Moderator: Welcome to the High Tea Session with Mr. Subrat Chakravarty, HR Head - Business Services, HCL Technologies Ltd. Chat will commence shortly. In the meanwhile, you can ask your questions related to the topic - An insight on 4th Generation BPOs. Kindly note your questions will be moderated and sent to the celebrity to answer. Questions already answered by the Celebrity will not be entertained.
Mr. Subrat: Hello everyone... I see 56 of you logged in there ... I am excited to spend the next 1 hour with you and discuss and deliberate on the topic which is so critical to the growth and maturity of ITES industry globally and a huge opportunity to participate for India
Sakshi: Since it's a new term, could you please help me understand what '4th Generation BPOs' are?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Sakshi, Like every business BPO has also seen an evolution over last 15-20 years. The 1st Gen was when some pieces of entire work stream were outsourced to third party providers. 2nd Gen was more about transferring work to alternate low cost locations. 3rd gen started processes transactions on behalf of customers while continuing to drive the efficiency of Gen 1 & 2. Gen 4 BPOs are more transformational in nature, an extension of client's strategy meaning the focus in shifting from just transactional efficiency to business outcomes. That is why it is becoming all about domain understanding and competence with a huge play of technology as underlying layer ... these are more end to end services
Rituraj: Hi, are the new developments in the BPO industry going to change job seekers' perspective of the industry, from not a long-term career option to a promising career choice?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Rituraj, I would say it has already happened and in future the pace is only going to increase. While the larger and lay man perception of BPO is still about call centric work and night shift, there is already a huge transformation which has happened over last few years in the quality of work. Today BPOs are a logical and critical extension of client's business model - this could be a logistics solution for a retail company, market strategy and compliance for a pharma company, creative and design for a Media company, HR process management including high end HR areas of compensation management etc., whole of accounting and financial reporting, data analytics services, all these are part of BPO work and are mission critical for our customers. In summary BPO today is a logical extension of all kind of business and there is no generic so called 'BPO Job / Profile'. We employ SMEs from all disciplines of knowledge and it is only going to expand.
Prashant: Hi Subrat. I would like to know if the 4th Generation BPOs will be better pay masters than the current ones.
Mr. Subrat: Hi Prashant, very interesting question ... Compensation in any industry is a factor of a few key aspects - competence, availability of skills, business model and overall profitability. BPO even today are on the high end of spectrum in terms of compensation in certain areas and as it gets into more of 4th gen services, I am sure it will not just provide better compensation but the real gain will be some great careers.
Janardhana: Dear Mr. Chakravarty - Rumor has it that the Outbound Call Center would plummet, and the BPO industry would face a downfall in the coming few years. As observed in the recent future, India is no longer the only Outsourcing hub. Southeast Asian countries (Sri Lanka, Philippines), South Africa, China are no behind and prove to be very good competitors. Are we facing a threat here?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Janardhana... you are right. It is not just alternate locations but even the evolution of Web technologies enabling more self service options have in general brought down the demand for voice centric work. Emergence of low cost location is a phenomenon which will happen. But the maturity of the industry itself is also rising and if you refer to my comments on first question, there is a huge new opportunity which has emerged and emerging on next level services. By all analysts and Industry predictions BPO - Business Services will be the fastest growing service over next 10-20 years. Yes some of the emerging players and their investments in the infrastructure is a real challenge and we should watch out for that from India perspective ... However India still has an edge and we need to capitalize.
Venkatesh: How easy or difficult do you perceive the recruitment in the BPO industry after BPOs turn 4th gen?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Venkatesh, Recruitment in new sectors have always been a challenge and it will continue to be so in 4th gen BPOs. Need for 4th Gen BPO jobs will be more skill oriented than qualification oriented. It will be a play of specific and niche skills. You will see areas of super specializations emerging. These will be based on global certifications. Therefore, increasingly, from India perspective, we will have to refine our skill development strategy to align to these needs and build industry specific and domain specific curriculum
Kuldeep: Do you think the next gen BPOs will reduce the attrition rate in the BPO industry?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Kuldeep, in traditional terms today BPO can be classified in 2 segments. In voice centric area we do see high attrition but typical Back Office and Domain areas the attrition is as normal as related industries and in many ways better as people get varied career opportunities in one work environment and mostly on a global landscape.
Shruti: Hi, I need to understand how is this transformation going to take place? Will there be a new set of BPOs coming up, or will the existing BPOs enter into this new and challenging phase?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Shruti, there is no one answer. Various companies have various strategies. We at HCL are seeing this wave as part of normal evolution of our services and capabilities
Sudarshan: Will the HR policies of the new-age BPOs also change with the industry entering its 4th phase? How?
