Rural BPO : re-visited...

Its so good to see a positive trend that you have been tracking for sometime, to be on the rise.

Back in 2006, saw some changes happening in the BPO space in India. And for the first time saw the coming up of Rural BPO's - http://mynobrainers.blogspot.com/2006/12/rural-bpos.html

In a recent article Outlook Business has shortlisted this amongst 25 ideas that will change our lives.

Read full article here -> Rural BPOs have the potential to transform the employment landscape of Indian village

Entreprenurial Divide...

An excellent writeup and reflective by Ajit Balakrishnan (Founder, CEO - Rediff) -

http://ajitb.rediffiland.com//scripts/xanadu_diary_view.php?postId=1175605247


Here he raises a very critical issue of the role that low-tech entrepreneur play in a vast majority of Indian businesses, and yet how vulnerable they are to market variations over which they have no control. And also the ironic divide between the elite graduates who come from the top Engginerring and Management schools as against the "commoners".

Ye dil maange more........

As the placement season in the most exalted b-schools in India (the IIMs) starts and reaches its full frenzy within a short span of hours, the aspirations and determination of all management aspirants reaches an all time high, with the fattest ever pay package laid in the platter. This is the time of the year when we get to view a glitzy spectacle which proves two things : firstly, the paradigm shift that India has experienced and how we have moved towards a veiw point which evaluates a management gradute solely on the basis of how much was salary package he/she was able to grab in the placements; secondly, our sheer passion and single point agenda of living a salaried life.

The way I look at both of these, there seems to a paradox to me. Now since we live in a country of paradoxes, I have been tempted a number of times to ignore this, and follow the chalta hai law. However, now as I face the quarter life crisis and am in the process of confronting a number of issues and comming in terms with life, as I choose to view it, this issue again came to the fore.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Dream as - "a strongly desired goal or purpose". Desire is something that we long for, which also at the same time is furturistic in nature. Chase dreams, is something we have heard so many times in life and at times cherished too. However, how many of us have actually given it a thought at a decision point in our life.

A handful of students of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have once set precedent by making a stand at one of the most crutical decision point of there life, by making a choice to chase there dreams, not just a job.

One of most amusing and insightful statement in the article (hyperlinked above) was "The cushion of two more chances will also help the students to withstand the pressure from parents to get a ‘decent job’"


Post Script: Although it was very tempting for me to end this article in a "Moral of the story" format, but I refrained। I would like anyone who is reading this article to use his/her own thought process and formulate there own conclusion, because thats the first step towards an enabled life.


This post has also been cross-blogged at -> http://newvalleywest.blogspot.com/

Rural BPOs

How I wish projects like ->
http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_t/teNet/20060816_promotes.html

attain a critical mass and turn into a viable revenue stream for both rural India as well as the companies. Saloni Malhotra, Project Head, Rural Business Process Outsourcing, IIT Madras also points out a clear cost difference of 30-40 per cent between a service provider in the city and rural areas, which is a considerable amount by any standards.

Although, its too nascent but compels me to draw a parallel with the initial surge of BPO industry in India, where all the low level work, often termed as Back-Office, was outsourced to India because of two reasons -

(1) Cost Advantage
(2) Skilled workforce (an MBA or an MCom doing Insurance/Claims Processing).

It also reminds me of the legend of OfficeTiger . How two young americans went through a reverse evolution and landed up in Chennai way back in 1999. A time when the BPO buzz had not even started.

And now, as the father of BPO Industry in India, Mr. Raman Roy, after American Express, GE and Spectramind, is going strong with his fourth venture, Quattro , and with a tag line announcing - "Beyond the existing", he doesnt leave much to imagination. Through Quattro he has a clear intention of moving up the value chain in the BPO industry. And just in case if anyone has any doubts, have a look at this article -> Father of BPO gets ready for 4th baby.

As the BPO industry in India is going through a phase of rapid and steady growth , the speculation of moving up the value chain have become intense. Now alomost all the big players in the BPO Industry not just pose themselves as an Outsourcing option, but instead talk about end to end business solutions -> What next for India's BPO sector

As more as more such opportunities come the way of big BPO players its inevitable that they will have to start looking at options like Rural Back Office Operations with much more seriousness rather than just another CSR Initiative.

In this scenario I really dream of a day when India can truely call itself the outsourcing hub of the world. And provide end-to-end business soltions spaning all types of services being offered in the BPO sector.

Here is an article giving an exhaustive listing and a general overveiw of the sector as well -> BPO Industry in India- A Report