Contents

The company IBM

Daksh
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History / Milestones Functioning at Daksh Training and Development at Daksh Quality handling of calls at Daksh Accent trainers a new breed of professionals The Soft skills training at Daksh

The interaction of hard Skills and soft Skills in enterprise practice 33 Developmental Training Reinforcement Training Conclusion and suggestions 35 35 36

The Company---

Only four years in the business and it is one of India's largest BPO player. And this is just the beginning. Daksh is a leading provider of Business Process Outsourcing services to Fortune 500 companies in the areas of transaction processing and customer care services. We have extensive experience in running world-class service operations in the Indian and global environment. The leadership position we have achieved does not come on its own. Our clientele comprises a formidable list of Fortune 500 companies who are market leaders in their domains. Besides, we have an experienced team at the helm with a cumulative experience of over 350 years in leading global organizations. In addition to this, a robust infrastructure spread over five facilities in India of which four are in Gurgaon (New Delhi, NCR), one in Mumbai. To this state-of-the-art mammoth foundation covering 270,000 square feet, a global disaster recovery location in Manila, Philippines has been added. Last, but not the least, it is the 6000 strong dedicated workforce that makes Daksh what it is.

History / Milestones
A report published by the Yankee group stated that in the US, '67% of online transactions were being abandoned due to inadequate customer support'. And with this, an idea was born. The year - July 1999. In no time, the entrepreneurial drive and the realization of opportunity within India became the two most important factors

towards the inception of what would be the largest BPO service provider in India - Daksh. A core team of 4 members sprung into immediate action to put together a sturdy business plan which got them their first client and the first round of funding. It was not a company that was created but a whole new enterprise, a potentially new industry that had no history and no business model to follow. All it had was sound leadership, a focused vision and an undying passion. A strong people orientation and adherence to their principles helped the core team touch the 5000 people mark in 2003 as opposed to their initial target of 2005. And today, Daksh Is a Leading 'BPO' player. Has a strong platform of corporate governance. Has a 6000 strong team that has embraced the Daksh values. Is a winner of multiple globally recognized awards in the domain of employee and customer satisfaction. Has built a strong platform of quality around Six Sigma and COPC across the enterprise. Has five service delivery locations. Is known to be profitable since inception.

Executive Team
The largest BPO services company in India! This unique position of ours in the waters of customer service comes from the combined expertise of our executive team. Our team comprises experienced, qualified and

passionate professionals who have leveraged their skills to build an organization that understands the demands of the competitive environment and exceeds customer expectations.

Why Daksh
The BPO industry is one of the most challenging businesses to be in and requires outstanding execution skills. Daksh has mastered the art and has sustainable competitive advantage through strong fundamental practices that are an integral part of our operational model, and more importantly, our culture. These practices envelope the entire spectrum of our business model and are focused on building high client satisfaction through highquality service delivery and value addition to their businesses. Daksh also strives to create value for all associated with it - clients, employees, investors and the community. Daksh has developed the following distinctive capabilities that enable it to provide customized and perfect solutions on time, every time.

Quality at DAKSH

Daksh started the implementation of TQM practices Quality Systems and Models, Total Quality Management (TQM), Six sigma, Quality tools & Training, Organizational Performance Assessment, Information Security Management, Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity Management, Reliability and Quality Assurance, Electronic Components/ Systems manufacturing, Stakeholder Delight Management,since beginning. Daksh was responsible for Designing & implementing Quality Initiatives, Information Security, Business Continuity and Management Systems. These also included corporate initiatives such as Customer satisfaction & Organization Performance Management.

It brings with him vast exposure in areas such as Establishing Quality Management Systems (QMS), conceptualizing Organizational Quality vision, sensitizing the Business Units and Support functions on Quality, initiatives and Institutionalizing an effective QMS, Training and implementing QMS, Process Management, Process Monitoring, Internal Quality Audits and assessments, Metrics systems installation, Analysis and defect prevention. Process Improvements; process optimizing using voice of customer and voice of processes. CHM has been involved in establishing Strategic and Operational quality management practices, driving Organizational performance assessment in line with Business excellence Models, Conceptualizing and implementing tools for effective implementation and management of QMS. Developing Quality Models, Internalizing process improvement concepts of Six- sigma and developing customized 6-sigma methodology for Business/ Support processes based on organizational requirements. Implementing Quality Standards like ISO 9000, QS 9000, BS-7799 and models like Malcolm Baldrige, SIX Sigma, Business Continuity Management Systems and eServices Capability Model for BPO Organizations.

Functioning at Daksh
100% BPO Focus Our core competency We provide support only for BPO services: Our management team brings to the fore, core competencies in servicing clients and is focused on BPO services unlike other companies that provide this service as an addition to their core business. The top-to-end focus is dedicated towards offshoring the projects and implementing them at our centers. We do not share our operations and other functional supports for any other services.

Unique Co-sourcing Model Your seamless extension Daksh has designed a unique 'co-sourcing' model that addresses the concerns related to outsourcing: Our model empowers the clients to run their operations at our centers and provides them with flexibility and high-quality experience. We provide dedicated work areas and people and use clients' applications to provide them with customized reporting. The model enables strong cultural integration, high confidentiality and gain sharing. Daksh in turn becomes a seamless extension of the client's organization.

Dedicated Business Units Your organization with your expertise Based on our prior experience of successfully scaling large global sourcing projects, we have organized ourselves around client-focused business units. Here, the Business Unit Heads manage the functional areas in order to ensure that key operation metrics are delivered on a regular basis: These units are focused on client domains and are a knowledge bank of domain expertise. The unit team comprises people who have related experience and understand the domain processes well. There is ample inventory for starting and scaling new projects.

