As an insider to this industry, I’d like to share a few thoughts. This is an industry that has got some adverse press for no fault of its. Let us look at it form different angles and I would also like to share my experience.
To clear some myths, there are some things we should fundamentally be aware of. The industry is based out of one thought – outsource or migrate business processes that could be done at a significantly lower cost without comparable compromise on quality. This is the golden rule by which corporations in the Americas and Europe play the game. This started with manufacturing in the sixties in China, moved to software development in the eighties in India and has also now is seen in the services sector again in India but not limited to India alone.
There are two categories –
1. Outsourced center
An outsourced center is a vendor to a company that needs services to be delivered from a remote location. This is a client-vendor relationship and the trickier of the two. As a manager, one needs to manage client expectations, keep them happy and garner more business. There is also a lot of emphasis on profitability and cost-cutting. There is a lot of emphasis of data and analysis too.
2. Captive center
Here, a company sets up its own support center overseas, owns it and manages it. Therefore, there is no client-vendor relationship here.
Services outsourcing again can be categorized into four major segments –
1. Customer Support
This covers all customer support activity like car rental booking, airline information, providing directions to drivers, pre-sales, etc.
2. Telesales
Credit Card, Personal Loan, insurance sales
3. BPO
No use of telephones here. Processing claims on insurance, financial processing, documenting voice transcripts, legal documentation, etc.
4. Technical support
This is the higher end of outsourcing – technical support in hardware and software. It could be support for a point-of-sale terminal or a computer or higher end support like server support. There are typically four levels – tier 1 to 3 and R&D. Generally, technical support is considered different from the Call Center industry due to its nature of work – the similarity ends where one needs to support customers over the telephone and has to work in the night shifts. There is no ‘speak, speak and speak’ as one other writer says in this industry. Needless to say, this support pays the big bucks, even going up to around Rs.30000 for a front line Support Engineer for Server Support.
An overview
You could approach the industry as a fresher from college to any of the above, depending on your skill base and level. If you do not possess technical skills, the recommendation is that you consider either customer support or telesales.
While a lot has been said about the freshers getting anything upwards Rs.8000, one should stop here and ask yourself – is that wrong? Definitely not, I would say. Most people those talk bad about the big start youngsters have today perhaps have had a green eye. We should get out of the temptation of blaming the new generation and start accepting the reality and appreciate the increasing standard of living the industry has provided.
Yes, going with the pressures of working in the night, the industry pays more compared to the other industries. As far as the pressure goes, tell me a day time job that doesn’t have stress in it – be it technical or services. I know of a lot of people in the sales, software and banking industry that have tremendous pressure in their daily job. The question is whether the night shift compounds the regular pressure. The answer is perhaps yes; but like I mentioned, you get monetarily compensated for it in addition to having other perks like compensatory offs, team outings, etc.
An Insider
Let me share my experience here, being both an outsider and an insider to the industry and also track my growth. I will also share my experience and outline some of my colleagues’ career growth. One can judge for himself or herself if this is the answer to their career quest.
I have also seen and been responsible for some front line support personnel growing to be Team Leaders and managers. In all, till now, I have worked in two companies in this space and have bubbled up nine Team Leaders and three managers – and I feel very proud of that fact. There is no more satisfaction than mentoring people and see them grow. They started with an individual contributor’s role and have become responsible for other people now. Their incomes have risen too – from around Rs.1.2 lac to Rs.5 lac on an average for Team Leaders and going beyond Rs.8 lac for those that became managers.
Now, I am in a captive center. Trust me; life is better when you are not a vendor. It is a good idea to try and move to a captive center after a couple of years. Your learning will be better in an outsourced center compared to a captive center. The peace of mind factor is better in a captive center.
I have known a lot of people – friends and colleagues – that have found a calling in this industry. There are many that make an honest living from this industry and have got a lot from it – exposure, responsibility, learning, management and a better standard of living. One must work on health as a priority and do not tell me that no other industry has overweight staff or employees that have disorders of many kinds.
I have also been privy to some information about sexual scandals in many other industries like hotels(the oldest to be maligned), advertising, banking and recently, software industry. The software industry scandals that come to mind are one involving Phaneesh Murthy(formerly with Infosys and now with iGate) and another one with trainees in Infosys campus. The truth is, whenever and wherever there is young blood and opportunity with solitude, this could happen – irrespective of the industry.
Publicity & PR
The truth is every industry has its pros and cons. The movie industry suffers from the stigma of casting couches, modeling industry of dumbness, software industry of geekiness, etc. For some reason, Indian press has had a lot to do with publicizing negative aspects of this industry.
Perhaps it is time for the industry leaders to run a campaign to de-malign the name of this industry if they need to continue attracting talent. Else, the dooms-day soothsayers will prevail and what is feeding a large number of people, helping bring up their standards of living and contributing to the economy in its own way will take a severe beating.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would say, it is equally wrong to have pre-conceived notions about an industry as it is to be skewed in opinion on religion or caste. One must first experience a situation, performance, religion or even an industry to be able to make an unbiased comment on it. It is easy to look down upon something and make derogatory remarks, but takes a lot of maturity and character to identify merits and then express a balanced view on it.