Indian companies from a few exemplary projects or spectacular results. Indian companies have built their collective reputation over decades of excellence. The outsourcing industry began as “bodies for cheap” and evolved, in time-consuming and stressful steps, to business process outsourcing and Indian development centers. Indian firms’ reputations were earned.
A key to Indian outsourcing (and development of Indian development labs) is the capability to work with consistent process, apply substantial talent to projects at identified costs, and get results.
Routine is an important characteristic of what global enterprises seek from Indian outsourcing in the early 21st Century. An example of routine is the use of Indian-based customer service operations to answer inquiries. Outsourcing tasks occurs across multiple languages, cultures, and business sectors. Uneven results were seen as the “chase to the bottom” of pricing and training costs saw ferocious competition extend across Indian enterprises. Servicing global enterprises created a premium value for Indian enterprises who could understand operating across languages, cultures, and jurisdictions. Global enterprises learned they could entrust critical customer service functions to affordable costs from Indian outsourcers.
Order taking and other customer-service functions have migrated to Indian and other outsourcers. Western countries had evolved “mail order catalog ordering”, “magazine ad response fulfillment”, and “self-liquidating premium box-tops” (advertising promotions) to use cheaper outside service firms. Computerized/direct fulfillment replaced large rooms of people. Advertising media moved from paper to mass-market broadcast (cable and satellite). “Call us now” interactions on North American “800-number” (toll-free long distance calls) in call centers moved steadily from people to web-based interactions over years. Indian outsourcers kept contact centers viable staffed with people by lowering costs to a controlled level. Outsourcers handled more and more of business processes, and then moved up the business complexity to financial, insurance, and banking services. Parodies put aside, the identifiable voices in Indian call centers became the human voice for many enterprises.
Our next post in the Dynamic India series is – Connections to Long Term Growth of Industry which will be posted to: www.ekalore.com/india-business
We welcome your comments.
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