A career path in the BPO industry?

When the Buffalo vs Bangalore debate fills the air, it may not be possible to feel too optimistic about the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry in India. However, what P.G. Raghuraman, Lead Executive, Delivery Centres for BPO in India, Accenture, sees is not just growth of BPO but also the potential for the industry to attract many young professionals as a chosen destination of career.

He cites a Nasscom study that pegs the current size of the BPO industry at $11 billion, and forecasts an almost five-fold increase in size to $50 billion by 2012. "Such growth in the Indian BPO market will add nearly 2.5 per cent directly to India's GDP from export earnings and provide direct employment to about 2 million people."

The popular belief is that there are numerous job opportunities but fewer career opportunities in the BPO sector, but I feel that the Indian BPO industry currently has boundless career opportunities. This is evident from the fact that over the years the scope of services has grown from providing just voice-based marketing and customer relationship management services to transaction processing in finance and accounting, human resources, learning and procurement, legal transcription, animation and multimedia, content creation, as well as industry-specific services focusing on the insurance, healthcare, pharmaceutical and utility industries.

For example, companies in the life science industry are quite familiar to outsourcing; they outsource some of their critical processes such as drug discovery, clinical trials, product manufacture, and data management. Thus the mainstream outsourcing service providers require specialist knowledge and skill sets to perform traditional life science functions such as clinical data management and pharmacovigilance (the monitoring of drug safety). India is a popular offshore location for outsourcing these sensitive functions, due largely to cost benefits and the availability of an appropriately skilled talent pool.

We keep hearing that companies want to move up the value chain. Does India have the potential to become the hub of high-end, high-value outsourcing?

Yes, interestingly today BPO companies are creating comprehensive roles for employees by expanding globally and providing them the opportunity to work on multiple verticals. It is a fast-growing industry that provides ample opportunity for growth and challenging entrepreneurial environment.

This change in role of the BPO sector from transaction-processing to providing high-end specialised services, has led to the need for skilled employees. Capability development has become critical in this industry today.

Professionals with degrees such as MBBS, MDS, M.Tech., MBA, CA, ICWA, etc, are taking up work in domain-specific back-office processes in analytical, advisory and consulting arena. This requires a clear relationship between the IT/BPO industry and the academia, which trains the future workforce to make them industry-ready.

How are parents viewing their wards' choice of BPO jobs?

With youngsters wishing to join a BPO because they genuinely see it as a long-term career option, parents are also becoming more supportive towards this avenue. There is an increasing realisation that BPOs are just not about call centres, but about providing the right opportunities and building skills and global exposure. In a nutshell, employees in the BPO industry now get a challenging career with tremendous growth opportunities, hands-on experience of understanding different geographies, customs and cultures early in life. This experience of understanding and appreciating diversity is very valuable for their professional growth.

Companies have come up with training programmes specifically designed for the BPO sector in collaboration with academia institutes. For example, we recently tied-up with IGNOU for a diploma programme which aspires to create an industry-ready talent pool by training students from across the country to take up a career in the BPO space.

More courses of this nature are being designed by other companies providing outsourcing services, as a step towards making BPO a long-standing career with lower rate of attrition. These have heralded a beginning for a brighter and better future not only for young graduates in the metros, but also in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.

We are collaborating with IGNOU for developing the courseware and deployment strategy. Our subject-matter experts, BPO training institution and academicians have designed the programme. Counsellors and faculty are trained by Accenture and industry experts who provide `on the job' practice scenarios in the form of e-learning and textbooks. Students who successfully complete the programme and pass all term-end examination papers will be eligible to apply for employment with us and other BPO companies.