Earlier, India used to be the desired location for foreign companies to start a Business Process Outsourcing centres (BPOs). But now, it is completely losing its voice. Experts indicate the shortage of merit workforce in the voice-based BPO industry, which has encouraged several IT companies like TCS and Wipro to shift overseas.
Companies are more attracted to the easy scope to find excellent voice talent in Latin American countries such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Peru, creating them recent BPO hotspots. IBM, TCS, Accenture and Unisys have already build up centers in the region.
Recently, Wipro Technologies launched its new global delivery center at Curitiba in Brazil to provide services to global and domestic clients. The Curitiba center will impart Wipro’s IT and BPO portfolio, serving nearly 20 clients.
Gopi Natarajan, CEO & president, Omega Healthcare Management Services say people in India still lack English language skills. BPOs usually train people for 12-15 weeks in India, but still they are not prepared and skillful. Whereas in places like Colombo, training for three to four weeks is sufficient and they are ready to manage work.
Ramesh Kamath, Chief Financial Officer, Aditya Birla Minacs says that companies are experimenting overseas as these regions provide more geographical closeness to the US. People from Latin America can be connected to the US better, compared to those from India. Voice accent is considered as a small issue but not the whole.
Industry experts say the attrition rate of 10-11% in India’s BPO industry makes the country inconvenient destination. Moreover, better technical support, quick response time and near-shore benefits are some of the other factors which are driving BPOs abroad. Last year, few clients had issues with Indian BPOs about their communication skills.