Friday, February 1, 2008

Legal Outsourcing To India a Reality: Report

Having questioned quality quotient of legal jobs outsourced from India for long, the American law society is now accepting it as a “reality” with even Fortune 500 firms opening up to the idea.

The New York Law Journal, one of the highly reputed and most read publications among American lawyers, said in an article in its latest issue that “outsourcing legal work to India is no longer a novelty. It’s a reality.” While noting that Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) to India was growing and resistance level in the country was gradually going down, the journal said that a significant cost-advantage was working strongly in favour of the trend and a “growing number of firms are angling for a piece of the action.”

According to the report, the positive feedback given by the companies having outsourced their work in the past is leading to many other firms getting receptive to the idea, which includes some of the 10 largest law companies in the Fortune 500 list.

“LPO salaries for Indian lawyers are generally well below 10,000 USD a year. By comparison, a US contract lawyer usually earns around 30 USD an hour while associate base salaries at major firms in New York start at 160,000 USD a year,” said the New York Law Journal (NYLJ) in its January edition.

The report noted that Pangea3, one of the largest Indian LPO firms, has garnered investment worth about 12 million dollars within three years of its incorporation.

Source: Legal outsourcing to India a reality
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Monday, December 17, 2007

Why BPO Employees Quit Their Jobs

It is true that now day’s employees are not working for salary because they want to relaxation in job. Most youngsters do not like joining the business process outsourcing (BPO) due to stress and health issue. BPO employees are quitting BPO job’s to get rid of the stress and strain at work place. Employees do not quit due to salary issues alone. They are least bother about the salary. All the companies are giving good salary.

Now companies are providing good services to fresher and experienced employees with openings with good salary. But preference of the employees now goes to the office where they should have some fun and entrainment for getting relaxation.

In fact, stress and health weren’t even among the ‘top three’ factors for leaving a company.
Union Health Minister A Ramadoss recently called for a “health policy for the tech sector”, stating: “(BPO employees) have a sedentary lifestyle. They smoke, go for late-night parties, and even take drugs. Some get heart attacks in their mid-20s”
Employees are facing stress problem in BPO due to that their health is down. If customers are not getting comfort and the full relaxation in BPO companies then they quit the company. The good part is that if the industry is aware to checking indoor air quality to testing food in labs then it will be really.

Employees of Indian BPO firms, on the other hand, were overall content with their jobs in 2007, states the survey. They were satisfied with the job content, work culture, training, and appraisal.
However, it added that they were not satisfied with the image they were stuck with, and least satisfied with their salaries. The average salary hike in the BPO industry grew by 14.8 per cent only in 2007 as compared to an increase of 17.2 per cent last year.
The direct outcome of the fall in salary hike is the increase in attrition rates. The attrition rate went up to 20 per cent from 18 per cent in 2006.

Hyderabad-based Brigade, for instance, appointed a chief fun officer to look into ways of ensuring low employee stress levels and keeping them highly motivated.
The survey also revealed that while large firms ranked better in parameters like work culture and image, niche companies were better in terms of salary and job content.
Now days call centers are providing the best service to employee to give them comfort and the satisfaction in job. The stress level is really sometimes very high but the companies are also focusing to reduce the stress on employees.

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Friday, December 14, 2007

Social Networking Sites Causing Problems For Employers

The compaction between the companies is very high. At this movement it is very important to take care of each thing at the company. Workers spending too much time on social networking websites such as Facebook are costing employers a staggering £130m a day according to the findings of one recent survey, and the problem looks set to become much worse if businesses fail to take action, and fast. Facebook shows 125% growth year over year.


The findings from the survey show that some 233 million hours are lost every month to employees surfing the net, with social networking websites causing the greatest concern. It is a fact that these particular websites are very addictive and can often result in users remaining on the sites for hours rather than minutes. Whilst this is worrying news for employers, help is now at hand thanks to a powerful and effective range of software packages available to small to medium sized businesses.