 In a high growth environment, we focus on providing support for only 2-3 clients from a particular business unit to avoid any dilution of our quality. This organizational structure both at the startup and the scale-up stages ensures high degree of dedicated resource allocation and focus for successfully migrating and stabilizing our clients' projects. All this while maintaining requisite levels of confidentiality. Financial Strength Profitable since inception Daksh has the unique distinction of being the only player in the BPO industry in India to be profitable since its very inception. This outstanding track record has also ensured investments and we are well capitalized and backed by strong investors. Strong Platform Readiness for growth Daksh is structured for growth and has exceptional experience in handling scalability and flexibility in operations of Fortune 500s and 'growth innovators': Our current infrastructure of five facilities can support more than 10,000 personnel in three shifts. We have implemented the largest non-captive voice network out of India to the US. Our independent strategic business units cater to verticals and large clients to enhance customer focus and build highly customized 'best practices' and capabilities. We have strong processes for critical execution elements like recruitment, training, preparation of infrastructure and establishing

connectivity. We also have extensive experience of scaling under tight timelines as well as excellent change management practices. Our strong alliances with key enabling vendors help us in catering to our clients' needs at short notices. Our ever-ready connectivity and experience with remote implementations on multiple architectures allows us to significantly reduce IT and telecom implementation timelines. Transitioning and Project Management (TPM) Toolkit Ensuring successful migration and implementations Daksh has developed a comprehensive and detailed methodology for transitioning and implementing the client's projects: The toolkit is process based and brings clarity to the roles and responsibilities of each function involved with project management. This structured process enables strong adherence to project implementation timelines, high quality of implementation and better understanding. The TPM team that has experience in project migration and management of over 50 processes has developed the toolkit. It addresses all the concerns of the client related to offshoring its processes to India and also brings high efficiency to Daksh. We have helped multiple clients to offshore for the first time through our structured TPM process. Experience & Expertise in Building Scale with Complexity Servicing your needs with competency

We have exceptional experience in managing transactions and contacts in a high-volume environment. Daksh not only understands the business but also the nuances of the trade: Daksh has gained experience in scaling multiple pilots ensuring highquality service delivery and adherence to Service Level Agreements. We are providing support to 6-7 clients that have scaled to over 300 agents. We have managed continuously evolving operations and have built new systems and processes in a highly dynamic environment. Execution Excellence Focus, speed and reliability The management team at Daksh has the experience of working with some of the biggest organizations globally: The team has extensive experience of transitioning global business processes to India and running zero-fault service operations for global organizations. Along with the executive team, we have a highly experienced and able second and third level of management. This team prides itself in creating a truly world-class environment of passion towards excellence and helps deliver exceptional service.

Centers of Excellence (COEs) Drivers for standardization, improvement and best practice sharing The COEs have been created for internalizing the in-depth knowledge that each function brings with it:

 This helps the COE in understanding the elements of best practices and in turn implementing them as standards across all business units. The benefits of these practices are being realized and implemented across the entire enterprise. These practices raise the organization bar through constant research and innovation. Our COEs have expertise in 'Transitioning and Project Management' and 'Voice and Accent Skills'.

Re-engineering and Value-additions Proven benefits and cost savings Our co-sourcing model seamlessly integrates with our clients and works as an extension of their businesses. Daksh has introduced, developed and used various tools in bringing process improvements, productivity gains and quality enhancements: Re-engineering program to save on trainings and ramp-up time. Middleware development for process automation to bring quality and enhance service. Time and Motion study to improve productivity and save costs. Pareto analysis to bring higher operational efficiency. Multi-tasking tool implementation for reduced handle times. In-house development of multiple software including tools for reporting, quality management and scheduling to enhance client operations (non-voice and voice).

Is IBM's Daksh outsourcing?

takeover

vote

of

confidence

for

In the biggest ever acquisition in India's burgeoning BPO sector, IBM Business Consulting Services, the consultancy services arm of International Business Machines Corp., gobbled up Daksh e-Services

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Pvt Ltd., among the largest third party IT-enabled firm in India. Both companies declined to give financial details, but industry sources estimated the buyout, the U.S. giant's first in India, at between US$150-US$200mn, making it one of the biggest foreign acquisitions in India in recent years. Last month, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. and IBM India entered into a US$750mn IT outsourcing agreement. The deal is likely to be completed by May, subject to regulatory approvals. It would give IBM, which already has substantial IT operations in India, access to Daksh's 6,000 employees, who mainly offer call-center services to 13 clients, including Sprint and Amazon.com. This is the Big Blue's first acquisition in India, and comes against the backdrop of rising backlash in the U.S. against loss of jobs through IT outsourcing to countries like India. Many companies, including IBM, have argued that using India's low-cost workers improves corporate profits and promotes growth, which ultimately means more jobs in America. Labor groups, meanwhile, have argued that outsourcing only hurts American companies. Industry leaders view the acquisition as a vote of confidence at a time when India's outsourcing sector faces criticism in the United States for taking away American jobs. "This is a very positive portent, and a strong vote for India as a major player in offshore outsourcing," said Kiran Karnik, president of the National Association for Software and Services Companies, India's leading software and services industry group. But, IT outsourcing has become a hot issue in the U.S. presidential campaign, as candidates debate the consequences of white-collar jobs being moved abroad. The controversy has reached a fever pitch with strong and emotional arguments, both pro and con. On the one hand, it's seen as a way that companies can improve their profitability. On the other hand, it's hard to make such arguments when unemployment in the U.S. remains high. The takeover of Daksh by IBM proves yet again that there is no other alternative for Indian BPO companies than to move up the value chain. The takeover highlights the fact that the better Indian BPO companies that have come of age,

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need to either expand their range of services to their clients or get taken over by global service providers who wish to offer add-on services to the comprehensive menu they already offer. The takeover of Daksh is a case in point. While this acquisition will help IBM enter the 'BPO business', which is incidental, IBM will actually use Daksh to enhance its own skills-set in strategic areas its ability to deliver CRM services more effectively to its clients. Moreover, IBM gets to strengthen its offshore credentials by adding India and the Philippines to its network of 22 delivery centres. And, Indian BPO companies can learn from the takeover by IBM, which has used the acquisition route to go up the value chain quite often. IBM did something similar in 2002, when it took over PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) consulting arm for $3.5 billion to get a foothold in the IT consulting business. And, like Daksh, PWC was just about to go for an IPO when it decided to take up IBM's offer to acquired, just like Daksh has. The point to note is that even global companies, like IBM, look beyond their geographies to continuously add capabilities that will help them consolidate their offerings and stay competitive. For Indian companies it has become more imperative that we give the world more than just 'cheap labour' to take an interest in. Especially when surveys like the one conducted by the Chicago-based DiamondCluster International, of 180 companies involved in offshore outsourcing, observes, "most American companies seem to have lost the illusion of dramatic cost savings from outsourcing. While earlier buyers expected efficiency gains in the range of 50 per cent, today those expectations have declined to 10 to 20 per cent." This is, primarily, because Indian IT wages are rising. A Hewitt survey of more than 500 companies in the Asia-Pacific region showed that "IT solution providers" and "software developers" in India

