Outsourcing - BPO
High Quality in the Indian Outsourcing Industry
Outsourcing to India is now more about high quality rather than
cost. Indian companies are fast scaling up to match or surpass
international quality standards and are ensuring that they stay
ahead through stable quality systems and continuous quality improvement.
The Indian BPO industry, which previously relied on its cost
effectiveness to attract customers, is now under an entirely different
dictatorship. Quality is the new buzzword and is dominating business
processes and services like never before. Ninety percent of ITES-BPO
companies now have specialized quality departments that are responsible
for ensuring accurate, reliable services to their customers. The
spotlight in Indian centers is now focused on ensuring standards
of quality that are at par with, if not superior to their counterparts
abroad.
Defining Quality
Quality departments have a straightforward approach to identifying
the areas that require quality control. The first step is the
identification of parameters that are 'critical to quality'. These
parameters almost always include the client's requirements and
expectations. Other key factors like accuracy, productivity and
turnaround time are also outlined.
Most companies are now also following the process approach. The
process approach is a description of the linkages between all
the activities that work towards meeting the finest quality standards
that have been identified by prevalent quality norms and the client's
expectations.
The Indian Advantage
The Indian advantage lies primarily in the educational and technical
qualifications of the personnel, who are often more qualified
than the people working in the parent locations. A survey conducted
in 2002 by NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service
Companies) showed that an India based ITES-BPO center in the banking
and financial service sector, performs better than a UK or US
based facility on significant factors such as the number of correct
transactions/total umber of transactions, total satisfaction factor,
number of transactions per hour and the average speed of answers.
The ITES-BPO industries are most sensitive to incorporating internationally
accepted standards of quality assurance. The NASSCOM survey also
found that 50 percent of Indian companies have implemented varied
levels of ISO (The International Organisation for Standardization,
which conceives sets of quality management standards) such as
ISO 9002, ISO 9001, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 9001:2001.
The survey also says that 45 percent of Indian service providers
have certifications like Six Sigma (a disciplined, statistical
quality control method that measures the number of defects compared
to the opportunities to make defects) and CMMI ( Capabilty Maturity
Model Integration - which is a process improvement method that
provides a set of best practices that address productivity, performance,
costs, and customer satisfaction.). Moreover, a lot of organizations
are upgrading their quality standards to from the ISE 9000 to
the new ISO 9000:2000, and from the CMM framework to the new CMMI
framework.
Quality Lapses - People and Industries
Despite superior performance levels and accreditation from international
bodies, India still remains at a disadvantage when it comes to
certifications for quality professionals. There are little or
no certifications for quality professionals in India, and those
that are available are either US or UK based. Although most companies
make their employees undergo the processes for these certifications,
the lack of an indigenous certification body is being felt, especially
due to the scarcity of training centres for quality assurance
and control. The only two popular certifications in the ITES industry
are the 'Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) and the Certified
Software Test Engineer (CSTE). Both these certifications are offered
by the Quality Assurance Institute, which is again, an international
body. But these too are largely considered inadequate by most
authorities.
Another major problem concerning industries like the customer
contact center industry which relies on verbal one-on-one communication,
is the use of incorrect accents and grammar. Quality lapses are
felt strongly because of misunderstandings or the customer's inability
to understand Indian accents. Efforts are being made to improve
the quality standards in these areas by deploying specific bodies
that evaluate prospective employees on English speaking abilities
such as accent, grammar, fluency and overall communication skills.
The international standard in contact center operations - the
COPC certification is now in great demand among Indian contact
centres. While six of the top 25 players already have COPC certifications,
12 more companies are in the process of being certified.
Efforts towards Improving Quality
The frenetic pace, with which Indian players are moving towards
achieving internationally recognized quality control standards,
largely arises out of the awareness that the BPO industries cannot
sustain themselves on the advantages of lower costs and English
speaking abilities alone. The importance of consistency, low error
rates and customer satisfaction has never been felt as strongly
as right now. Naturally, governing bodies like NASSCOM are holding
no bars in its efforts to improve quality regulation. By the end
of 2004, it plans to introduce a common certification programme
across India for aspiring candidates, in terms of the skills and
knowledge required by the BPO industry.
Another significant move towards ensuring quality is NASSCOM's
initiative towards controlling issues like copyright infringement.
It plans to formulate a comprehensive draft proposal to ensure
information security and data privacy. The proposal will also
emphasize the need for internal checks and continuous quality
reviews, both by the internal senior management team as well as
by the client team.
NASSCOM also plans to create a common yardstick for BPO organizations.
Attempts to create such a yardstick are being made by Carnegie
Mellon University which is involved in developing E-SCM or the
E-Services Capability Model. This model is extremely useful for
clients who are selecting a suitable service provider, as it allows
them to compare the capabilities of different service providers,
and also compare issues associated with the initiation and completion
of the project.
The concept of benchmarking is also beginning to be used more
regularly. Benchmarking is a continuous process of assessing and
comparing an organization's performance with a recognized industry
leader. This is especially useful in knowing where a particular
company stands in relation to its competitors. It also makes it
easier to identify which areas need more attention in terms of
quality control.
The Quality Assurance Institute holds various training programmes
in Six Sigma, COPC Implementation and Support and non-certified
skills like maintaining customer satisfaction, people management,
service levels and transaction monitoring.
For a company, ignoring quality now means certain extinction.
Quality therefore, is no longer an option, it is the only choice.
For more reading on outsourcing, log on to http://www.outsource2india.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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