Call Centers in India In order to meet the growing international demand for cost-effective, customer-oriented call centers, many organizations worldwide are outsourcing these services from locations like India. India has intrinsic strengths which can make it a major success as an outsource destination: A booming IT industry, with IT strengths recognized all over the world The largest English-speaking population after the USA A vast workforce of educated, English-speaking, tech-savvy personnel: A boon in a high-growth industry faced with a shortage of skilled workers Cost-effective manpower: In a call center operation, manpower typically accounts for 55 to 60 percent of the total cost. In India, the manpower cost is approximately one-tenth of what it is overseas.

Per agent cost in USA is approximately $40,000 while in India it is only $5,000. Technical support: India graduates about 100,000 engineers each year. These can be used in call centers for troubleshooting/tech support as the salaries are dramatically lower than in Europe or the US. The Government of India has recognized the potential of IT-enabled services and has taken positive steps by providing numerous incentives. The presence of most international technology vendors and solutions would enable creation of most advanced set-ups in this technology- intensive segment. One company in India proposes to harness the high-quality technical support available here by hiring 300 Ph.D.'s to provide very high-end consulting through videoconferencing/telephone. Given these advantages, India could build a $17 billion industry by 2008 according to the NASSCOM McKinsey Report. How large is the call center industry in India? There are 25 CTI(Computer Telephony Integration)-enabled call centers and 300-500 non-CTI call centers in India. British Airways' subsidiary employs about 750 people and is expected to hire 800 more, while GE has 1000 personnel at its Gugaon facility. GE in India: an outsourcing success story par excellence A large part of GE's business in India is in remote processing centers. Success stories like GE's provide tremendous encouragement to both the Indian entrepreneur as well as potential business partners from overseas. GE positions its call centers as "productivity enhancers". According to GE, companies could be spending two-thirds or more of their time on things that have to get done but have little to do with what makes their business successful.

GE Business Productivity Solutions offer companies services and software that help them grow revenue faster than expenditures by reducing resources and time devoted to "back office" processes. GE Capital International is employing over 1,000 people in its Center of Excellence at Gurgaon near New Delhi in India. The Call Center facility at Hyderabad is expected to be ready for use by March. These Centers provide IT-enabled business process outsourcing services to GE and non-GE customers around the world. GE's business objective is to consolidate back office processing into India for client organizations and to deliver quality services at competitive cost. IT-Enabled Services Include: Helpdesk Services and remote troubleshooting of IT-related queries from clients in the US Transaction Processing Accounting Services Call Centers Remote Network Management Service Bureau and Entrepreneur Systems End-to-end Processing Services with linkage to the parent company. The entire processing would be carried out in the facility in India, with a cost quality and service advantage to the parent organization. Product Specific Solutions Include: Risk Modeling Data Mining Actuarial Services Underwriting Variation Analysis Analytics Business Solutions GE Capital India Business Solutions focuses on three areas: Global business platforms IT-enabled services Product-specific solutions The Global Business platform business would target areas such as Mortgage, Insurance and Accounting to provide End-to-End processing services. GE's state-of-the art Decision Science Center in Bangalore will develop predictive tools and models for all aspects of customer management. Engineering Services from GE in India GE Global eXchange Services, a leader in global business-to-business Internet commerce, announced the opening of their Engineering Center in Bangalore, India. The Center will offer a multitude of Internet-based products and services that bring intelligence to the supply chain, enabling businesses worldwide to reduce procurement costs and increase return on investment. The Bangalore Engineering Center will focus on product and service developments incorporating leading technologies such as Java and Object Oriented Design (OOD). Make a strategic decision to outsource your business processes through call centers in India. GE, British Airways and Yahoo have seen it work to their competitive advantage. Why not you? Other related articles: Outsource to India Why India