To know about the details of the system there is software which effectively monitors and records everything employees do on their computer and the internet, providing employers with the perfect low-cost solution for monitoring employees. You can use of the software packages significantly prevents, reduces or eliminates the problems associated with abuse.
 
In doing so employers have successfully stamped out inappropriate activity, reduced security breaches and prevented ‘Insider’ theft.
May be it happened that employee will not feel happy to know that someone is monitoring their work. But as a employer of the company it is very important to have this kind of software a your work place. You will get lot of protection from the improper activities like opening the social networking site at work time or any shopping site etc. 
Many employers have been happy for their workers to use the internet for personal use as long as ultimately they do their job and reach their targets. However, this is now proving to be a somewhat costly decision for many businesses as loss of productivity and lack of concentration has proven to significantly hinder their overall performance.


You can choose the latest software packages to monitor the system of your work place. With this you can also stop the cause of the social networking problem

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Thursday, November 22, 2007

Customers Expectations Are Very High from of Call Centers


Now days it is very challenging job for call centers to full fill all aspects of customers and their requirement. The expectation of the customers is much more and all want the complete satisfaction for their query/problem. Call centers who fails to give this kind of response will pay a brutal price: dissatisfied customers, negative word of mouth and defections to competitors. But those who stay ahead of the curve will enjoy strong customer loyalty and the commensurate benefits. The stakes are high.
The list of fundamental customer expectations provided in the below key points.
To perform the full satisfaction and to make a good interaction with the customers you must know about given points.

The Customers Expectations are as follows:


1. Be Available:
Customers are using the communications centers to get the information for their desire query. Online information and the website are giving the best support to the customers to get the full information. This is very important that some one must be available on their call time. So be available on there call. When you get the call from the customers after confirming their verification it’s important to give them quick reply. Suppose if customer calls up for the query and no one is available to take their calls then it may give the negative impact of the call center service to the customers. So be careful of this point.

2. Treat Customers Politely:
Callers always expect that the agent of the call center will show the politeness while communication to them for any query. Customers are always feels good to talk with agent who has good communication skills and a smile in their voice. Don’t confuse the customers with asking lots of question. Remember customer has called you for their query and they expect the respect for them.

3. Be Approachable for Problem:
Customers always expect that their query must be solved with the responsively way. They want to have the positive response from the customer services. Their priority for the problem is to give the priority to my asking. Customers expect that the agent must give the priority and solved the problem as soon as possible. If you do some promise to customers then full fill it as a responsible agent.


4. Customers don’t expect poorly trained & ill-informed employees:
Customers never expect to deal with poorly trained and ill-informed employees. Due to this mostly call centers are now hiring the well educated agents to give the support to their better educated consumers. It is becoming much more of a challenge to organizations. New developments are creating the need for a new breed of call center professional.

5. Meet your Commitments/Deadlines:
Customer expected that the promise must be fulfill. Customers only want to here what they want.
All the information which is related to customer’s like Real-time, online information on shipping, account status, and clear explanations of the impact of any changes in terms or conditions are more than information.

6. Follow Up/Call Back: Customers expected the best follow up for their problem. If they are calling to customer care service company second time then the customer want to get the good response. It is very important to give them a proper follow up of their last query.

7. Give Importance to Customers

“Be socially responsible” and “be ethical” have always been important issues to most consumers. And in today’s environment, lapses — or even perceived lapses — in ethics or social responsibility quickly make the rounds in networked, digital communities.

Overall, the customer’s expectation to get the best services from a call center that handles questions about products. Today’s increasingly informed and connected customers expect no less.

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The Changing Customer Centric Approach of Customer Care

The customer is always comes first for any business. All organization takes customers satisfaction on top to provide them the best services. Earlier when companies were not focusing so much for their customers then the loss was too high. Companies are learning from their mistakes. Today, the difference and the distance between call centers and the customers is declining with the help of the new technology medium of the customer’s choice - telephone, email or web chat for example - and effective problem resolution during the first call.

Now forget about those old days when the only way to discuss your phone bill was via the one number at the top of the BT invoice, today the customer has a number of contact options depending on the nature of the query and the required speed of response.