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reported gains of around 13 per cent last year. However, pay for similar work in the US has been relatively stagnant if not declining. So what else has India to offer? Hopefully, more 'value based propositions' than just cost savings. The question is why Daksh? An answer to this will probably help other Indian companies identify areas in which they need to work so as to become more attractive to global vendors. In the words of Sanjeev Aggarwal, CEO of Daksh, "Daksh eServices provides clients not just cost efficiencies, but significant improvements in the way they run their business." The prime reason that emerges is that IBM wanted to acquire competencies that Daksh provided its clients. In the last four years, Daksh has grown to a $60-million company with 6,500 employees servicing more than 10 clients including internet retailer Amazon.com. Recently it expanded its operations into the Philippines to "address the geopolitical diversity requirements of its clients", a philosophy that fits IBM's growth strategy. Moreover, Daksh's focus on sharing the wealth it created goes to show how important it is that BPO companies build human capital and leverage it to build world-class organizations. The takeover marks an important chapter in the economic story of the BPO industry. First, primarily because of its size, this $170 million deal is the largest FDI by a US company in the booming $3.5 billion Indian outsourcing market. Second, it sets an example to other US-based technology companies who would wish to acquire outsourcing companies in India. That implies outsourcing is here to stay. The outsourcing phenomenon has been happening in the auto industry for the last 40 years and it is going to stay, so long companies uphold the basic premise of corporate business creation of wealth and value. So it makes sense for other Indian BPOs to shape up and make themselves attractive takeover targets. And the takeover scenario has been hotting up in India for a while with Perot Systems Corp buying

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out the remaining stake in India's HCL Perot Systems for $105.3 million in December 2003 to enhance its skills in application outsourcing. Similar is the case with Cognizant Technology Solutions acquiring Ygyan Consulting in February, this year. While one cannot expect Indian BPOs to make the transition from a cost-based mind-set to a value-driven one, overnight, clearly there is an opportunity to create enormous wealth for all stakeholders. The IBM offer is estimated to be 2.5 times Daksh's revenues for 2003-04. Indian BPOs will need to visualize the future and draw up strategies that have long-term focus and not short-term advantages because of their enormous potential. And if you don't believe it, believe Daksh. It's already happened to it.

Training and Development at Daksh

Training As has been clearly identified over the past years - training remains a challenge for call centers. Inevitably we face similar challenges in an offshore location with the additional need to reinforce cultural

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nuances and voice and accent issues. We recognize that with the availability of highly qualified graduates as well as experienced staff, it is such Soft skills - as against - hard process skills/knowledge - that present a greater challenge. Consequently we have created a best practices culture to enable us to leverage Training - as a competitive differentiator with respect to the market and as a key enabler for our staff. This has been possible through creation of in-house training department equipped with Voice & Accent labs under a director for training supported by a team of training managers, region-specific linguists and voice and accent experts having significant experience in call center training. IBMites (Daksh IBM employees) are not born magicians, they learn the tricks of the trade, and we help them do so. We identify the people and hone their skills by proper training, so that they can do "Magic". Program Overview: Training is designed to meet the following requirements: To identify people and process training needs To develop and deliver customized training programs To meet and exceed internal and external customer expectations To adapt to changing technologies and business conditions To facilitate methodologies continuous improvement of processes and

To build commitment in all employees to take total ownership of customer issues To provide ongoing training and skills enhancement to all employees The Training for New Hires is an important part of the training repertoire. Daksh induction, V&A,Soft skills,culture training and

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process training are the training program for the new hires/team in the Operations role. The duration of the entire program is about 5 weeks and it is broadly divided into 3 phases, each adding different conceptual as well as experiential inputs. Daksh BPO Magic Induction Company Overview, Sessions on HR, Finance, Administration, Call center Tour Ethics, Culture & Values, Attitudes, Open space on Creating the HSS BPO Magic Quality, Customer Service and Operations Update Case-study based exercises on right attitudes ("Going Fishing") Call center & BPO basics, Role of call center in an organization "Employeeship" (on effectively playing all organizational roles) "My Time, My Life" (on being in charge of one's life and happiness) Presentations by employees back to Management team on learning, aspirations and future

Daksh BPO Magic Soft Skill Training for Call center & Technical helpdesk American/British Culture Cultural overview Similarities and differences between U.S./U.K. and India American/British geography, history

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 American/British values and consumer behavior, business etiquette Demographic differences in U.S./U.K. Political correctness Language guidelines in dealing with Americans/British American/British entertainment, humor, sports, media, arts etc. Customer Care Listening skills applied Customer care basics Verbal communication skills Voice and Accent neutralization Written communication skills Delighting the customer Customer etiquette Customer dispositions Dealing with difficult customers Customer care across channels: phone, email, chat, web, etc. Time management and customer service

Daksh BPO Magic Process Training

Whatever may be your requirement Call center, Technical helpdesk or back office we would design a customized program to meet specific customer requirement.

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Quality handling of calls at Daksh

Attitude, skill and knowledge are the three most important qualities of a call centre professional.
ASK are the most relevant to call centre employees. What is ASK then? It is very simple attitude, skill, knowledge. The call centre employees have to learn, practice and implement ASK in their daily duty. Moreover, they have to ask themselves as to how far they have improved their attitude, skill, and knowledge quotient on a daily basis. The performance of employees in call centre does not solely depend on qualification and experience nor it depends on high IQ. In the beginning it used to be only degree students, but now few call centres are trying to have PUC students too. Any qualification is acceptable as long as they meet the basic requirement of good English speaking ability, good communication skills and good customer service skills. There is no age restriction for employment and call centres are employing engineers, doctors, graduates, post graduates, B Ed, Diploma holders and so on. The question haunting the HR and operation departments is that how many of the selected candidates will really fit the job of customer support executives after the training and also do well in the job. The call centres provide in depth training ranging from 30-60 days. Minimum of 10 to 20 per cent of the selected candidates are normally dropped out during the training programme itself based on the performance or not able to cope with the demand. Youngsters are rushing to call centre jobs without realising whether such jobs will suit them or meet their aspirations. Majority of them do not understand the exact role and responsibilities and specific job demands. These jobs are very serious in nature and require high amount of skills, knowledge and very much positive attitude. In call

