Key Challenges Faced By The Bpo Industry Management Essay

Key Challenges Faced By The Bpo Industry Management Essay Peter Drucker says innovation is a change that creates a new dimension of performance. In todays business world, competition has become fierce and sophisticated. Companies worldwide are striving hard to operate as efficiently as possible and pass on the savings to the end consumers, in a bid to stay ahead of the competition. In the process, many companies are forced to innovate to come up with ways to reduce costs, increase efficiency and identify differentiators not only for their own organizations but also for their customer organizations. In the midst of this dog eats dog global competition, customers are true beneficiaries by demanding additional value, process innovation and business transformation from suppliers. In todays dynamic world, innovation is the hallmark of a competitive and leading organization. With attrition rates and competition in the BPO and ITES sectors rampant, innovation is the logical solution to stem the rot of this exodus and surge ahead of competition. Innovation, however, is not only about discoveries or new inventions; it is a concerted initiative to implement new ideas and methods of doing business to increase the overall efficacy of results (read topline and bottomline).   Innovation in BPO and ITES sectors is now picking up after companies have woken up to the fact that innovation is indispensable for survival and also in creating a competitive edge. Innovation occurs not randomly or accidentally but when there is a proper system/structure in place to encourage it. Any business is the sum total of its capabilities, which may differ from person to person. Nourishing innovation involves understanding the various capabilities in an organization and harnessing them to the best of its ability. These capabilities include: Differentiating capabilities an organizations primary assets that describes its special nature and the real differentiating factor Core capabilities those that are critical to the organizations survival, but may not necessarily help in differentiation Support capabilities those that support the organizations core capabilities and foster them. This paper aims to analyse innovation in the Indian ITES industry, success thereof and the focus needed to excel in the space. In particular, the organozation I was working for was suffering from all the symptoms mentioned in the report. Key Challenges faced by the BPO industry today and ways to fight it Flight to Scale Galloping Manpower Costs Increasing investments in Infrastructure Customer Retention Customer Acquisition People Retention To face these challenges, BPOs are forced to innovate and differentiate themselves in the market place. There are various types of innovation that a BPO can resort to: Business Model Innovation Services/Markets innovation Operations Innovation Business Model Innovation would mean changing the structure of doing business or even changing the billing model. From an hourly billing rate or transaction based billing organizations are now looking at outcome based financial models and sharing the risk and reward with the customer. Services/Markets Innovation would mean targeting entirely new markets based on new or existing offerings. BPOs can also innovate by coming up with entirely a new range of services. For example, many organizations are now talking about platform Platform BPO is about providing Business Processing services using a domain rich vertical or horizontal application (platform). Good examples for Horizontal application would be FA, CRM etc. There are innumerable vertical platforms. Some examples are Mortgage Processing, Collection Management, Insurance Benefits Administration, Policy Administration, Claims Processing and the list goes on. The purpose of the platform is to give credibility to the BPO providers capability. Operations Innovation aims at providing operational excellence with new offerings. Organizations are increasingly investing in analytics to provide the client insights into the way business is conducted and identifying areas of improvement. In one sense, it is akin to consulting services. Other forms of innovation could be in the areas of employee practices and investments in new technology. This is a significant change, which is true also of what is happening in IT and has a remarkable parallel with the transformation and rise of Japan in the post-war period. The transformation first occurs in transiting from cost advantage (wage arbitrage) to quality. Then comes the stage where quality is taken for granted, like hygiene, and clients start demanding innovation as a matter of course. Indian BPO as also IT is here right now and the ability of Indian players to innovate, in which they are still beginners, will determine their future.   