Where is our Destination?

It has always been my desire to travel through a village gazing at the green pastures that act as a therapy for our pooped eyes after watching the chaotic city life. So with this desire a gang of friends including me embark on a journey during a chilly Bangalore morning. Our DESTINATION for the day is a small hill in Tamil Nadu (TN), a few hours from Bangalore City or Bengaluru (as some highway signs display).

The bus stop is located at a chaotic traffic junction and it is almost peak hour in the IT city. While we wait for our bus, I look at the numerous zooming vehicles transporting people to their DESTINATIONS and wonder, “Where the hell is our world heading, at such a brisk pace?” We get into the bus that will take us to Krishnagiri, a small town in TN, our first pit stop.

The TN government bus that we are travelling has in-house entertainment system in the form of a DVD player and television sets to entertain the passengers, and the bus conductor (and maybe the driver also!). Today, the movie on offer is a quite old movie (a little bugging one) but nonetheless, we are entertained, to watch a movie on the road (forget high-tech mobiles or iPods). As everyone onboard gets glued to the screens, the chaos outside the bus intensifies as more vehicles start hitting the road.

As we move on, I watch people of all ages rushing to their DESTINATIONS (which only they can tell) and this is truly a hectic sight. I feel fortunate that today, I am not there in that rush, as I am trying get out of this mess for one day. We are on the highway and Bangalore’s love affair with traffic jams comes to play. At this juncture I start criticizing the people in power, because there is a road construction going on here for long time now. You may start wondering as to which road am I talking about, no prizes for guessing , it is the ever busy Hosur Road part of the longest national highway NH 7.

Elevated highway or ‘Expressway’ as many people term it in the hope that one day it will be an Autobahn (Germans watch out!). The construction of this road is adding more chaos to this road and the deadline keeps extending… (God alone knows till when). This makes the Autobahn dream a little obscure! But, I would be very happy if finally we can have at least a decent road (minus potholes) to commute after all the uncertainty.

Fortunately, after some time the road is quite empty and our bus starts zooming ahead and the cool breeze is very relieving. I see the numerous townships coming up on the outskirts, which would hopefully decrease the stress on the city’s dying infrastructure. Further, I see the BMIC Bangalore-Mysore expressway and wonder as to when it will be put to use, helping people to commute better to their DESTINATIONS.

Now, I see the sign displaying Karnataka’s boundary with Tamil Nadu and I am emotionally touched to leave the place where all my near and dear ones live (this happens always with me). Here we are in the land of temples and politics, the Hosur town welcomes us to this land. The huge manufacturing plant of Ashok Leyland acts as the banner displaying the kind of development this town has undergone. I just hope that the authorities here craft a planned growth or else Hosur may end up in a mess like its big neighbour. The town is full of activities and many bikers without their helmets are seen in a hurry to reach their DESTINATIONS.

As we leave Hosur the bus goes through many villages, where everyone is dependent on agriculture and the temperature is soaring. These are the villages where most of India lives and dies. Here the farmer is working hard on the field to produce food for his compatriots, who are busy working in their air conditioned offices for their clients in the West (no offence to anyone).

So, here we are in Shoolagiri and I savour the Tamil Nadu cuisine. The bus makes a stop at this place and I can see a typical village life in front of eyes and I start comparing it with the city life on various parameters. Flowers and foods dominate this region and most of the locals are from the farming community. As we leave this beautiful village, I see small hills nearby and wish if I could build a house on one of them to enjoy this beauty for a longer time.

After some more time we are in Krishnagiri, a new bus terminus is built in this small town and it looks neat and tidy. We get down from our bus and I start gazing at the buses to know their DESTINATIONS out of mere curiosity. Krishnagiri is a major stopover for all buses that are going towards Bangalore from TN or vice-versa. This place is also considered as the birth place of the ‘King of Fruits’, the mango, it is also the main crop here. We get into another bus that will take us to our next pit stop.

This is Tiruppattur, a small town in Vellore district. It is sweltering hot in this place and we are on foot. Located in this place is the beautiful Sacred Heart College with a vast campus and a splendid infrastructure. The road in front of the college is the highway which is always full with whizzing vehicles carrying people and goods, in a hurry to reach their DESTINATIONS. The bus from here takes us to the climax.

The bus from Tiruppattur makes its way through the rugged roads of our villages and here I am surrounded with the best our mother nature can offer. I see real trees instead of concrete jungle, I see farms instead if garbage, I breath oxygen instead of carbon monoxide and yes, this is what I wanted to experience, ‘Welcome to the Village’.