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centres, the CSEs will receive the calls to solve the problems of customers or they make calls to prospective customers to sell various products or service. Each customer is different/unique and there fore the approaches need to be different. The challenges to the CSEs are to convince the invisible international customers over phone. It is really thrilling to understand as to how these CSEs open the calls, handle gently these international customers, understand their expectations and put before them the products and services, handle objections and finally make a sale or solve the customers problems. As per COPC standards (Customer Operations Performance Centre) the Customer Service Providers (CSP) job definitions has to be well defined and communicated to the CSP (We call them as Customer Support executives or Technical support Executives depending up on the role in each companies) COPC is the leading authority on customer contact centre. COPC is authorised to issue certification to the COPC -2000 standard. It sets the standards for running a contact centre. BPO companies like Daksh and 24/7 Customer centre have been certified by COPC.

Skills The CSEs must have certain common skills for both out bound or inbound call centres. Communication skills: Good spoken English, listening skills, conversation ability, voice modulation, good presentation skills, pleasant voice neutral accent and typing skills. Customer service skills: They must be empathetic, patient and

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tremendous persevering skills. They must be confident, pleasant, caring, understanding, kind to the customers, ability to create, commit to and sustain an organisational commitment to superior customer service. Selling skills: The selling skills are most required for an out bound call centre. However, it will be an additional skill for inbound employees as they can sell other products of the same company. To sell the product one has to have the ability to build rapport with the customers over phone and as quickly as possible. The convincing skills are the next most important skill. The ability to present the product, its features, advantages and benefits is very important. The probing skills and objection handling skills are critical to achieve the sales targets. The other relevant skills are analytical skills, problem solving skills, telephone handling skills, and time management skills. The technical skills for an inbound call centre is always depend up on the processes. Knowledge The amount of knowledge required to perform ones own duty very efficiently and to adhere to quality parameters is really tough. The specific knowledge need to be acquired as per the products and processes is always provided through training programmes, literature and through websites. It may be on wireless products, Internet service providers, financial products, health products, and details of any tele marketing products and elemarketing laws of particular country. The most important aspect is to understand who is a customer? Customer behaviour, different types of customers, consumer-buying trends. Basic knowledge on telephone etiquette, computer handling, head phone handling, call centre technology as a whole, USA or UK Culture, cross cultural business processes and campaign process flow

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and service levels agreements (SLA) are the key subject matters which cannot be missed. Attitude Attitude is the most important and it applies to every sphere of life of student, parents, teachers, executives, employers, employees and so many.Positive thinking is a form of thought, which habitually looks for the best results from the worst conditions. We see two distinct classes of people in our daily life. One set of people are active, energetic, productive, prosperous, positive, achievement. Others are inactive, lethargic, unproductive, poor, negative and content in life. Positive attitude is very important in selling and in service industry. Positive attitude will lead to find solutions to the customers problems. The individual is responsible for his or her attitude and he or she has to be happy in order to satisfy the needs of the customer. Attitude is never static, because it is an ongoing, dynamic, sensitive perceptual process. They need to be on constant guard to keep away negative factors. The positive attitude people will have traits of caring, confident, patient, humble, optimistic, a go-getter, an uncanny ability to take any failure and bounce back unscathed. Match or mismatch of A S K at call centre. The call centres are facing the challenges in matching the job with right kind of people. The recruitments are more or less goes with fresher with a hope that they can be trained and easily molded. The skills are taught, subject knowledge is shared, but the most difficult task is developing positive attitude of all employees at all times. All the aspects of ASK cannot be attended in a short duration of initial training. Under the circumstances, re-training is a regular mantra in call centres. Role of supervisors and trainers In any call centre, the supervisors and trainers play a major role in development of people. Besides achieving the set targets, the other

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main task for them is to assess the performance by monitoring the calls, identify the strengths and weaknesses and offer regular feedback for improvement. In call centre, the main focus is always on the voice of people, sales skills, and customer handling skills and day in day out watch on attitude of people. Few of the call centres deploy coaches and mentors on the floor along with supervisors. Their main role is to enhance skills and attempt to change the attitude of people. Trainers impart training to raw people on soft skills, customer service, accent, and UK or USA culture and try to mould them to become successful team member. In call centre the performance of trainers is directly linked to the performance of trainees on the floor. Apart from teaching and providing skill development exercises, the trainers have to monitor them through out whether they are practicing of all the taught skills, neutral accent etc. The trainers spend equal amount of time on re-training the experienced employees and fresher. The biggest challenges to trainers is to understand the processes quickly, transfer the knowledge and hold the hands of trainees till they become confident and start delivering or meet the expectations and indirectly accountable for the performance of trainees. There is huge gap between the expectation and the availability of right people. No colleges or institutes are equipped to provide full fledged training to meet the industry requirement. The candidates are flocking to call centre jobs, but not as a career. They do not understand that the workspace in call centre is always serious in nature, as the standards have to be met to the expectation of international customers. The youngsters must make up their minds and make selfevaluation on their skills, knowledge and attitude or they must seek guidance from the career counsellors. From the BPO industry point of view, even if there is a gap, it is possible to make up provided the employees are serious and willing to learn and unlearn and rigorously practice to enhance their skills, improve knowledge and develop the positive attitude.