Mr. Subrat: Sudarshan, HR policies and practices are a factor of realties of time, place and business need. They are also evolving with the evolution of industry and will continue to evolve further
Raghunandan: Hello Subrat, would like to understand how different 4th generation BPOs from the 3rd generation is. No doubt we have come a long way in terms of the process that has been outsourced in India. Will the 4th generation BPOs be process centric or is it going to be knowledge based. Help us understand the perspective behind this
Mr. Subrat: Raghunandan, I have briefly explained above... we will continue to see the benefits of first 3 generations being expected as baseline and 4th generation demand of skills and services being driven by the evolving needs of business ... so it is not just knowledge in generic sense of the term but application in solving business problems is be of critical importance.
Dhiraj Kumar: Dear Mr. Chakravarty...What according to you may be possible shortcomings of this new 4th generation BPO development (in Indian scenario) & how can we overcome them to get maximum gain?
Mr. Subrat: Dhiraj, it is a world of opportunity as I see. We may not be ready and attained maturity in all areas and that will be mostly from domain competence and getting the right talent pool ready. This is one certain area of focus which requires a Macro level plan. There are many initiatives being taken by academia, Nasscom and Government. These need to be expedited and industry needs to actively participate. At HCL we are pursuing many such initiatives with private and Govt institutions
Siddhant: What set of traits and characteristics do one need to fit into various job roles in 4th generation BPOs?
Mr. Subrat: Sid again there is no one answer as the area is vast and diverse. But one core characteristic will be a deep understanding of domain and technology understanding will be an added advantage. Some of the skill of Gen 1-3 like process centricity, language skills, Quality orientation and compliance will continue to be critical as well
Hrishant: When do you see HCL becoming the 4th Generation BPO?
Mr. Subrat: Hrishant, HCL is one of early entrants in this area. Today we have a diversified portfolio of services in Retail, Media, Telecom, F&A, HRO, Utilities, Logistics, Business Analytics, Banking and Insurance sectors. Many of our customer engagements are already in the 4th gen category and we are increasingly becoming more significant. This is result of HCL's vision of value centricity. We are clear we are not running behind size but our focus is creating constant value for our customers.
Hemant: What kind of job opportunities (profiles, job roles etc) can one expect in the BPO industry, in the coming years?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Hemant, BPO today offers a diverse set of career opportunities in almost all industry verticals. The roles could be in any area of sales, solution, transition, delivery, quality and all enabling functions which are also becoming more and more specialized.
Vibhuti: What kind of employee engagement & retention policies do you practise to retain the valued resources of your company?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Vibhuti, thanks for asking my favorite question. HCL's value is Employee First Customer Second. What it means is in our business value gets created in Employee and Customer interface. Therefore, in HCL we believe that the role of management and all enabling functions is to work towards enabling the employee to continue adding that value. All our policies, practices and ways of working are tuned towards it.
Nitin: How do you see the growth of BPO industry in next 5 years?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Nitin, there are many analyst reports and industry perspective available on the topic. In summary, there is an opportunity out there for atleast 4-5 times growth ... it is up to us to leverage that. At HCL we are fully geared and charged to be part of this growth and lead the momentum.
Pratyush: Will there be a 5th generation too for the BPOs? What do you perceive as characteristics of 5th Generation BPOs?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Pratyush, I am sure there will be .. but for now I am keen that we make the most of the 4th generation opportunity ... if we do it well I am sure there will be 5th as well.
Chiranjeev: What do you do to get the slackers perform?
Mr. Subrat: Hi Chiranjeev, we believe there are always 3 kinds of employees. Transformers, Fence Sitters and lost souls. At HCL our philosophy is to enable transformers, work with fence sitters to convert them.
Diksha: Do you think BPO industry has the depth to absorb people from various functional areas? What kind of job roles are there for someone in Finance, Sales, and Insurance etc.
Mr. Subrat: Diksha, a very pertinent question and I am sure it is also very representative, particularly from people outside the industry. That is because there is a perception of BPO job. This has changed drastically. Today we have qualified doctors, lawyers, CAs, statisticians, people with many years of experience of working in Banks, Insurance companies, retail enterprises, telecom companies and many more such industries are our employees and are working with our customers in their transformation journey. BPO today offers the most diverse career option....
Mr. Subrat: Colleagues and friends, I am signing off with a new perspective on many areas based on this interaction. It has been a pleasure. Looking forward to interacting with you again ... Keep well and God Bless
Moderator: Thanks everyone for taking out time to participate in the session. We apologize that due to time constraint, not all questions have been answered. Mr. Subrat Chakravarty will try to answer unanswered questions and the chat transcript will be made available for your future read soon on the site.
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