A little further we reach the small hill called Jalagampari (it may be a little hard to pronounce), we climb this hill in order to have a better view of the environs. At this point my heart is filled with happiness, now that I have reached my DESTINATION for today. But, my journey still continues ‘Swiftly’ to reach my FINAL DESTINATION….

Is Indian Outsourcing on its Deathbed?

A question like this will make people upset, especially those who are directly or indirectly dependent on the outsourcing sector in India. But the fact remains that there are indications that the bubble may burst, soon if not later, if required measures are not taken now. If you are an employee of an outsourcing firm, you would be hearing some gossip doing the rounds in your cubicles. So are there any solutions to this predicament? A big YES would be my answer. So there is some reason to smile now!

Some years ago, a new job opportunity had opened for many youths in India, with the dawn of outsourcing. This was the boom time as many fresh graduates were able to earn handsome salaries. So what has currently gone wrong in this promising path? I have some answers to this question like, India becoming an expensive outsourcing destination because of inflation and high attrition rate, the competition from latest entrants is fierce, and finally, Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate.

Indian job market has truly become expensive and some studies prove it. According to a recent report from London based human resources firm ECA International, average wages at multinationals in India are likely to jump 14% this year up from 12.6%, putting India at the top of a ranking of 47 countries worldwide for the second year in a row. "Salaries in India are catching up to developed nations at a faster rate (than in many other Asian countries)", says Lee Quane, Hong Kong-based Asia general manager for ECA. He feels that the culprits for this salary rise are inflation and attrition.

Now let’s look at the other roadblock, which is the tough competition, India has to face in the global outsourcing market. I will give some statistics to this statement of mine. Focused on UK's top IT service providers, a study by Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) a market research firm showed that China, Morocco and Hungary are the new locations of choice to set up offshore sourcing centers.

"India's position as the premier low-cost IT sourcing centre is not under serious threat in the near term. But what we are seeing is vendors are looking to reduce their reliability on India's heated labour market," Nick Mayes, a senior consultant at PAC, said in a statement. SAP AG has announced their plans to expand their BPO operations in countries like Eastern Europe and China. The reason behind this switch is that the company has claimed that outsourcing work to India is proving to be pretty expensive. So it seems that the stiff competition is mainly because of the ‘heated labour market.’

So finally, we have some politics in this story, with Obama’s views on outsourcing. Though it needs to be seen if he emerges as the most powerful man in the world, let’s currently focus our thoughts on his views. We know that Obama has been regularly playing the anti-outsourcing card since he entered the presidential race. Recently in his speech, he added fuel to the fire by saying, "....Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America."

Yes, that is an offensive comment by Mr. Obama. Now let’s see what the Indian reply, towards this comment was. NASSCOM President Som Mittal said Indian software exports are unlikely to be affected by this as offshoring is a key economic decision for US companies. Mittal feels American companies will themselves favour outsourcing. "US companies are facing shortage of talent to drive the growth. It is in their interests," Mittal said. Now, don’t you think that it is really nice to hear these words from him? Well, I think that should keep Obama at bay, at least for sometime though.

You may think that is a lot of problem? I feel the problems faced by Indian Outsourcing are mainly because of the soaring salaries and attrition rate, as I have pointed out earlier. This has led to many questions about the future prospect of the outsourcing industry in India including, “Is Indian Outsourcing on its Deathbed?”

I feel the companies should start setting up their facilities in smaller towns and villages rather than the big cities. It is a strategy that has been obvious to most industry leaders for a long time but has not yet been adopted widely. This will create more workforces, because a majority of our compatriots are in the villages. When the companies take the jobs to the rural masses it will create a world of opportunities to them. This will bridge the gap between supply and demand of labour. It will invariably help in controlling the rising salaries and attrition.

An interesting experiment is being conducted by Satyam Computer Services’ founder, Ramalinga Raju. His philanthropic endeavor GramIT aims to ship business-process outsourcing projects to some of the 600,000 odd villages in India, dropping the cost-structure further while creating jobs in India's poverty-stricken heartland. GramIT employees earn $1,000 a year versus the $10,000 to $15,000 that urban employees at outsourcing companies make.

GramIT's attrition rate is close to zero. Employees successfully take jobs such as data entry and transaction processing. Seven such centers are operating in Andhra Pradesh and 10 more are slated to start up. Each center averages 70 to 100 employees and is often the pride of the village. Even the likes of HDFC Bank and Tata Group have taken up initiatives to set up rural BPO.

I think GramIT's model can become the survival formula for the low end of the Indian outsourcing industry. If the cost structure is pegged at the right level, India can also do work for other emerging markets. And, more important, India can do work for itself.