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Accent trainers a new breed of professionals They teach you how to roll your rs and soften your ds. How to bite your lower lip when you say victor and how to move your jaw back when you say whisky. If you fancy a job at a BPO then how you speak is of prime importance. Your voice and accent should fit smugly into the accent of the country you are serving. To train you in the accent of the country is the job of voice and accent trainers a new breed of professionals who have come up as a direct result of the everincreasing call centres in Indian cities. The voice and accent trainers make sure that a caller calling from across the seven seas does not have any trouble whatsoever in understanding the Indian executive who takes his or her calls. "The idea is to make the caller feel that the person on the other line is just a few blocks down from his office, not thousands of miles across the world, says Lalit, a voice and accent trainer at Daksh. The number of voice and accent trainers in a call centre can vary between 20 and 60. Their services are used from hiring the suitable candidates to training them in the requisite voice and accent. Till now, there are no institutes where one can do a course in voice and accent training. The call centres themselves are the best training ground for a career in voice and accent training. "I joined a call centre as an executive and took calls for a couple of years before getting selected for the job of a voice and accent trainer, says Pooja, a 27-year-old girl who works for Daksh in Gurgaon. Pooja has a training session with several batches of new executives, where she trains them to speak like Americans." The vowel sounds and the consonant sounds of certain words have to be changed to get the required pronunciation, she says. She, however, says that what matters above everything is the clarity of speech and if that is good then it is not necessary to adopt a foreign accent. Agrees, Mimansa, a 24- year-old accent trainer working

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for Daksh," Our first priority is clarity. If someone has clarity of speech , it is good enough, he says. The main challenge for the voice and accent trainers is to neutralise the accents of their executive. "South Indians, North Indians all have a particular way of speaking. We try to make them speak in a standard way, which is clear to everyone, says Pooja. Besides the accent and clarity, good grammar is another pre-requisite for a call centre executive and a voice and accent trainer plays an important role in screening candidates for their grammar, accents and clarity of speech. They are also required to monitor calls of executives. They periodically listen to employees conversation with callers and see if they need a refresher course in voice and accent training. Since the voice and accent trainers are hand-picked for the job because of their better accents and fluency, they are better placed professionally. This is also reflected in their pay-packets. A voice and accent trainer starts with around Rs 15,000 a month and goes on to get Rs 30,000 when he/she begins to lead a team of voice and accent trainers. However, needless to say, voice and accent trainers, too, have erratic timings and have to do night shifts starting from as late as 10 pm Training - Voice and Accent Training NEXT's unmatched specialization is its Voice and Accent training. Realizing the immense value of being familiar with the various international accents, in order to respond effectively, NEXT engages the respective expatriates for authentic speech and accent training. This is probably the most significant strength of NEXT. Accent - Exposure to the characteristics of foreign accents, guidance through audio and theory lessons, comprehension of various accents, enhancement and neutralization of one's own accent through stringent

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practices, etc. all help trainees acquire the required speech skills. Each trainee is handled individually, as each trainee has his or her own unique way of speaking. In an innovative first for the call centre industry, Hero Mindmine, the call-centre training arm of Hero Corporate Service Limited, is introducing a 12-week certified internship programme linked to its training capsule, for aspiring call centre agents in partnership with ITES company, Daksh eServices Private Limited. Students who are selected by Daksh for pre-process and on-the-job internship can actually pay for the Hero Mindmine training course through the stipend they receive. While the tie-up obviously lends business benefits to both companies, it is likely to spin off a trend in ITES training, dictated by market needs. According to a recent Nasscom-McKinsey survey on the ITES industry, third-party ITES providers (who comprise a significant chunk in India) need to manage their talent pipeline better. First and foremost this would call for an improvement in the quality of intake through tie-ups with training schools and institutes. The report says the cost of replacing a knowledge worker is estimated at 1.5-2 times the cost of his salary. Agrees Asheesh Gupta, business head, Hero Mindmine, "According to our own estimates, if a company hires a raw person, it would have to spend Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000 to give him high quality skills required in a voice-based call centre. Whereas a trained person would need only some project-specific training at onefourth of the earlier expenditure." While the internship at Daksh would be for a minimum of 12 weeks the stipend would be Rs 6,600 per month during the pre-process training (normally 3 weeks) and Rs 7,500 per month for the on-job training (nine weeks). According to Nasscom-McKinsey, the ITES industry has grown at 70% per annum over the last two years -a rate significantly higher than the 44% annual growth rate required to reach the original goal of $17 billion by 2008.

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However, if the industry has to hire 60,000 people a year, the training institutes would at best be able to supply 3,000 quality manpower. The rest would have to be trained in soft skills - languages, accent skills, complaints handling; technical skills - computer systems, biological research; functional skills - customer care, tele-marketing, secretarial services. ITES companies would have to attract and retain these personnel at a very high cost. Certification and industry-designed curriculum on the other hand would provide manpower at lower costs, better information on performance levels of the candidate as well as reduce time gap between hiring and deployment.

The Soft skills training at Daksh

Soft Skills: Definition Soft Skills, too German "soft abilities" or formulates, the knowledge better around handling humans and decisions . Alternative term for softly Skills, " Heartskills ", makes clear for which it goes. For the quality that softly Skills is less the intelligence quotient ( IQ ), than rather the degree of emotional intelligence ( EQ ) responsible. Emotional intelligence again stands in dependence to personality structure and environment of the individual. Emotional intelligence and thus also softly the Skills can be trained. Ever in former times " training " begins, the more easily and faster is the way to an emotional balanced personality. Basis for the education and development that softly Skills is the eight-SAMNESS . The ability own tendencies and tendency nuances to notice as well as those of our fellow men depends on the quality of perceptivity. For the understanding of character characteristics and ways of acting of fellow men, nonverbalen communication contents are essential. Importantly in everyday life communication is not WHICH one says

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but one says LIKE it. But everyone does not have to read the ability also between (spoken) the lines. What does one understand by soft Skills? The following list with key words concerning personal characteristics is to facilitate the understanding of the term for you "soft Skills". Personality (Charisma) Trustworthiness Faculty of judgement analytic and logical thinking Empathy (sympathy) Projecting ability Knowledge of human nature Ability of getting through Self-confident its Creativity Combat spirit

Team ability

Integration readiness Curiosity Communication behavior (psychological) maximum stress Handling style politeness Rhetoric eloquence

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 Motivation, diligence, ambition Conduct of the negotiations Criticism ability Co-ordination gift/priorities set Stress resistance Self-control Self-manifestation (nervousness before important dates or public appearances) Conflicts and failures to master can Sole responsibility Time management Organizational ability

Biology "softly of the Skills" The brain is not only center of our mental abilities , also the emotions is steered here. The human brain consists of approximately one trillion nerve cells with a billiarde junctions. Without wanting to place the achievements of outstanding scientists in question, one should realize oneself that the research is still in the child shoes. During the study of the micro and macrocosm , thus that brain - and space research , quite gives it to parallels. In both sciences, considering the enormous potential, still hidden knowledge, so far only at the surface one scratched. "developing places" that soft Skills are the emotional centers, which are in different brain regions. These emotional centers formed in the course of millions of years from the brain stem , for the oldest and