A few examples of innovative players to help employee retention Intelenet Global Services, one of the leading BPO companies in India and rated among top-10 by NASSCOM, offering BPO and technology consulting services to clients in various sectors across the globe, has capitalized on its capabilities through employee innovation practices. To eliminate the boredom of the employees and keep them motivated to give their best for continuous value-addition to their clients, it offers its employees three career paths in the form of vertical growth, horizontal growth, and shift to parent company. While 70% of promotions in the organization are internal, only 30% is external. After 2 years of service, if an employee doesnt want to be a team leader (vertical growth), but desires to get into HR or training or other areas, he is allowed to shift diagonally across functions. Moreover, if someone who has worked for 2 years wants to move from nightshift to dayshift, then he is given first preference, subject to a vacancy in the parent company. Intelenet has spon sored offshore domain specialization training programmes for its employees, besides certification programs such as Train the Trainer. It has sent its employees to participate in seminars and conferences of top management institutes and also got them Customer Operations Performance Centre (COPC) certified. Similarly, Prudential Process Management Services (PPMS), the wholly-owned BPO subsidiary of Prudential UK, also offers vertical and lateral growth for its employees, thus enhancing value for its clients as well as employees through employee innovation. eFunds International, a US-based company providing technology solutions in financial risk management and electronic payments, and consultancy services, is creating continuous value for its clients through employee innovation. Whenever an employee joins the organization, he is given a Magic Score Card, which serves as a training passport. eFunds provides its employees training expertise in domain areas and also focuses on leadership skills. Because of its innovation initiatives, eFunds net revenues increased 11% from $532 million in 2003 to $552 million in 2004. Infowavz, another BPO company, offers a 1-year Management Development Program for fresh employees who join the company after completing their MBAs. It also offers an Accelerated Career Development programme for highly motivated and self-driven employees who look for continuous challenges and opportunities to maximize their potential. It has designed a unique Team Innovation programme for top performers who are associated with new projects at the pilot stage or proof-of-concept stage. Infowavz lucidly communicates its career path to employees at the recruitment stage, defining the Key Result Areas, and conducts an exhaustive Training Needs Analysis programme to identify the deficiencies and build employee competencies. There are quite a few BPOs investing on platform technologies to differentiate themselves from competition and also to improve margins. Wipros experience in the outsourcing industry has led to the development of Base, a technology platform that integrates outsourced services with the customers internal business processes and fulfils the following requirements: Flexibility and continuous improvement Control and transparency Complaince Faster time to benefit Accuracy and Quality What it takes to be an innovator A Partnering Attitude. Whats key here is a strong, long-term relationship between the two organizations. Both organizations must discourage adversarial, us-versus-them attitudes. If the provider fails, the client failsand vice versa. This is not about warm, fuzzy feelings; it is about clarifying synergies between the two organizations during the RFP cycle and ensuring alignment of interest just like in joint ventures. The Right Technology Platform. IT should support innovation. The technology platform provider must be able to make new technologies available quickly through the provider. This requires close collaboration between the BPO provider and the technology vendornot just marketing agreements. Also, buyers should select technology vendors with a demonstrated track record in bringing innovations to market over extended periods of time. BPO is long term; it is an innovation marathon, not a sprint. The Appropriate Governance Mechanisms. Buyers must ingrain innovation in their governance. That includes creation of an innovation and technology council with members from both buyer and supplier who meet regularly to review progress, ensure the technology evolves, and check the benchmarks at regular intervals to identify where performance falls behind. And technology evolution must push innovation efficiently, meaning integration is easy because the platform conforms to standards. Buyers can insure their tech platform does this using proactive oversight and agreed-upon standards. Standardized Process Redesign and Related Technology. Buyers need to limit their customization demands whenever they can. If buyers want innovation, the service delivery economics must work for the supplier. Suppliers that make money can afford to bring in innovation. This often becomes tricky because both buyer and supplier have to clearly understand the cost structure of the service delivery. A provider forced to accept a service delivery model that does not harness economies of scale, process optimization, or access to labour arbitrage is never going to be able to innovate, and customers forcing BPO providers to tweak their offerings may inadvertently kill the very root of the economic advantage suppliers are supposed to bring to the table. Better discussions about standardization pains and gains must happen between the client and the provider organization. Absolute top management commitment. No innovation can happen without top management commitment for both human and capital resources. This is very important because when investing in innovation sometimes results are not