Having a call center in India is the norm for several global companies today. In order to meet the growing international demand for cost-effective, customer-oriented call centres, many organizations worldwide are outsourcing these services by setting up call centres in India. But what makes call centres in India such an attractive option? The country has intrinsic strengths which make it a major success as an outsource destination for call center work:

• A booming IT industry, with IT strengths recognized all over the world
• The largest English-speaking population after the USA
• A vast workforce of educated, English-speaking, tech-savvy personnel: A boon in a high-growth industry faced with a shortage of skilled workers
• Cost-effective manpower: In a call center operation, manpower typically accounts for 55 to 60 percent of the total cost. In India, manpower is available at a fraction of the cost overseas. However, some people get deterred by the fact that cost savings are not seen immediately. Initial investment in infrastructure and training can be expensive and make one believe that the promise of cost reduction is false. However, there will be savings and the fact that several global giants continue to set up call centres in India is proof of this.
• The Government of India has recognized the potential of IT-enabled services and has taken positive steps by providing numerous incentives.
• The presence of most international technology vendors and solutions would enable creation of most advanced set-ups in this technology- intensive segment.

One company in India proposes to harness the high-quality technical support available here by hiring 300 Ph.D.'s to provide very high-end consulting through videoconferencing/telephone. Given these advantages, India could build a $17 billion industry by 2008 according to the NASSCOM McKinsey Report.

How large is the call centre industry in India?

India's call center industry accounts for a quarter of all software and services exports from the country, according to industry association Nasscom, and Indian call centres employ 160,000 professionals. Daimler-Chrysler, British Telecom, Barclays Bank, HSBC, Honeywell, Aventis, and several others have come to India while the old timers of GE, British Airways, Citigroup, Amex, and others have been around for a decade.

GE in India: an outsourcing success story par excellence

A large part of GE's business in India is in remote processing centres. Success stories like GE's provide tremendous encouragement to both the Indian entrepreneur as well as potential business partners from overseas.

GE positions its call centres as "productivity enhancers". According to GE, companies could be spending two-thirds or more of their time on things that have to get done but have little to do with what makes their business successful.

GE Business Productivity Solutions offer companies services and software that help them grow revenue faster than expenditures by reducing resources and time devoted to "back office" processes.

GE Capital International is employing over 1,000 people in its Center of Excellence at Gurgaon near New Delhi in India. The Call Center facility at Hyderabad is expected to be ready for use by March. These Centres provide IT-enabled business process outsourcing services to GE and non-GE customers around the world. GE's business objective is to consolidate back office processing into India for client organizations and to deliver quality services at competitive cost.

IT-Enabled Services Include:

• Helpdesk Services and remote troubleshooting of IT-related queries from clients in the US
• Transaction Processing
• Accounting Services
• Call Centres
• Remote Network Management
• Service Bureau and Entrepreneur Systems
• End-to-end Processing Services with linkage to the parent company. The entire processing would be carried out in the facility in India, with a cost quality and service advantage to the parent organization

Product Specific Solutions Include:

• Risk Modelling
• Data Mining
• Actuarial Services
• Underwriting Variation Analysis Analytic

Business Solutions

GE Capital India Business Solutions focuses on three areas:

1. Global business platforms
2. IT-enabled services
3. Product-specific solutions

GE's state-of-the art Decision Science Center in Bangalore will develop predictive tools and models for all aspects of customer management.

Engineering Services from GE in India

GE Global eXchange Services, a leader in global business-to-business Internet commerce, announced the opening of their Engineering Center in Bangalore, India. The Center will offer a multitude of Internet-based products and services that bring intelligence to the supply chain, enabling businesses worldwide to reduce procurement costs and increase return on investment. The Bangalore Engineering Center will focus on product and service developments incorporating leading technologies such as Java and Object Oriented Design (OOD). (Outsource2India)