Customer relationship management helps call centers to deals with the customers and clients and make best use of developments such as IP telephony, routing and screen popping - company-wide contact centers are designed to consolidate these interactions. The old distinctions between inbound and outbound, telephone and the web, fax and email are all disappearing in the drive to connect the customer with the most appropriate contact as quickly and smoothly as possible.

The customers are always looking for quick reply so it’s very important to give them the correct information on right time. Now the next question comes that Why is this important? Costs typically increase five-fold if the issue is not dealt with at the first call, staff become demotivated and disenchanted customers vote with their feet. All of these can now readily be addressed and the ‘holy grail’ of win-win achieved.

Similarly, managers often complain about hearing of problems too late. Here the answer centers around published service level agreements which set realistic expectations and enable customers to find out about - and, ideally, track via the web - the progress of the issue in question.

This is especially important when several companies are involved, such as a retailer, manufacturer or service agent. If there are no SLAs in place or no structured way of managing escalations, no-one takes ownership of the problem and the customer may well be ‘bounced’ from department to department or company to company.

The result? He or she will almost certainly circumvent the established escalation procedure - the polite way of saying you will have an angry customer on the phone demanding to speak to the managing director. Which then rebounds on the help desk or call centrer manager?


So to make service an integral part of your organization, boost customer retention and improve employee productivity you need to carefully consider the channels your customers might use to make contact and how you will keep track of the interaction.

Customer satisfaction in contact centers is at an all-time low. Never before have customers been more frustrated with the service they receive. The game is changing from one of customer acquisition to one of customer retention. With these conditions in place, senior management must take the necessary steps to deliver a personal touch to each and every customer. We have seen company’s ranked number one fall in the rankings while smaller, more intimate companies jump to number one. We can attribute a large portion of these changes to that “personal touch.” It all goes back to the feeling of walking into your favorite restaurant where the owner recognizes you and knows what you want the moment you arrive.


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Monday, November 12, 2007

Throat Infection: Health Risk for Call Centers Employees


With incessant talking, listening and looking at the computer screen coupled with irregular job timings and night shifts, about four per cent of the people engaged in the BPO industry have been observed to be suffering from voice loss, according to a study conducted in Britain.

Long hours of work, permanent night shifts, incredibly high work targets, loss of identity are these dark clouds that threaten to mar the sunshine call center industry. The odd timings and nature of work roots people to a chair 9 hrs a day, reading pre-scripted conversations on the phone endlessly – often to irate customers from across the globe. Where every single second of employee’s time is recorded, measured and automatically logged onto a computer for praise or censure on a daily & weekly basis. Where walking down to the water cooler for a drink and a chat with a friend message up performance metrics, salaries and hikes. Where the three act of listening, watching, and talking – all at the same time – never get a break. This performance monitoring also puts enormous stress on the employees.

Talking to the customer without taking any breaks is creating a problem for the call centers employees. It happens sometimes that taking the 2 calls continuously without any break. And the normal call timing of one call is 30 minute. So it’s hard for the employee to talk continuously and some of them will get the throat problem.

Is there any way to protect the throat infections of the call centers employee? Yes, by taking some precautions you let your self to be away from this danger. Here we are giving some point for the call centers employees to keep protected them self from throat infection while on the floor.

Before Reply The Caller Listen Carefully: The customers are very important for the company. The first call is attended by the agents. Sometimes calling customers will not give time to agent to speak. As an agent you have to listen patiently to customers asking and reply them according to the query. By doing this small thing you can first save your energy of speaking the thing again and again for the explanation.

Don’t Shout - Be Polite: When you are on call then it is a time to keep your voice soft and melodious. It is very true that customers sometime get angry due to bad services but remember if you also start shouting on customers then you may loose your good voice and get problem in throat.

Take Breaks: Try to avoid taking calls continuously. Take small breaks while calling. If you do so then in this way you are giving rest to your throat and making your self ready for the next call with new energy. As we know the call duration is of 20 or 30 minutes sometimes, so taking one small break after the end of call is not a bad idea.