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most primitive part of our brain. The limbische system , which surrounds the master brain directly, is responsible for the basic emotions such as joy, rage, fear and mourning. If you get next time a rage accumulation, call yourselves best in memory that you are thereby an Urge fuel free run to leave. The more briefly you the limbischen whale lungs of anger and rage to arrange can, the better for you, because to creative problem solution this reaction form contributes in no way. In the opposite, the more one itself into such strong feelings inincreased, the less one is to be judged in a the position a situation objectively. Who wants to make "reasonable" decisions, only once distance must win. In addition one is not however able, as long as one is "imprisoned" from the own feelings. Only by the formation of the Neokortex the Homo Sapiens became "humans". Here is the thinking center , here becomes also the " finer feelings " (parents child love, sympathy, honesty, etc..) stored and processed. Reptiles, for example, do not have Neokortex. With them there is no nut/mother child connection, in the opposite: The boys are slipped only once must it in eight take itself over not by own parents to be eaten.

Stress of soft Skills in our education Fundamental softly Skills such as ability of getting through, perseverance, diligence, self-control flows in most cases anyway into the education also. In the USA there are schools, in which the subject " Self Science " is already located on the curriculum. Here the children in their personality development are supported. Emotional abilities and social behavior are trained. With us the education is, the stress on emotional intelligence rather " secondary matter ". Children, who are not supported with the

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development of the personal/emotional abilities by parents, can also not absolutely count on assistance in the school. Naturally there are fortunately many teachers, who have the educational ambition to also give to their pupils apart from the pure intellectual knowledge "moral values" also on the way. But "officially" nobody is really responsible. Also at universities one speaks in this connection gladly of abilities, which one should acquire oneself "apart from the study". Still to few students opportunity is given, already during the study to participate in meetings for stabilization the social authority and emotional intelligence. Those DO Darmstadt, for example, offered the students in the summer semester 2000 a block seminar with appropriate learning contents on For very many employees and applicants conscious becoming and training stand for that softly Skills only in a Assessment center on the program. Here those are first analyzed softly Skills of the individual participants. In the initial phase the participants, usually, hold a short lecture on itself and participate in for controversies a group discussion . Here it observed by experts those it in the connection to judge and the program emphasis according to the initial analysis to arrange. In the working life the self-control is completely important , here goes it not around suppression/displacement from feelings, but around constructional handling. Techniques of the feeling compensation should be learned depending upon an individual "basic character". Seminars in the soft Skill range e.g. communication -, sales -, Rethorik and conflict trainings are in most advanced training programs strongly represented.

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Daksh and Soft Skill: Team spirit, team ability Today hardly still employments offered are to be found, in which the " team spirit " is not caused. Team ability and team fitness are the most popular expressions in job descriptions crosswise by all industries and Daksh is well aware about it. One could win nearly the impression that in hordes/hurdles it is only worked that without cooperation and support of the team colleagues no more decisions be met and no more goals can be achieved. Now naturally nothing is to be objected to teamwork, because knowledge and abilities of the individual coworkers can be used in the team optimally. More heads have also more ideas and more empirical values. Thus ensteht a broader spectrum at problem solution beginnings, which is again strengthened by interaction, exchange and discussion of the individual ideas. A condition for this is however that not only technical abilities, which complement each other hard Skills, which fit to each other soft factors - softly Skills , but also the Heart Skills of the individual team members. Personnel trainers should consider this during the attitude, and/or organization. Otherwise the danger exists to arrange a team which consists for example only of extroverted, creative and report-needy coworkers, or only from introvertierten, shy, calm members. The consequences of such group combinations can certainly paint themselves you. Team ability however presupposes an optimal team. What do we understand however by an optimal team? The soft skills program at Daksh says that every one of us has certain strengths and weaknesses, which enable us differently to master the resulting tasks. These are apart from the personal preferences, like extrovertedness, Introvertiertheit, etc. v.a. the following functions, which we meet in the working life:

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 Advised Innovieren Promoten Develop Organize Convert Supervise (Controlling) Stabilize As per Daksh training program A successful team should accordingly ideal-proves following 7 work preferences/team roles to occupy Information Creativity Promotion Organization Systematic Controlling Stabilizing if we receive the possibility of working in a team specified the here, supplementing core authority only occupied, can we our own team ability also full unfold: -) The direction of the project or enterprise decides, which coworkers of a team are set on the keys Skills (major tasks, key functions) and which positions to be still occupied to have. Exactly the same the direction of the project or enterprise must decide, which core

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authority is not occupied doubly, in order to exclude Kompentenzgerangel. Into these decisions not only the coworkers concerned, but also the remainder of the team, to which "less important" tasks are assigned, must be merged, and/or agreed. Optimal team achievements are furnished only if each team member with its task and with its role is content within the team. The coworkers should be encouraged in any case to express itself honestly to their organization. With a smiling mask and under smoldering leagues negative emotions (opposite itself and the colleagues) cannot be furnished good achievements. Thus the whole team can be seized, under what productivity and creativety suffer. A team is a good team if each member for itself found the golden middle course between competition and co-operation, between single and group work. The members should complement each other not only in their abilities but also in their character characteristics. Ideal way should be spoken a common language, also on nonverbaler level . It is a new work philosophy , which is understood in developing. Per fast employee such as employers dauf these visions adjust themselves, the faster they successes to register will be able.

The interaction of hard Skills and soft Skills in enterprise practice

Soft Skills - from business view one understands by it above all the abilities of humans, who are described with the personnel choice gladly with "personality" and ever more critically by personnel managers. With it social and method authority, the ability is meant, with other humans purposefully to communicate as well as team-oriented think and act. "To which soft Skills in enterprises?" Did you place yourselves this question already times? The Daksh trainees learning Voice and accent

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skills concerns itself for many days with the didactical switching of softly Skills and goes to this question on the reason: Relations between humans in companies always takes place on two levels. The beginning of the two levels can be symbolized as an iceberg. The special level , which corresponds to the hard Skills, is the point of the iceberg , it always stands out from the water. The personal level is the by far larger and is under water , is not not immediately visible thus. Here it concerns, how we go around with one another, feels and to think and which value conceptions , motives and needs we to have. This level concerns the range that softly Skills. The not visible part of an iceberg which is under water was the reason for sinking the Titanic. Similar to this picture also the relations level is the most frequent cause for difficulties within teams. That is the bad message. The good message: If one recognizes this level and here handling agreed upon with one another, the relationship and co-operation between two or several humans can work well. In other words: Softly Skills can be trained . Consciousness for this is not yet very much pronounced however in BPO enterprises - whole contrary to US-American companies -, because softly Skills rank at present on rank 3 of the "hit list" for measures for further education. V & A - and process trainings , authority within the commercial range or technical knowledge still stand at foremost front. That proves that the switching of hard Skills in this country is still dominant. Only the combination is with the abilities a guarantor to set the entire Potential free of an enterprise. Because which uses it, if one has sufficient know-how to produce High-tech computers but not white, how one can sell and with their real needs enter it to its customer?

