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 Organization 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 (
Capability 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
centers 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 centers.
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.