The Leader in You

There can always be a question arising in our minds, as to who can be considered as a leader. Typically leaders are considered to be those, who lead a group towards achieving certain goals, they have a command over the whole group and it is their decision that matters. There have been many leaders in the past who have created history by their leadership skills.

Is it the physical or the mental attributes that determines a leader’s position?
Mahatma Gandhi, was a leader responsible for creating a free India, sixty one years ago. He was a person who did not have a physical outlook, which would have been associated with a leader of his status. During his childhood days, Gandhi was an extremely scared boy. He was an average student, who did not have good communication skills. He could not boast of a family with famous personalities. This proves that a person’s physical attributes doesn’t determine that he is a leader.

What did Gandhi possess in order to be a leader?
He was an example to show that anyone can be a leader if he aspires to be one. This creates a whole new dimension for everyone to be a leader. This is what open source leadership is all about, here everyone are leaders and all can be decision makers just like Gandhi whose decisions changed a whole nation. It is a practice of shared ownership, there is no single leader who is the decision maker. All the members of the group or organisation have equal power to voice their opinions. They are the ones who facilitate the smooth working of the group by encouraging the fellow members.

“In open source leadership everybody are part of the vision”, asserts Sangeeth Varghese, Founder Director of LeadCap, an organization which spreads the message of leadership. They spread the message of leadership, who irrespective of facing failures should go ahead in achieving their goals. He says, “A place where open source leadership is followed is more of a movement than an organisation”.

How practical is this kind of practice?
Southwest Airlines is one of the examples, where employees played the role of co-owners. They were given power to take decisions in times of crisis. This system saved a lot of time and even the customer was satisfied with the prompt working of the staff and services. It should also be noted that the airline adopted the first profit-sharing plan in the U.S. airline industry in 1973. Through this plan and others, employees own about 10 percent of the company stock Today, Southwest Airlines is one of the world's most profitable airlines and in January 2008, posted a profit for the 35th consecutive year.
Southwest maintained excellent customer satisfaction rating in 2006, according to the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) year end operating statistics, Southwest ranked number one (lowest number of complaints) of all U.S. airlines for customer complaints, with 0.18 per 100,000 customers enplaned. Southwest Airlines has consistently received the fewest ratio of complaints per passengers boarded of all major U.S. carriers that have been reporting statistics to the DOT since September 1987, which is when the DOT began tracking Customer Satisfaction statistics and publishing its Air Travel Consumer Report.
Linux, is one of the most prominent examples of open source development, typically all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone. The primary difference between Linux and many other popular contemporary operating systems is that the Linux kernel and other components are free and open source software. Linux is not the only such operating system, although it is the best-known and most widely used. Some free and open source software licenses are based on the principle of copyleft.
This kind of open source policy by Linux makes everyone who involves him with a Linux project, a leader. He has the freedom to take his decisions in creating the software which he feels interesting. He does not need a higher authority who takes decisions for him to develop his software. Linux only facilitates the ‘Leaders’ in realising their goals, by giving them a platform.
Even in cricket, Sourav Ganguly, the former skipper of Indian team used to follow this system. He gave freedom to his teammates, they were given the freedom to do what they like in the dressing room. But, when they get into the field they focus on the game. Every player knows the importance of playing well on the field, hence they contribute to the team’s performance. This method of leadership by Ganguly has been very much valued, because the kind of success the Indian team experienced under his captaincy is huge.

Can this leadership be practiced in big organizations also?
It becomes difficult to emulate this kind of leadership in big corporations because there the financial bottom-line is very high and there are many people involved in the working of such an organisation. In these types of organisations closed source leadership is ideal, where traditional hierarchical leadership is followed.

Whereas, in a start-up venture, open source leadership is more practical. Here there is less number of people involved and even the financial targets are not very high. In these companies there needs to be an environment wherein everyone’s opinion is valued. Here everyone is involved equally for the growth and there is scope for more innovations in policies and strategies of the organisation. Each person would contribute in different ways to achieve the common goal.

KPO: The next level of outsourcing

Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) is the latest outsourcing buzz to hit India after the success of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). BPO industry gave many youths in India an employment with huge paychecks, which was beyond belief for a youth who had just graduated. The BPO companies which have grown tremendously are these days sprouting all over the country.
“With BPO revolution reaching its limits, its time for KPOs to be the next big thing in the outsourcing sector”, says Sameer Walia, Managing Director, The Smart Cube, one of the earliest Indian companies in the business. “The BPO sector has been always looked at by all as a quick-money area. Even educated people like IT graduates move to this sector just because of the monetary benefits”, he said while speaking to the media.
BPO deals with work which does not require high skilled workers; hence they mostly employ graduates, who join the industry as a fresher. It mainly deals with customer care and technical support through communication, transaction processing, telemarketing, etc KPO on the other hand, requires high-skilled staff, because the processes in KPO are highly valued and more complex than BPO.