Drink Water: To save your throat to get dry we have to drink the water at randomly. In this way we will not meet with the problem of dry throat and the voice will not get hard. If you will be drinking the water randomly in small amount then you will feel the effect also.

Have Good and Hygienic Food: The main concern is food quality. As the call centers employees are working in night so the food quality must be hygienic and fresh. Don’t go for the too much spicy or salty food. Have some good quality food which must be tasty and nutritious to boost your energy level. Don’t have hot and cold together if you are not able to control then take 15 minute of break. Remember your voice is good because your throat is in best condition. If you had cold and hot thing together then it may happen that your throat will damage and you will loose the opportunity to call to the customers. So be careful.

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Call Center, Night Shift: Effects On Health


The call centers are really very exciting and give lot of comfort to employee. The employee of the call centers really enjoys the environment of the work. The night shift jobs will give the lot of freedom to the employees so they love to work in this shift. But here is important factor comes for the health that is night shift is not good for the heart. Sometime we are busy with the schedule work and couldn’t give much time to do the health based excursuses it may be you have heard about the bad effective on the heart while working in night at call centers. Let me say differently: are night shift call center people at risk to heart attack or heart related problem more than day workers?

According to the study from the different sources, here we are providing some informative message for this topic.People who work nights are more prone to a dangerous heart condition - possibly because of the chronic stress caused by their work patterns. A research suggests that “employees who worked in day shifts are more safe then the night shift employees. The chances of heart attack are very high for the night shift employees few more reasons are lack of sleep, continue stressing etc, chronic stress is cited as the main reason.

The researchers say an irregular heartbeat can be an indicator a person will go on to develop more serious heart problems. Here, the question arises in our mind i.e.

Why health problems occur for call center agents working in night shifts?

Mostly it happens because human body’s natural circadian rhythms tell that the concerned person should not be working when he or she should take sleep. Many of our physical and chemical roles keep fluctuating during different times of the day. Take for example; let me tell you something about cortisol concentration which changes daily.

Cortisol is the most potent glucocorticoid produced by the human adrenal.
This peaks during the morning hours when glucose is needed for activity and reaches its low point late in the evening. So the chances of heart attacks are very high in the morning time.

It is important to take a proper rest while working in the night shift at call centers and we can avoid the heart attacks.

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Monday, November 5, 2007

BPO Job: A Choice Between More Money & Secure Future


Today’s young generations are looking for the ways to earning money by easy way. In sort, when school drop outs they look for the job first. While applying for the job so they could find that call center is an easy industry to get a job if they have good communication skills, but not all are like that. A big percentage of joiners are graduate, they join BPO for various reasons, some to earn fast money, some to gain experience, some because their friends have joined and for some it’s the easiest way to get recruited, some just for try. No one can joined the call center for there long term carrier goals.

According to one Indian news agency - A deeper realization is sinking among the BPO executives that in the process of earning fast bucks, they are missing out on options that might lead to a better future. Better salary, regulated work hours and a secure future is what is driving most of the people employed with the BPO industry to venture out to pursue an MBA degree with specialization in sectors like HR or Finance.


A choice of earning money will leads to go for the BPO jobs. MBA will secure the future of the candidate. BPO employees are really giving their best for giving the satisfaction to the customers and working in late hours. There is no doubt about their good earning but they are missing out on opportunity that might lead to a secure and better future. The MBA is more in demand because it will provide the handsome salary, particular work hours and a secure future. Mostly people employed with the BPO industry to venture out to pursue an MBA degree with specialization in sectors like HR or Finance. A recent survey has pointed out that about one third of BPO executives in India are eager for an MBA degree.


The good BPOs are funding the MBA education of their employees to retain the employees of BPOs. Employees can now plan their career curve while maintaining well paying, full time jobs. The urge in employees to go in for MBA course has compelled many BPO firms to sketch a new HR policy. Many of the BPO firms have tied up with reputed management institutes to provide them better in-house growth prospect. This trend is catching up momentum as there is an urgent need to meet higher competency level. These courses are offered at discounted rates to the employees and entrance test along with a personal interview is all that an employee needs to clear before they are chosen for the course.