immediate. The senior management must have the vision and patience to reap the benefits. Conclusion Innovation in the BPO space continues to be a challenge for the following reasons: BPOs are normally under margin pressures and resource commitments for innovation are difficult to make. The SLAs are very stringent and time bound. Moreover daily performance could affect the commercials in a big way. This is because organizations see this as a window to reach out to their customers and a slip here would directly affect their customer satisfaction. Hence contracts are very tight and normally followed to the dot. This leaves very little room for innovation. Running the operations everyday is a struggle in itself People related issues are much higher when compared to the sister industry Information technology. The work hours are odd and the compensation less. This means a good amount of time being spent of motivational issues and coaching and training. Due to all these reasons, innovation in the BPO space continues to be a challenge. But in future as competition stiffens and the line between IT and ITES fades, there is a good chance that the scene gets better, including the organization I was working for.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS FROM AN EDUCATIONAL QUESTIONNAIRE

The followers is a elaborate analysis of the responses to the two different questionnaires. The full questionnaires and replies are summarized in tabular arraies in the appendix ( delight see appendix E and appendix F ) . The response rates to both questionnaires were comparatively good. From the parents, 6 out of 15 returned a completed questionnaire, giving a response rate of 40 % . From the instructors, healers and other school staff 13 out of 23 returned a completed questionnaire, giving a response rate of 56 %Background of parents and kidsAll 6 respondents to the parents ‘ questionnaire were the several female parents of the kids with autism ; no male parents, carers or other relations responded straight. The ages of their kids ranged between 9.2 and 10.7 old ages ( average = 9.9 ) and all except for one had merely one kid with particular demands. This peculiar female parent reported to hold another boy ( aged 13 old ages ) with autism and to boot terrible larning troubles every bit good as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( ADHD ) . The parents heard about the school with an ABA programme from different beginnings. Two of them were referred by friends ; two found out about it on the World Wide Web, one was referred by a physician and one by a charity called PEACH ( Parents for the early intercession of autism in kids ) . The motives of the parents to direct their kid to the school were besides different: for four parents it was peculiarly because of the school-based ABA programme – one of these four even followed an ABA-program at place before while another one wanted to exchange to an Applied Behaviour Analysis-based intercession as she did n't experience that her autistic kid was doing any noticeable advancement at the Local Education Authority ( LEA ) school. Another parent had problem acquiring support for the coveted home-based ABA plan from her local council and so opted for a school-based attack ( which the local council agreed to fund ) , while the last respondent simply indicated that the school was â€Å" what she wanted † . The continuance of those 6 kids at school ranged from merely half a twelvemonth to over 5 old ages, giving an norm of 3.5 old ages and a median of 3.8 old ages.Teachers ‘ experience with and positions of ABAThe 13 teachers/school staff who participated in the questionnaire had really different degrees of experience. Experience degrees measured in old ages ranged from merely under 1 twelvemonth to 11 old ages with a median of 3 old ages demoing a really broad scattering of the consequences. The mean experience of instructors ‘ was 4.3 old ages. 12 out of the 13 school staff were existent instructors, 1 indicated to be â€Å" other school staff † . Asked about the restrictions and hazards of Applied Behaviour Analysis, instructors replied that ABA might non be suited to all kids with autism and that the chief hazard is that kids can go â€Å" prompt dependent † or dependant on one-on-one support, which may curtail their societal accomplishments development in the hereafter. Teachers besides noted that Applied Behaviour Analysis is a really stiff and intensive manner of learning which can be difficult to follow, seting a batch of emphasis on the households, and if non applied properly it could be damaging to a kid ‘s advancement. Other instructors / healers besides mentioned the deficiency of secondary proviso after the kid leaves the peculiar school ( which is primary merely ) and that the plan is really expensive. Unfortunately, merely 11 of the 13 instructors replied to this inquiry.Parents ‘ cognition of, experience and engagement with ABAFrom the six parents reacting the questionnaire, 5 described their c ognition as â€Å" really good † , while one felt that she had â€Å" some cognition † . Besides, 5 out of 6 had some old experience with Applied Behaviour Analysis rules, either through a home-based plan or another ABA-lead school. One parent besides applied different, more specialised signifiers of ABA before, such as â€Å" spring led † Applied Behaviour Analysis attack, independent Verbal Behaviour ( VB ) programme and