According to an ASSOCHAM-KPMG joint study, in 2014, India lost about 70% of all incremental voice and Call Centre business to competitors like Philippines and Eastern Europe.
1. 1
Most of the leadingbusinesscompaniesof the worldare adoptingBPOasa strategicbusinesssolution.
These companiesusuallyoutsource theirjobstothe BPO,whicheventuallyreduce theiroperational
cost. The BPO industryisverydiverse,with several sub-segments,eachdisplayingitsownunique
characteristics. Indiahadbeenamajor BPO hub so far.But for lastfew years,countryislosingmanyBPO
businesses,andmostof themwenttoPhilippines.
According to an ASSOCHAM-KPMGjointstudy,in 2014, India lost about70% of all incrementalvoice and
Call Centre businessto competitorslike Philippines and Eastern Europe.
It isestimatedthatinthe ongoingdecade Indiamight lose about$30 billionintermsof foreign
exchange earningstoPhilippineswhichhasbecome the topdestinationforIndianinvestors too.
Reason for Shifting of Business to Philippines
2. 2
Empathy-Familiaritywiththe USculture
The Philippinesadvantage,besidesskilledandEnglisheducatedworkforce andgoodtelecom
infrastructure,isfamiliaritywithAmericanworkculture andSpanishlanguage.EmployeesinPhilippine
call centersspeakEnglishfluentlywithaneutral accentwhichiswhatcustomerslookforandthat is
somethingmissinginIndianaccentsandthatis a prime reasonwhyBPObusinessisthrivinginthat
country.
TrainedEmployees
Beyondempathy,there are otherareasinwhichthe Philippines have the edge.Itgetstrained
manpower,thankstoa governmentprogramme,anditsemployeestravel ontheirown. Incomparison,
the fresh-out-of-collegelookinthe Indiancall centresmaylookcool,butdoesnotmake a great business
case,especiallywhenthe employerhastospendon trainingitspeople,arrangingtransportforeveryone
workingnightsandproviding escortsforthe women.
Skills
Andthenthere isthe matterof skill incertainareas.Some time agoa large healthcare companywanted
EXL to handle processeslikemedical summarisationanddisease management.ItwantedUS-registered
nurses.Indiadidnot have any.The Philippines,onthe otherhand,had100,000 nurseswhohad
returnedfromthe US afterthe financial crisisandwere unemployed.EXLhired400 of themand put
theminfront of computers.Culturalproximitytothe UStogetherwithavailabilityof talentedmanpower
are keyreasonsasto why BPOcompaniespreferexpandingtheiroperationsinPhilippines..Sometimes
regulatory&licensingissuesalsorestrictoutsourcingof servicestoIndia.
As the voice in IndianBPO gets muted; the buzz aroundthe Philippinesgetslouder.
Several Indianfirmshave setupsubstantial operationsinPhilippineswhichhasalarge pool of well-
educated,English-speaking,talentedandemployablegraduates.Accordingtoindustryestimates,30per
centof the graduatesinthe Philippinesare employable,comparedto10 percentin India.Andtheylast
longer.The attritioninthe Philippinesisabouthalf thatinIndia.
Becauseof thisreasons,in 2012, Firstsource –India based BPO- tookoverBarclaycard'scustomerservice
centre in Teesside in North-EastEngland,and moved a majority of theworkto the Philippines.
Other Competitors
As the Philippineshave emergedasIndia'sbiggestrival invoice,several othersare vyingforthe same
pie.Soif empathytiltsthe scalesinthe Philippines'favour,culture swingsitforEgypt,which,withcosts
comparable toIndia's,hasbeengetting more andmore contracts from companiesbasedinWest
Asia.DalianinChinahasbecome animportantoutsourcingcentre because alarge populationof the
formerJapanese colonyisconversantinJapanese.
Chinaenjoysagreat advantage intermsof large pool of people butthe Chinese haveagreatlimitation,
as theydo nothave enoughEnglishspeakinggraduateslike India.Mexicotooisemergingasatough
competitorforIndiabutis goodfor low-endjobsonly.OthercountrieslikeIrelandhave asmallertalent
pool.Canadaand SouthAfricaare otherprominentcompetitorsof Indiabutare costlierthanIndia,
3. 3
while Russiahaspoorinfrastructure andpoorlinguisticcapabilities.
Nowit becomesimportantforIndianBPO(businessprocessoutsourcing) industrytodiversifythe
deliveryfootprintinordertotake advantage of low-costcentersorelse ourcompetitorswill further
consolidate theirposition.Thusthere isaneedto reduce costsand make operationsleaneracrossthe
BPO industry.BPOcompaniescouldreduce the total operatingcostsby20-30 per centby movingtoa
low-costcitywithinIndia,withacostdifferentialof around10-15 percent fornon-voice processesand
upwardsof 20 percentfor voice processes.Citieslike Ahmedabad,Chandigarh,Coimbatore,Dehradun,
Jaipur,Kozhikode,Nagpur,NashikandPalakkadcanhelpmeet50-60 per centof the projectedtalent
requirementof BPOindustryovernextfive years,the reportsaid.
Apart fromthe fact that IndianBPOindustryisnotgrowingat that pace,still Indiaisa leadingcountry in
worldwide offshore businessservices provider2014. Hence Indiastill hasthe leadingedge inthe BPO
industry,butitshouldkeeponimprovisingtomaintainitsstability.ThereforeIndiashouldbe onits
guard to maintainitspositionintact.If IndiahastomaintainitssupremacyinBPOand itssoftware
workforce,thenBPOIndiahasto learnSpanish,whichisspokeninmore than24 countries.WithIndia
alreadystampingitssuperiorityinthe BPOsectorwithits knowledge of the Englishlanguage,itnow
needsjustone otherlanguage thatwill make the worlditsmarket,whichisSpanish