BPO firms add that MBA sponsorship initiative has been a success and has lead to a great decline in the high attrition rate thus enabling the firms to retain quality employees. BPOs have a tie up with number of reputed institutes in order to provide best of management education to our quality employees.

While skeptics point out that since the employees have to stick to a hectic work schedule providing them with a negligible amount of time to study and concentrate on an extremely demanding course, BPO firms are quick to allay any fears. Office timings were also relaxed and exam leave offered which provide ample support to employees both physically and mentally. The employees regular work performance is also monitored, depending on which, the employee is reimbursed with his course fees.


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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Criteria for Selecting An Outsourcing Vendor?

Outsourcing activities are helpful in bringing out more flexible, more dynamic, and better able to change themselves to meet the changing opportunities. It is also useful in protecting huge investments coverage on investment. Professional Expertise Outsourcing of work helps in bringing professional expertise.

Outsourcing is a process of shifting a company’s essential operations to a third party vendor in order to gain various benefits including better services, low cost and speedy work. In an outsourcing deal, clients want to achieve superior quality service at lower cost and minimum involvement. On the other hand, outsourcing the work to an external agency exposes the customer to risks of the work being delivered poorly. In such a scenario, selection of a vendor for outsourcing is not an easy task, which becomes even more complex while selecting an offshore vendor. Customers generally think about these aspects when selecting an outsourcing supplier:

Transferring your work to an expert helps in delivering better results and greater satisfaction to clients. Correctness giving the work to a professional staff also brings correctness in the work. We can use these points as given below-


1. Quality assurance: The vendor should be quality focused.


2. Cost: The vendor should have prices that enable the customer sufficient cost saving.


3. Additional resources and capabilities: The vendor should have resources and capabilities that are not available to the customer internally.


4. Prior work: The vendor should have experience working with other organizations and should have delivered satisfactorily to them. Checking with the references help the customer understand the vendor’s capabilities properly.


5. Contract terms: The terms of contract should offer flexibility to the client to modify the requirements or terminate the contract easily, if required.


6. Confidentiality: One of the most important is to keep secure the customer’s data at the vendor site? The vendor should have well-defined security policies in place.

In addition to these criteria, other parameters such as location, reporting methodologies, vendor processes, financial stability of the vendor and cultural similarity play a vital role in deciding the supplier.

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Monday, October 29, 2007

Key To Outsourcing Success

Outsourcing involves getting work from an external firm which has limited knowledge about the customer’s internal processes and operations. Hence, a customers needs to pay attention to certain considerations, apart from selecting the right vendor, to achieve outsourcing success.

These considerations include the following:

1. Setting the right expectations: The customer needs to set right expectations upfront about the services that it needs (and will get) from its vendor. Outsourcing should also have a proper plan in place with well defined goals and objectives.


2. Benchmarking methodology: The customer should establish tools or criteria to benchmark the quality of output required from the vendor. Vendor’s performance should be regularly monitored using these criteria.


3.Experience in handling outsourcing projects: If the vendor and customer both have experience in handling outsourcing projects, the chances of making the outsourcing deal a success increase significantly. Adequate planning and back-up plans for any foreseeable pitfalls will help both the client and supplier maintain a successful relationship.


4. Internal resistance: The buyer’s management should explain the advantages of outsourcing to its employees and ensure agreement on the outsourcing decision internally before taking the outsourcing plunge. It should gather support for its decision from the top management as well as lower ranked employees.

There are so many companies in this industry like call centers India were ready to change the dimensions of this industry. Call centers India believe is a rigorous quality procedures and cost.

Call Centre India is a leading source for outsourcing vendor companies, offers voice services from Large to small enterprises, presently offer technical support services to one of the largest fortune 500 companies, also offer outbound cold calling and telemarketing services from small to medium companies, inbound order taking services to several companies for customer service.

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