24/7 inaugurates first call center in AP

Provider of outsourced contact center and BPO services 24/7 Customer has opened its 300-seater contact center facility at Cyber Gateway, Hitec City in Hyderabad. The 20,000 sq. ft. facility was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N. Chandrababu Naidu.

"The 300 seater will run three shifts and will accommodate 900 e- relationship officers (eROs)," said 24/7 Customer CEO, PV Kannan. "Phase II expansion will involve another 400 seats bringing the total capacity of the center to 700 and will allow us to grow to 2,000 eROs," added COO of 24/7 Shanmugam Nagarajan.

With an investment of $two million, this is the first expansion outside Bangalore for the 2,500 people strong California headquartered 24/7. "We have ambitious plans for the coming year," said Kannan who is looking at $100 million in revenues this year. In financial year 2002-2003, 24/7 earned $50 million in revenues.

On a fast track growth path, 24/7 plans to acquire a good number of companies in the BPO space it operates in over the next one year. "We are currently considering 10 companies but acquisition deals will take time to firm up," said Kannan.

The four-year-old company secured $22 million as venture capital funding this July from Sequoia Capital, which holds 20 percent of the equity in the company

Early this year, the company had set up a dedicated 250-seat center facility for an MNC insurance client in Bangalore. "This 250-seat contact center facility Cos-B is a fully-owned subsidiary of 24/7," informed Kannan. "The same client is now looking for an expansion. And the requirement is about 2,000 seat facility," said Kannan adding that "perhaps this expansion will happen in Hyderabad." However, the company is looking at other cities also and will be expanding in sales, marketing, finance and entertainment verticals (support for cable/TV in the US).

(CNS)