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Panel discussion: What customers want?

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGALORE: The high point of the day–panel discussion featuring heterogeneous panelists–a customer, a US-based contact center companies having offshore delivery center in India, an Indian company with IT background and a pure play first generation BPO company–could not have been more interesting.



The format, set out by the two McKinsey consultants–Ramesh Venkatraman, partner and Noshir Kaka, principal–put up six points for discussion. While Ramesh put forward a view, Noshir challenges it and the panelists were provocated to agree with either. Ramesh also moderated the discussion.



The important points discussed were :





  1. Voice will be offshored for the next 3-5 years and not so much non-voice processes


  2. BPO will become a big boy’s game through consolidation


  3. Customers will demand strong IT capability from their BPO vendors.


  4. Investing in a world-class front-end would be a must


  5. Customers will eventually prefer the global BPO vendors over the Indian companies.


  6. Customers will start demanding asset and people transfer increasingly.


    7. The panelists–Ian Ripping, Director, BT Customer Contact Center; Dennis Ross, GM, Offshore Operations, Convergys; Akshaya Bharagava, CEO of Progeon; and Vikarm Talwar, CEO, EXL Services–provided a mixed perspective. While the three BPO vendors did choose the expected lines of view, BT’s Ripping’s point of view was balanced. While agreeing that voice is indeed the initial process to be offshored, he said it is the first step in a long journey. What is noteworthy is that he thought niche players have a role to play and strong IT capability is a must.



    While most panelists took an unequivocal view on most points, the response was somewhat grey in response to point No 5. Both Bhargava and Talwar said they are global companies while Ross claimed its Indian operation is very much an Indian company. Ripping also agreed with the Indian BPO vendors that he sees them as global companies.



    Interestingly, issues on service delivery were ignored by the moderator, reinforcing the belief that it is still not seen as strategic by them, while they included an apparently tactical issue on front-end plans like taking help of consultants versus building own sales force.






    The questions that remained to be answered by the CEOs were many service delivery issues. Is India confident of getting people in good supply to sustain the growth? Will facilities outside India be a must for Indian companies? And is country TINA factor of India is assured in the long run?

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