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Process training
Process training meets subject matter and product requirements of specific processes. This is structured on the basis of client needs and is initially imparted by trainers of the client. In addition to the product training, we also provide training on the skills necessary for the process like collections skills training, customer service training and, tele-marketing skills. Process training also covers regulations governing the process as a part of the curriculum.

Leadership Development training

Leadership development training is imparted to all levels of employees from team leader to vice president. This is usually conducted internally and is closely patterned on the culture and values of Daksh.

Developmental Training
Individual development is based on the appraisal and talent review processes. Daksh provides a minimum of 5 days of "value-add" training for every employee each year. Daksh organizes regular training programs for all levels, titled PACES (Personality and Career Enhancement Series). These programs are on multiple subjects, and are recommended for employees at all levels.

Reinforcement Training
This training is provided in specific areas on an on going basis. The training could be for Voice and Accent, Process specific training or

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soft skills training. Soft Skill training is provided for Collections Skills, Customer Service Skills and Tele-selling skills.

Conclusion and sugestions

In the Indian ITES sector, as many as 200 personnel are hired every working day of the year. As per Nasscoms annual market intelligence studyStrategic Review 2003, there would be a requirement of 1.1 million professionals in the ITES-BPO segment by the year 2008. While this might spell good news in terms of growing employment opportunities, it also means increasing challenges for the HR managers of this industry. In its nascent stages, the BPO industry did enjoy a positive demand-supply situation favourable to the companies. However, intense competition in the industry has changed the scenario to a certain extent. From just hiring anyone and everyone (due to shortage of manpower), the requirement presently is for professionals with more domain-specific skill sets and business analysts with

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programming skills. This trend clearly reflects that Indian ITES companies are tapping high-value service segments. Growing challenges High level of attrition: While India does have a large talent pool (annually 167,000 engineering students and 1.54 million graduates pass out of the countrys educational institutions), not all are industryready or equipped with the necessary skill sets to become useful to the companies. This means that while there is plenty of supply at the entry level (voice processes), there are huge gaps in the middle management and senior management levels. This has resulted in increased levels of poaching and attrition cases. Presently, the average attrition rate faced by this industry is somewhere around 30-35 percent. Praveen Kankariya, president and chief executive officer of Impetus, however believes that the industry is witnessing an attrition level as high as 60 percent. "One would not find a person in the BPO industry working with the same company for four to five years. In this period, on an average, people would have changed three to four jobs." Zia Sheikh, managing director of Infowavz points out, "Competitors are very eager to get experienced people and are willing to make very fancy offers to cut short their training time and investment through poaching. Such indiscipline has further accentuated the problem in India." Experts state that the attrition rate in non-voice processes is significantly lower than voice processes, in which the industry average is somewhere around 35-40 percent. In the case of data-based activities, the attrition rate is not very high with the industry average being about 10 percent. Not a serious career option: Another very critical issue of concern for HR managers is that most students and professionals working in call centres do not see this industry as a long-term career option. This was also revealed in a recent study conducted by NFO India, part of NFO WorldGroup, and PeopleEquity Consulting, a Bangalore-based HR consultancy. Due to the inherent nature of the job (monotonous and lacking challenges), most of the time there is low interest in the work.

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Mismatch of expectations: Expectations mismatch leads to higher attrition. According to T Hari, director of corporate human resources Daksh, this is partly due to the perceptions created in the general public with respect to the career growth, type of work, compensations offered, competition, etc. Many a times, people are not able to create a work-life balance and often opt out. Sunil Kumar, vice president of HR for Vertex India feels that an effective way to deal with these challenges is to position the ITES/BPO industry as a meaningful career opportunity for young agents/associates. The right positioning will help attract the right profile of agents, it will automatically manage their expectations from the industry and this will in turn lead to lower attrition rates. Communication issue: Lack of effective communication is another contentious issue. Says Kumar of Vertex India, "Handling a large number of employees does lead to communication gaps in BPO companies." The absence of regular, two-way communication between agents, their immediate team managers and the senior management is a common complaint and one of the reasons for high attrition rates in the industry. High training costs: On an average, BPO companies incur three types of training costsvoice/ accent, soft skills and process training. For a start-up, in the initial stage the training costs maybe high as the company may have to outsource the voice/accent and soft skills training. Process training in the case of start-ups is usually done by process trainers from the customers side while the BPO company has to bear the expenses. However, on reaching a stable growth stage, companies are able to build up a resource base and avoid outsourcing. Says Kankariya, "Training is very important in this industry, due to the nature of job and the kind of requirements, which an employee has to fulfil. It generally accounts for four months salary of the agent hired, though the actual training would probably be for just for a month. In the last two years, the training cost has grown by 45 percent as against total cost of one employee which has grown by 190 per cent." According to Sangeeta Gupta, vice president for Nasscom, the

