The Indian Call Center Journey

FUTURE PROSPECTS

The Indian call center majors were trying to handle the labor exodus through various measures. Foremost amongst these was the move to employ people from social and academic backgrounds different from the norms set earlier.

This had been successfully tried out in the US and European markets, where call centers employed a large number of housewives and back-to-work mothers. Another solution being thought about was to recruit people from non-metros, as people from these places were deemed to be more likely to stay with the organization, though being more difficult to recruit and expensive to train. Even as the people and infrastructure problems were being tackled, a host of other issues had cropped up, posing threats for the Indian call centers.

The promise of cheap, English speaking and technically aware labor from India was suddenly not as lucrative in the international markets. A survey of Fortune 1,000 companies on their outsourcing concerns showed that cost-reduction was not the most important criterion for selecting an outsourcing partner. This did not augur well for a country banking on its cost competitiveness. Also, China was fast emerging as a major threat to India, as it had embarked on a massive plan to train people in English to overcome its handicap in the language. In February 2001, Niels Kjellerup, editor and publisher of ‘Call Center Managers Forum'came out strongly against India being promoted as an ideal place to set up call centers.

He said: “The English spoken by Indians is a very heavy dialect – in fact, in face to face conversations, I found it very difficult to understand what was said. How will this play out over the telephone with people much less educated that my conversation partners? The non-existent customer service culture in India will make training of reps mandatory and difficult, since such a luxury as service is not part of everyday life in India. The infrastructure is bad, no, make that antiquated: The attempts by a major US corporation to set up a satellite link has so far been expensive and not very successful. Electricity infrastructure is going from bad to worse – in fact during my stay at a 5 star hotel and at the corporate HQ of a big MNC, we had on average 7 black-outs a day where the generators would kick in after 2-3 seconds.

The telephony system is analog and inadequate. It took on average three attempts just to get a line of out my hotel. The telecom market is not deregulated, and international calls are very expensive. The business culture and the mix of Government intervention will be a cultural shock for Western business people with no previous experience. Add to this a lack of a call center industry and very few people with call center experience which makes it very hard to recruit call center managers with a proven track record.” Despite the mounting criticisms and worries, hope still existed for the Indian call center industry. Analysts remarked that the call center business was in the midst of a transition, wherein only the fundamentally strong players would remain in the fray after an inevitable ‘shakeout.'

Unlike other industries, the shakeout in this industry was not only because of an over supply of call center providers, but also because of the quality of supply offered. In spite of the downturn, the call center business was considered to hold a lot of potential by many corporates. With the US economy facing a slowdown, the need for US companies to outsource was expected to be even higher. The Reliance group was planning to open call centers in 10 cities across the country. Other companies including Spectramind and Global Telesystems planned to either enter or enhance their presence in the business. Whether the dream of call centers contributing to substantial economic growth for India would turn into reality was something only time would reveal.

2010, ICMR (IBS Center for Management Research).All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic or mechanical, without permission.

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