Lovaas. Interestingly, the instructors ‘ responses to the inquiry sing parents ‘ cognition and experience is really different: instructors find that the cognition degree of parents varies a batch and on the border, parents have far excessively small apprehension of the ABA-approach. They see a direct relationship between the degree of involvement a parent shows to his or her degree of cognition and emphasis that the school is already offering a batch of information to parents in order to maintain them up to day of the month about their autistic kid ‘s behaviour programme. Teachers believe that the engagement of parents in their kid ‘s Applied Behaviour Analysis plan is really of import. The chief benefits in the eyes of the school staff are consistence and continuity in the manner the kid is worked with, particularly in the initial phases of the ABA-program execution. However, instructors complain that most parents are non involved plenty in their kid ‘s ABA pla n. Most suspect that the grounds for this are merely a deficiency of clip, involvement, cognition and in some instances besides their bad commandment of English. Some besides say that parents merely necessitate much more support. All of the parents have seen betterments in their autistic kid ‘s behavior since following the Applied Behaviour Analysis programme at school. Most parents saw betterments in the communicating of their kid, some to boot celebrated betterments in accomplishments, behavior and assurance. No troubles have been reported except for nail-biting in 2 out of the 6 instances.Use of ABA at placeTeachers believe that utilizing Applied Behaviour Analysis outside of school ( e.g. at place ) has a figure of advantages for a kid with autism. Chiefly it reinforces what the kid has earned at school but more significantly it provides consistence to the kid, allows him to generalise behaviors and potentially larn more behaviors and accomplishments. One instructor thought that it is non possible to generalise the advantages for all kids, another one idea that its good to follow ABA rules when covering with behaviors of the kid, but non utile to utilize in all state of affairss at place. However, the 11 out of 13 instructors besides identified a figure of hazards with utilizing ABA outside school – 2 of the instructors thought there were no hazards at all. The chief hazard identified was that parents would necessitate to be decently trained in order to use ABA right and systematically with the manner it is done at school. Otherwise, kids could acquire confused, possibly unlearn some of the good behavior and accomplishments that they have acquired at school and perchance even acquire frustrated. Teachers besides mentioned that kids could go easy â€Å" prompt-dependant † , that Applied Behaviour Analysis is non a natural manner to educate or handle kids and if applied throughout would make an unrealistically structured universe for the kid with autism. One instructor besides mentioned that utilizing ABA both inside and outside school could be excessively much for kids, as the plan is really intensive. Of the six parents take parting in the questionnaire, 5 presently use ABA rules at place. However the strength varies a batch between the households. One female parent indicated she used it 80 % of the clip, two moths use it in the eventides or on Saturday forenoon, one mainly for lavatory preparation and the 5th female parent gave no clear indicant of how much she used it but said that she would utilize it â€Å" to generalise what is taught at school † . Asked about whether they would see utilizing ABA more at place, parents ‘ sentiments seem to be divided: three replied that they would non utilize it more, or merely if a new debatable behaviour would emerge, while two said that they would wish to utilize it more, e.g. during school vacations. One of these two said that she would necessitate more support and preparation. The 6th female parent gave no response at all to this inquiry. Teachers and healers believe that the chief grounds why parents do non utilize Applied Behaviour Analysis at place are linked to a deficiency of the necessary clip and cognition. Some instructors besides believe that other household committednesss, e.g. other kids and spouse, and a deficiency of support play a function in it. One instructor suspects that some parents may differ with ABA and that there might non be adequate communicating and trust between the parents and the school. Asked about how parents could be encouraged to utilize ABA more at place, instructors believe that both preparation and place visits would be most of import. Two instructors besides think that a better communicating between the school and the parents would assist, while some suggest that parents should see the school more frequently and, for illustration, attend workshops or merely detect their kid in schoolroom. One instructor besides believes that more support is needed to acquire parents more involved in Applied Behaviour Analysis programmes at place. Finally, parents were asked about any other intercession techniques they used to handle their autistic kids. Two of them answered that they were utilizing the Relationship Development Intervention ( RDI ) , one tried the Son-Rise Programme and yet another female parent uses a gluten casein free and OT free diet. The two staying parents indicated that they were non utilizing any other intercessions.

