In Focus : Calling The Shots With Customized Solutions

Rs 1,602 crore. That is the size of the Indian outsourced domestic call
center industry and it is likely to grow about 65 percent
to reach Rs 2,604 crore this year. Not surprising then that solution providers
and vendors see a huge growth opportunity for themselves and are all geared to
provide the much needed customized set of solutions to these customers

It has been almost a decade now since India became a preferred destination
for outsourced business and knowledge processing operations. While the country
is still the most sought after destination for most outsourcing activities
globally, the rising rupee along with the issues of managing complex operations
at night, has become a point of concern for companies primarily doing offshore
customer interaction services.

But these doubts cast aside, right now the booming Indian domestic consumer
market has prompted the need for domestic services especially in the areas of
telecom, finance, aviation, and retail. The result is that many international
call centers have started to tap what they call the domestic opportunity rather
than working solely with international accounts.

According to an article in Dataquest, the call center industry developed in a
fairly unorganized way. In many cases, the direct selling associates (DSAs) put
some people together in a place, who made calls using just an office set-up,
sometimes with a very basic ACD. Some of them like Andromeda, developed into
large ones.

Few entrepreneurs started small call centers to serve whoever came their way.
The pioneers were Magus, Customer First, and Orion Dialog, the last two are now
part of Aegis.

A few of them graduated to become organized players. Many of them still
remain small and unorganized, with basic or no investment on call center
techno­logies. New ones are mushrooming.

Unlike the offshore call centers, where both international marketing and
technology served as entry barriers, there are hardly any barriers for those
wanting to start a new domestic call center.

According to Dataquest estimates, the organized players (classified as those
with 200 or more people) together account for a market of Rs 1,097 crore; the
unorganized sector still accounts for Rs 504 crore, more than half of that.
Together they size up to Rs 1,602 crore. That is the size of the Indian
outsourced domestic call center industry. This is likely to grow about 65
percent to reach Rs 2,604 crore.

Turnkey solutions are required to meet the needs of both out-bound and in-bound call centers

Another point to be noted is that of captives. It is estimated that the
captive centers together employ close to 1,30,000 people in their call centers,
while the outsourced industry (including the unorganized players) employs close
to 1,50,000 as on December 31, 2007. The 2006-07 estimates show that the captive
industry sized up to Rs 3,600 crore.

Translating these numbers

Captives or otherwise, the domestic call center opportunity appears pretty
big and a growing one at that. Solution providers across the country along with
vendors are beginning to realize that potential and are looking for ways to
maximize on it. The result is the evolution of customized solutions to meet
specific needs of clients.

Turnkey solutions are required to meet the needs of both out-bound and
in-bound call centers. These solutions encompass the areas of storage,
networking, intelligent cabling infrastructure, voice and data solutions, IP
telephony, audio and video conferencing solutions, unified communications and
even telepresence. Leading players in the space like Avaya, Polycom, HCL and
Microsoft all have solutions to meet these client requirements.

According to Roshan Gupta, Head-North and South, Polycom, the IT/ITeS arena
has been the front-runner as far as technology adoption in audio and video
conferencing and unified communications go. With new technologies emerging, high
definition and desktop conferen­cing seem to have become the order of the day.

“From having conferen­cing-video or audio-in specified conference rooms, we
have today moved to desktop conferencing. If that was not enough most call
centers today are turning into video call centers. What this means is that
players like us need to be geared to usher in new technologies and equip our
partners so that they are able to highlight the advantages of such technologies
to our customers,” Gupta indicated.

While adding that Polycom along with its partners like Avaya and HCL is
working to provide best of breed solutions to customers within the call center
space, Gupta said that the market was huge enough to accommodate competition and
the future would see many small players growing big. Unified communication and
integrated solutions would become the order of the day he felt.

Some solutions

Talking of call center solutions, one case in point is Cipher Dynamics,
which has launched its IT-enabled services and BPO operations in India along
with introducing 'Dynamics­Advantage,' a consolidated business solution for
media companies. Cipher Dynamics IT Services is part of Microsoft Dynamics
IT-enabled services and Business Process Outsour­cing (BPO) Services and works
with customers and their business partners to provide services that span from
strategy consulting to implementing, development and deployment of IT solutions
specifically around the Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics GP and
Microsoft DynamicsCRM and Microsoft Collaboration and Business Intelligence (BI)
solutions.

Said Alan Kahn, CEO, Cipher Dynamics, “Today, Cipher is able to provide IT
enabled services and Business Process Outsour­cing to diversified industry
segments and has a foothold in the global arena to service customers more
efficiently and effectively.”

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of financial, customer relation­ship and supply
chain management solutions that helps businesses work more effectively.
Delivered through a network of channel partners providing specialized services,
these business management solutions help to streamline processes across an
entire business.

Meanwhile banking on the domestic opportunity, another player in the contact
center area is Aspect Software that has decided to increase its India focus and
launch new solutions for the Indian market. On the anvil is expansion of its
sales as well as professional services as also its R&D center in India besides
launching new products.

According to Gary Barnett, CTO and Executive VP, Aspect Software, “Over time,
contact centers in India have transformed from being call centers to centers of
revenue generation. In line with that change, customers are looking at more
reliable, secure and integrated solutions that meet their needs. This is a big
opportunity for players like us to maximize on.”

Aspect Software works through its partners in India and has tied up with many
tier-1 partners here. According to Barnett, his company would equip its partners
with all the required training and support to sell their solutions to customers,
in addition to helping them realize the potential of services as a growth area.

But security was a major area of concern in the contact center space, which
is why in the coming days Aspect software would look to create solutions to
better address this issue.

Too nascent yet

Opinions are divided regarding the opportunities in the packaged goods and
white goods sector. While some had taken a wait-and-watch policy, others are
putting all their energy to develop these segments, expecting an early mover
advantage for them. Government and citizen services remain a big potential.
While not much momentum is expected in this space this year (2007-08) or the
next, but going forward, it would be huge.

However, it appears that more than the verticals and horizontals targeted,
the outsourced domestic contact center industry in India at Rs 1,600 crore even
with its projected 65 percent growth is very small. But thanks to its
world-class experience, it is creating a framework keeping in mind the big
opportunity that is likely to emerge from the consumer boom.

Over the next couple of years focus will go to attracting, retaining, and
developing manpower, as the market enters a phase when players need rapid
scaling up besides a move to smaller cities and towns like Durgapur, Puducherry
and Indore. Additionally quite a few regionally focused players will need
capital to grow, so large scale consolidation is expected, especially involving
the regional players. A few like Aegis and Intelenet already have those plans.
Many offshore players may take the inorganic route to grow the domestic market.

In short, the market is still evolving but taking some really mature steps to
minimize, if not eliminate, growth pangs.

SUBBALAKSHMI BM

subbalakshmibm@cybermedia.co.in