Impressive Outsource Shop

I visited one of India's leading business process outsource (BPO) companies to talk to management and supervisors who provide loan processing and loan servicing for US and UK lenders, particularly mortgage companies. The first impression you get is that the "campus" of the company is part of a different world from that of the community it's in. You drive to the site (nearly 2 hours to traverse 20 km) among an absolute jumble of vehicles of every known vintage (cars, motorbikes, moto-rickshaws, bicycles, trucks, and tractors) on incredibly busy (and occasionally unpaved) roadways with virtually no rules or traffic signals, and enter through heavily guarded gates to thoroughly modern office buildings in a landscaped park, with bicycles neatly parked in front of each building. Within the office park, if you have to travel from building to building (the buildings are spread about on more than 50 acres) you take a golf cart. Appointments move with Swiss precision here, and each officer and manager has a specific story to tell about his/her particular contribution to the overall success of the client's business. The enthusiasm of the team is infectious. The customer service managers are convincing in their claims that they actually enjoy and want to help loan applicants understand the available loan products and get them approved. They have initiated outbound calling customer retention programs that claim to reduce loan runoff by 30%.

Management is even more impressive -- they have big plans to not only carry out their US and UK-based clients' missions, but are working on process improvements that will enable their clients to save money. Production cost savings are shared between vendor and client. To keep employees happy, retention bonuses are paid to those who remain on projects for a year or more. Non-compensation benefits are highly desirable as well, and this BPO company has health clubs throughout its campus, food courts, a convenience store, sports teams, and even a hotel for visiting clients and important guests. Key staff spent the night onsite during the water tribunal decision-related strike on Monday February 12, so there was no break in service. I begin to see why American companies that have engaged Indian BPO companies say they do it initially for the price, but stay in India for the quality service. Getting these BPO jobs is not easy, though -- it's a prestige position for a university graduate (and university graduation is a pre-requisite for the entry level positions). The local papers report that only 25% of the university graduates annually are actually qualified for positions in major BPO companies, but one executive told me that the actual number qualified for a top-level BPO company is in the "single digits" as a percentage of university graduates.