Need of the hour

The fact that the second post came after a year should tell you something about the way we work in the BPO industry... ;-)

Jokes apart, this time I'm talking about some of the challenges the industry faces.

Cutting corners.
With the war for talent & market share raging, companies often don't follow laid down processes succumbing under market/client/BOD pressures. Examples of this are:
Hiring managers with less than desirable people focus. In an industry that is 90% people, this is the biggest error companies & managers are making. I for one, never hire anyone short on people or coaching skills. Thankfully, one of my ex-companies trained me on CBI (Competency Based Interviewing) and that's stood me in good stead all along.
Not following processes. Not only does this prove counter-productive, the apparent short term gains quickly start appearing like "Fraud". Worse, this can lead to legal action from both customers & ex-employees. Devastating for a company vying for market share. Damaging for the image of this young industry. All of this can be avoided by senior managers & the leadership in companies carefully choosing the people they bring on board.
Talent at the grassroot level. Not enough is being done at an industry level to develop entry level talent. We have to do this fast if we're not to allow later entrants like China, Phillipines etc to catch up.

More on this later. Stay glued.

The Magical World of the BPO

I'm a BPO-ite. Have been for over 4 years now.

The reason this Blog has come into existence is because our Magical World now needs it's Knights in Shining Armour. The *edia (profanity is prohibited on this Blog) instead of hailing all that our Industry is doing for the people of this Country (and others), is busy vilifying us.

There is a lot we have to thank the BPO Industry for. Some of the reasons why India's collective conciousness should send up silent thanks are:
The growth of the BPO has given impetus to the Real Estate, Catering, Recruitment and Retailing Industries. Our economy is on a high, thanks to the increased availability of cash. People are investing in houses, buying cars, clothes and a lot more. Since we are a people centric business, Hiring, Training, Man-Management & Employee Engagement have become buzzwords that every employee speaks. There is a science to running the business that didn't exist for the 4 years that I spent in *ales! ;-)

Therefore, my collablogger (the Monk) and I [King Arthur ;-) ] will henceforth stoutly refute any irresponsible aspersions that anyone casts on our bread & butter. Should be fun!

Also, as this Blog grows, each of the BPO-benefits mentioned above will be expanded upon in individual posts.

Watch this space!