24/7 Customer enters BPO market

BANGALORE: 24/7 Customer, the IT enabled services company, has entered the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) segment, currently offering services in financial processes. The company plans to aggressively market itself in this area, and plans to have 40 percent of its revenue coming from this business by 2003. Out of its total strength of 1000 employees, 200-300 are working in the BPO business.

Speaking to CIOL Bureau, 24/7 founder and chief executive officer PV Kannan said that the BPO areas held a lot of promise for Indian ITeS companies. "Initially, our company will target its existing customer to extend ITeS services to offer BPO services too. We currently have 12 customers from the Fortune 500 list who come from varied vertical industries," he added. The company has also appointed Vellayam Subbiah as head of its BPO initiative.

Kannan said that 24/7 would also target India-based companies in a limited manner. "To start with, we will look at offering our services to our existing US customers who have presence in India. Some of the top Indian corporate brands will also be targeted," he added. According to Kannan, the practice of implementing ITeS for customers was at a nascent stage among Indian companies. "They want to test the waters with small scale operations initially," he said.

Besides the US markets, 24/7 is also eyeing the European markets, which Kannan said was picking up steam. The company, which has its centre in Bangalore, will soon launch its Hyderabad centre. It has also acquired land in Kochi to begin its BPO operations in a big way. 24/7 was recently ranked one of the top ten ITeS companies in India by Nasscom.