Nasscom, QAI launch certification programs for ITES industry

PUNE: Aimed at taking India's ITES-BPO sector to the next level, NASSCOM and QAI - a quality consultancy in India, have announced a nationwide launch of "Certification programs for Building Frontline Managers" for ITES- BPO industry.

Candidates would acquire the designation of Certified BPO Team Leader (CBTL), Level-1 and Level-2 and Certified BPO Quality Analyst (CBQA).

The next rounds of these certification programs, includes training, continuous assessment, expert sessions on essential operational, people and quality competencies required for successful execution of frontline- management roles, would be held at Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi.

While the CBTL program would be focused on team leaders wanting skill upgradation, executive/associates selected for becoming team leaders and people aspiring to move into the sector; CBQA will be for quality analysts looking at skill up gradation, executives/associates selected for becoming quality analysts and team leaders and laterals aspiring to be quality analyst.

The three-day certification program will help address some critical issues faced by the Indian ITES-BPO industry at the organizational level. These 3-day certificate, help in creation of robust front-line management layer and will increase operational excellence bar of the ITES-BPO sector.

For individuals, this will provide a third party assurance of skill recognition and will also provide a defined career path within the ITES-BPO sector and will increase employability in the long run, a company statement mentioned.

Speaking about the initiative, Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM, said, "It is the frontline management that performs the critical supervisory and operations management roles and is in charge of key customer related processes. One of the key gaps being faced by the industry is the inadequate level of expertise of frontline management, in managing and sustaining ITES-BPO operations. The objective of this initiative is to address the development needs of these managers, and hence build a robust frontline management layer.”

Emphasizing on the need of such a certification program Navyug Mohnot, executive director, QAI India enthused, "The Indian ITES-BPO sector is experiencing unprecedented growth and the pace has actually increased. A strong frontline management layer is expected to be the key to support the growth and performance for this sector. Therefore it becomes imperative that employees at this level have the knowledge to perform critical supervisory and operational management roles as well as competencies seen to be critical enabler for continued growth in this sector."

According to the NASSCOM McKinsey Report 2002 the total number of people employed in the ITES-BPO sector will reach one million by 2008. Assuming that about 85 per cent, or 850,000 of these will be at the associate level, the number of team leaders required would be in the range of 60,000 to 85,000 (at a ratio of about 15:1 to 10:1, the ratio varying from case to case) and the number of Quality Analysts will be around 34,000 (at a ratio of about 25:1).