Open House Session for Call Centers and BPO Fraternity

Data security, safety for women employees, business development and curbing the high rate of attrition are some of the challenges the fast-growing Business Process Industry needs to face up to in the future, said the President of the Call Center Association of India (CCAI), Sam Chopra today. Mr. Chopra was speaking at the "Open House session for Call Centres and BPO fraternity" organized by the CCAI which followed the CCAI's Annual General Meeting.

Mr Chopra said CCAI could provide a professional and responsive voice for the ever-growing Business Process Industry (BPI) in India, liaise with government and regulatory bodies to remove bottlenecks and help prepare and evolve standards for infrastructure.

Mr. Chopra said that the nomenclature normally used by different people for our industry includes Call Center, Contact Center, BPO, LPO, KPO and such other xPOs, the generic name for all services rendered under outsourcing and offshoring that falls under the Business Process Industry.

Chairman, PR Committee, Mr. Deepak Kapoor said: "We have alongwith BPO News launched PAN India 6070, a phone number that will directly connect to the police control room, in order to enhance employee security. Physical security is well taken care of and a lot of regulations have been adopted by the companies."

Mr. Chopra said that the unionization of call centers is an important issue for discussion. According to Mr Chopra the issue of Unionization could be addressed by proactively forming a non-political, quasi-governmental, quasi-regulatory nine-member BPI Industry Human Asset Maintenance Forum headed by an Ombudsman as an Honorable Retired Chief Justice of Supreme Court. He further suggested that such a forum should be all-inclusive, with representatives drawn from the government, regulators, existing political unions, nodal industry and sectoral associations, as well as employees and the employers representing the industry.

Immediate Past President, Mr. Deepak Malik said that the data security issues in the BPO industry have surpassed even terrorism, job loss and natural disasters.

A recent report by Forrester Research points out that a combination of information security breaches, high attrition rates and staffing costs has contributed to the fall in the Indian BPO growth rate, Mr. Malik stated. It fell from 48 percent in 2004- 05 to 35 percent in 2005-06, and is expected to dip further to
28-30 percent over the next 12 months. "Organizations should take due steps in order to educate their personnel about the implications of data thefts."

Mr. D.J. Dutta, nominee member, Managing Committee said the ever-increasing attrition rate of over 40 percent can be reduced by providing for better working conditions and strong training infrastructure at the entry and mid levels as well as for trainers.

The demand supply gap can be reduced by changing the negative image of the BPO industry, by shifting focus on smaller towns for hiring and by creating larger pool of employable manpower through introduction of courses at UG level, said Mr. Dutta.

Mr. Dutta pointed out some of the key roles of CCAI that includes the creation of of a national campaign to create positive branding for the industry, plan for training infrastructure in collaboration with the industry, government and educational institutions, introduce certification programmes and modification of UG level curriculum to enhance employment opportunity.

November 18, 2006
New Delhi