Outsourcing: Amit Shankardass And Andrew Kokes Of Sitel (Part 8)

By guest author Tony Scott

Tony: We talked a little bit about [alignment of capabilities] in terms of being able to provide more total customer care, total customer cost of ownership, if you will. As you’ve done that, have you found gaps in the cultural approaches that your middle managers and senior managers take that have been more difficult to overcome? And as you’ve moved into higher-value services, how have you addressed those gaps? >>>

Outsourcing: Amit Shankardass And Andrew Kokes Of Sitel (Part 7)

By guest author Tony Scott

Tony: Are you moving toward even more of the secondary and tertiary locations in the countries in which you are operating? In the Philippines and India, are you moving more into more rural areas and setting up the infrastructure there to be able to support what you do, or are you looking for places where there is a tier 2 city that has the infrastructure and enables you to go in? How are you dealing with that? Is it both ways, or is it one way? >>>

Outsourcing: Amit Shankardass And Andrew Kokes Of Sitel (Part 6)

By guest author Tony Scott

Tony: [What you just said about offering speciality skills] goes back also to another point, labor rates. Seven or eight years ago, when outsourcing was really just trying to take off in a big way for call center outsourcing, the labor rates, if you focus on India or parts of the Philippines, were at X per hour. Today, my expectation is that labor rates for the kind of talent outsourcing companies now employ have increased by a significant percentage. India is always touted as the largest producer of engineering and technical talent out of universities, and second only to China in terms of the number of total graduates. But there are still language and other skill gaps in both places that make it difficult to hire individuals with the talent needed for outsourcing. >>>

Outsourcing: Amit Shankardass And Andrew Kokes Of Sitel (Part 5)

By guest author Tony Scott

Tony: There obviously has to be a match between the skill sets of the people, [not just a match] with the cost. Clearly, the people who provide technical support for inbound calls have to have specialized skills.

Amit: Absolutely, and this comes in in the way we go to market. You have to talk about the evolution, I liked the way you put it – the evolution of companies in adapting to this global sourcing model. Five, seven, or nine years ago, for labor arbitrage our value proposition was, “Hey, Mr. Client, we can help you lower your costs and sustain those lower costs.” Now we are pitching India, the Philippines, and Nicaragua, and the conversation really is, “Listen, Mr. Client. We can help you look at it not from the perspective of cost per transaction but from the perspective of the cost for a satisfied customer.” That process of changing from cost per transaction to cost per satisfied customer allows us to find the right places to deliver the right kind of work. It also allows us to drive our economic model, thus lowering the cost of service. We can now say, “Here’s your cost per subscriber, here’s your cost per consumer, and here is your cost for a satisfied customer. Or, your price booked for a satisfied customer.” >>>

Outsourcing: Amit Shankardass And Andrew Kokes Of Sitel (Part 4)

By guest author Tony Scott

Tony: What do you think is driving your clients to use outsourcing overall, and why do you think they are choosing you over other BPO and inbound call center providers?

Andrew: I think the value proposition for outsourcing is essentially that it is better, faster, and cheaper. If you talked to our customers, and we have a string of 50 customers worldwide, you would see it comes down to one or a combination of those: the ability to take what you are doing today and improve the process. [By this I mean] to improve your speed to market with that process or the output of that process, or to do it in a less expensive manner. Generally speaking, it is one or a combination of those three that people are looking to improve within their call center or contact center environment. >>>

Outsourcing: Amit Shankardass And Andrew Kokes Of Sitel (Part 3)

By guest author Tony Scott

Andrew: Over the past decade we have seen globalization evolve, particularly within the call center and BPO marketplace. There was a period from 2002 and 2003 to around 2007 when I spent a lot of time focusing on the emerging markets: India, the Philippines, Peru, the rest of Latin America. All different, neutral, offshore destinations, if you will. I spent 2003 to 2005 answering one question. I made a career of [figuring out] why India versus the Philippines or vice versa. >>>

1M/1M: Outsourcing Module Of The Curriculum Is Ready

Folks, some of you have conveyed, through our ambassadors, that you are looking for a module on Outsourcing in the 1M/1M curriculum. Well, I am happy to announce that this module is now ready and available for your consumption. We will also be layering on additional services on top of this module so that you can market your particular brand of specialization to the 1M/1M community in due course.

The intent of this module is twofold: (1) Help entrepreneurs build new outsourcing companies addressing the gaps in today’s market; and (2) help entrepreneurs bootstrap product companies using outsourcing services as a source of cash.

As usual, it contains video lectures and case studies, including a comprehensive discussion on blue-sky opportunities.

You can access it on the 1M/1M site, here.

Outsourcing: Amit Shankardass And Andrew Kokes Of Sitel (Part 2)

Tony: So, initially, the company was mostly Indian in terms of the delivery model, and you have now gone into multiple countries?

Amit: Ten years ago it was predominantly domestic, and there was very little happening offshore. Today, there is a mix of rightshoring or global sourcing. I am not saying 60 percent is done offshore; I am saying there is a mix. What has adapted in our organization is the leadership team. The president of our company is bilingual. Just a couple of years ago the only language spoken in the executive suite was English. Today, our top executives speak five or six different languages, and we have to because five or six different languages become relevant to us as a global company versus a domestic-only company. We have had to adapt our vernacular, our systems, our technologies, and our correspondence – both internally and externally – beyond one language to four or five different languages.  Our internal magazine was published in one language three years ago, and today we publish it in four languages. >>>