BPO industry which has grown by leaps and bounds in India has given a lead for KPO industry in our country. KPO is basically the high-end activity of the BPO industry and it is estimated to grow significantly in the next few years.

The growth story

According to a report by business research firm GlobalSourcingNow, the Global Knowledge Process Outsourcing industry (KPO) is expected to reach USD 17 billion by 2010, of which USD 12 billion would be outsourced to India. In addition Indian KPO sector is also expected to employ more than 250,000 KPO professionals, compared with the current figure of 25,000 employees.

A report by Evalueserve, a business research KPO firm, also predicts that India will capture more than 70 percent of the KPO outsourcing sector by 2010. Apart from India countries such as Russia, China, the Czech Republic, Ireland, and Israel are also expected to join the KPO industry.

“This huge growth in the global KPO space would be driven by the vast pool of educated and experienced professionals in countries like India, China, Russia, Poland, the Philippines, Hungary and many republics from the erstwhile Soviet Union”, California-based Evalueserve's Chairman and Co-founder Alok Aggarwal said. Center
“It is quite likely that companies both with their own captives and those using third-party vendors may use a ‘hub and spoke’ model in which a provider in India may constitute the ‘center’ whereas other units in the world may provide appropriate ‘spokes’”, said Alok.
Advantage India

A study conducted by Kelly Services, the global provider of staffing services and solutions and Asset Management, an independent research company states that India is the most preferred destination for KPO. Thanks to its competitive salaries, proficiency in English, and large number of quality professionals.

Achal Khanna, Country General Manager, Kelly Services India, says, “India still maintains the competitive advantage for providing the combination of the most cost-effective and high quality manpower. This is India's strength in the off-shoring business.”

Countries like India and the Philippines are front runners in providing KPO services, because there is availability of large numbers of skilled staff working for less payment compared to that of the developed world. KPO requires advanced analysis and communication, so only those who have specific higher education and language skills are recruited to join this industry. PhDs, MBAs, engineers, doctors, lawyers, writers, designers, web designers and other specialists tend to be required by this industry.
According to Sameer Walia, “There is a vast pool of people who work for us, including MBAs, chartered accountants, economists and engineers. In The Smart Cube, employees get to work on high-end research for leading clients. It is comparable to the work done at leading international consulting companies”.
“KPO is offshoring of knowledge intensive business processes that require specialised domain expertise. It involves high-end processes like valuation, research, investment researches, patent filing, legal and insurance claim, etc. For such tasks KPO requires people with a good educational background. The difference is that it is done out of India. Those with good education and analytical abilities can look forward to a fantastic career in KPOs”, Sameer said while speaking to the media.
Indian KPO industry has started focusing on fields which are very complex, some of these fields include intellectual property or patent research, content development, research and development in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, market research, equity research, data research, database creation, analytical services, finance modeling, design and development in automotive and aerospace industries, animation and simulation, medical content and services, remote education and e-learning, publishing, clinical research, supply chain management and legal support.
According to Alok Aggarwal “There are already 12 investment banks of the world doing high-end analysis work in India.”
Challenges ahead

Though KPO is growing at a phenomenal rate, it faces many challenges on the way ahead in its growth trajectory. Because KPO involves processes which are more complicated and has more value than the BPO processes, it tends to face more challenges than BPO.

Alok Aggarwal points out some challenges faced by the KPO industry, “Lack of trained people and lack of willingness of companies to train their people, to invest in training. This is a fundamental difference between Information Technology companies and KPO companies. Organisations like Infosys and Wipro have training facilities on campuses.

The business of KPO is all about knowledge. It’s the responsibility of companies to train their people but young people should also take this upon themselves and not hop jobs. Young professionals job-hop, so they have not really learnt much. They drive themselves out of the market because they haven’t gained knowledge”, he said.

Achal Khanna says, “For India to maintain her advantage of a cost-effective and high quality human resource, there is a need for more professionals with relevant training to keep pace with the growth. In addition, our KPO study found that Indian salaries are experiencing the highest growth in the world, which will lead to a disadvantage for India as an attractive off-shoring destination, if not monitored."

Some of the other Challenges which the KPO industry face, will be maintaining higher quality standards that can adhere to the standards required for doing high-end work in complex fields. The infrastructure required by the KPO firms requires a lot of investment. Confidentiality of the data being processed is a major challenge especially after the incidents of BPO frauds; KPO needs to have strict guidelines in place to avoid leakage of sensitive data.