Education System in Desperate need of Change Essay

Sir William Haley once said, â€Å"Education would be so much more effective if its purpose were to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they don’t know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it†. If students were guaranteed to leave school with knowing of what they don’t know and the desire to continue learning, the method of learning will be correct. Today’s education system does not give students the opportunity to enjoy what they are learning. The banking method, where students are empty vessels which educators must deposit knowledge into, deprives them of creativity and the desire to learn. No child is given the chance to shine and be unique. Students today are simply being placed on a conveyer belt, sorted, and then labeled according to their so called intelligence. We need an education system that provides a slower learning method, a method where you focus on what is being learned instead of zipping through it, and the freedom to make mistakes as this will electrify and stimulate students to fulfill their potential. We must recognize students as individuals and keep in mind their diverse backgrounds. In â€Å"Lives on the Boundary,† Rose states, â€Å"The canon has intended to push to the margins much of the literature of our nation: from American Indian songs and chants to immigrant fiction to working-class narratives† (100). The messages that are received from the text are crucial. The students need to be able to relate to what they have before them. One of the problems with today’s education system is we are given material to read, memorize, and expected to repeat it back at the snap of a finger. But without the ability to relate and connect with the material, the learning doesn’t take place. Everything that is read or being said is just going through one ear and out the other. By adding relatable texts, you add life to learning. In â€Å"Learning in the Key of Life,† Jon Spayde states, â€Å"people cannot learn what they do not love† (69). When students are reading or learning about a subject they love, they are inspired and motivated to learn more. This alone can benefit the learning process for students. It becomes much easier to grasp concepts learned in class. Today’s education system does not allow all students to thrive in their own way. It is fast paced with limited space for creativeness. We are given large amounts of information at a time and attempt to move as quickly as possible through all that we can. There is never â€Å"time† to stay longer on a topic. The instructors try their hardest to keep the pace, but this way of teaching does not benefit any student. In â€Å"Learning in the Key of Life†, Jon Spayde states, â€Å"†¦we are focusing far too much of our energy and resources on fast knowledge, ignoring all the richness and meaning slow knowledge adds to our lives† (68). When the focus is on just getting through the material, we are skipping over the value and richness of slow knowledge. Instead of zipping through a lesson because it needs to be done by a certain day to move onto the next, the focus needs to be on what is being learned than making a time requirement. Spayde also states, â€Å"You can figure out what you can do pretty quickly, but the ethical understanding of what you ought to do comes slowly†. We need to adopt the slow learning method, without it we are missing out on more than we think. There is so much more to learning than getting through the material, the purpose of it is to benefit and gain from it. With slow knowledge we will achieve this. One of the most important changes that needs to be done is the view on mistakes. In the article, â€Å"How to Make Mistakes,† Dennett states, â€Å"Mistakes are not just golden opportunities for learning; they are, in an important sense, the only opportunity for learning something truly new†. When fear is being put into a student to never make a mistake, their education is stunted. They lose the ability to explore and take the chance of being wrong because they are repeatedly punished for being incorrect. When a mistake is made, students will learn where they went wrong and will then grow from it. The key to progress is making mistakes. The reason we are in school is to learn, but with this opportunity taken away from students their ability to learn is ripped from their grasp. Daniel C. Dennett also states, â€Å"You should seek out opportunities to make grand mistakes, just so you can then recover from them†. Instead of using all of their energy to attempt to be perfect and run from being inaccurate, every student should look for every opportunity to be wrong. Without errors, the students can not accomplish much. If you look at Todays’ education system is in desperate need of change. No student is given the opportunity to show what they are fully capable of. Instead they are told what they can do. They are simply labeled and placed where they â€Å"should be†. But when students begin to pursue their mistakes and soak in the richness of slow knowledge, they will begin to truly learn. Maria Montessori once said, â€Å"If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man’s future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individual’s total development lags behind? †. If many students are having difficulty learning in the method we have created ages ago, why not change it? The time is now and there is no time to waste. We must refocus this outdated system to insure that the students will have a secure future and keep the standard of living that we have today.

Milton Friedm The Limitations Of The Market - 2139 Words

In contrast with Galbraith, Milton Friedman never appreciated the limitations of the market, he was a forceful critic of government. He takes as a starting point Adam Smith’s skepticism, but he is much more toward the relationship between morality and capitalism. He launched a point of view which later generated controversy. He asserts that only people have responsibility. A corporation is an artificial person and in this sense may have artificial responsibility, but business as a whole cannot be said to have responsibilities. The only responsibility of companies is to get involved in economic activities designed to make profit, any expense incurred for social and moral reason affecting this fundamental goal, such as any extra expense to support some communities or to protect and restore the environment, will result in decreasing the profitability and, in the end, everyone will have something to lose. The member of a corporation, their position such as a stakeholder can undert ake moral responsibilities, but as individual, not as representatives of the corporation. According to Friedman, there must not be any connection between business and ethic is that a corporation is a legal entity, not a person, and morality is a distinct attribute, belonging to human being. Thus, he stated that moral criteria have no place in the economy, especially in capitalism; economy and business are in the horizon of amorality and it is there that they should remain. To me, I do not completely