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industry is facing a major problem as it is unable to source the requisite trained manpower. Solutions Moving towards B class cities: Due to the high demand and supply gap and scaling attrition numbers, many companies are moving towards B class cities like Chandigarh, Bhopal, Lucknow and Dehradun, to attract talent and set up their operations. There is also a change in employee profile, with organisations looking for older and experienced people who will bring in stability. The requirement is for those people for whom salary is not just a pocket money, but a career opportunity. The ideal employees for BPOs would be people from middle and lowermiddle income households, who are willing to work hard and have a strong sense of responsibility and dedication towards their employers. Initially though it might lead to scaling of training costs (upto 30-40 percent), as this section might lack in basic communication and soft skills. But the effort would be worth it, believe experts. Formation of forums: To prevent poaching/ swapping and manage recruitment consultants in the market, many companies have formed forums. One such has already been set up in Hyderabad and other cities are likely to follow suit. Educating about career opportunities: The common misconception is that there are only three positions in call centresthat of an agent, a team leader and the project leader. There is however more to it. According to Deepak Dhawan, vice president of HR of EXL Services, there is an immense opportunity for professionals with a CA or MBA background: "An individual can choose from managing quality, get into training, Six Sigma process, problem solving equations, relationship management, HR and workflow activities or business development." It is necessary to communicate to the agents that there is a clear growth path for them in the next five years and an agent need not retire as an agent from the company. In terms of growth opportunities, data management, transaction processing and other

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back-office support activities are really going to be the key growth drivers for the offshore BPO industry in India. Government initiatives Nasscom has recently started a project with different private players (like Wipro, EXL, GE), training institutes and academia in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, for preparing an "employable" ITES workforce. The Kerala Government, under its PeopleFIRST initiative, plans to create readily available employable manpower for the ITES industry. According to Aruna Sundararajan, IT secretary of Kerala, such an initiative will open up large employment opportunities in various disciplines in the ITES sector, empowering students with industryrelevant skill sets. "It will help chart out indicative domain-wise manpower requirement projections from the industry. Skill set standardisation, government recognised certification in ITES, inclusion of ITES as a discipline in graduate studies by universities, etc, will help in making ITES as a career choice by students," she says. The programme will be launched in November 2003 and the training is expected to get started by January 2004. In addition, states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal are also looking for such an option. In the future, HR managers have to continuously evolve career paths, motivate their employees and create a culture of oneness, which will also act as retention tools. In case of training, there would be an emergence of specialised training institutes with the customer care skills being outsourced to many training companies.

Messages 1. Indian ITES-BPO industry can provide jobs to million The ITES-BPO-BPO is the silver lining industry of the Indian IT marketplace during the turbulent times, contributing significantly to the economic growth. Being a part of services industry, which contributes 54% to the GDP, ITES-BPO is seen as a sector with

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tremendous opportunities. This sector is extremely people-intensive and ITES-BPO as a spectrum offers employment for variety of people. It provides career opportunities for graduates from broad-based education streams like B.A, B.Com, B.Sc, etc and undergraduates, and also to the Phds; making ITES-BPO as a pluralistic opportunity. 2. Skill Sets required for entering into ITES-BPO industry For most-entry level jobs, graduation coupled with good communication and English language skills and a basic familiarity with PCs is a key requirement barring a few specialized and hi-end service areas where domain/ functional expertise is required. Certain other skills and attitudes are critical for an ITES-BPO career: such as communication skills, customer service orientation, and self-confidence, to name a few. 3. In-house training is crucial Training forms an important part of ones career development. ITESBPO companies provide employees with accent neutralization, cultural training, team building and time management training. Such training is provided at thestart of the job, making it easier for the person to achieve professional excellence. However, the attrition rate is highest during the training period. 4. Managing the employee expectation is vital There are a number of career paths (both vertical and lateral) in the industry and to manage the expectations of the employees is a key challenge engaging and retaining talent. 5. Working environment hygiene & satisfiers is key ITES-BPO has set new standards in the quality of infrastructure and employee available amenities. Offices are well designed and most companies have pick and drop facility. Most centers have a professional and informal work atmosphere. While the work is challenging, it is also great fun because of the energy and enthusiasm being exhibited by everyone. However, fro every HR manager of the ITES industry it is important to maintain a balance between fun-loving environment and delivery of services to the end-customers.

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6. Rewards and Retention Program Most ITES-BPO companies have attractive rewards and retention programs. Thus, the employees with a strong will to succeed can make the best of the opportunity and emerge winners. Rewards program also help employees to chart out an attractive career growth in the respective industry. 7. ITES-BPO industry provides an excellent career opportunity ITES-BPO industry offers value enhancement/ specialization through domain training, which, people receive in course of their work, and thus developing their career. BPO Still Needs a Leg Up India's business process outsourcing sector was created by the intersection of two global industry phenomena. The first was the emergence of new sectors like the Internet and wireless. The stupendous growth rates of these sectors abroad quickly outstripped the availability of people in those markets. India, endowed with intellectual capital, was quick to latch on to this opportunity. The other dimension, probably far more pervasive, was the lack of growth for several Fortune 500 players. Hence, there was a need for cost reduction to demonstrate earnings growth without compromising on quality. When it comes to allocating offshore work, India, the Philippines and China emerge as potential contenders. While countries like the Philippines demonstrate good capabilities for front-office work and China for back-office work, India is uniquely positioned to traverse the entire value chain of business process outsourcing across management of customers, people and financial assets. India's education system generates about two million graduates every year, with about 20 per cent being English-language literate. There are five industry constituents that will dig into India's talent pool to service customer demand.

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First and foremost are the fully-owned operations of large global corporations. With the exceptional success of American Express and GE, this group has really evangelized the concept of offshoring and can be credited with creating this sector. This pool will continue to expand, as more corporations feel comfortable about managing international operations. The second group pertains to international outsourcers like Convergys and Sitel who have the advantage of a large customer base and are facing competitive pressures of losing their customers to India-based outsourcers. Their ability to manage international operations and create a decentralized, nimble-footed subsidiary type of operation will be a critical success factor. The third group is IT service companies who have to increase earnings by tapping into a new sector, leveraging their understanding of the Indo-US corridor. However, managing a business whose service delivery platform is very different, and diffusion of focus and core competency will be a challenge for this group. Many IT-enabled services (ITES) companies including Infosys are thus creating separate entities, like Progeon, to derisk their existing business. The fourth category will be large Indian conglomerates which have access to large capital and experience of managing scales. They will be challenged by the ability to build non-hierarchical, people-centric organizations, as also building a customer acquisition engine in global markets. Last, but not least, will be entrepreneur-led independent BPO players who can create a platform of high quality services by being solely focused on BPO as a line of business. This group will need to build scale rapidly by continuing to attract high quality customers, investors and talent. Given the clutter in the Indian BPO market, one would see new niche players emerging, focused on a specific vertical like health care or a specific horizontal like HR. There will be relatively few broadbased outsourcers. These will typically be organizations which were

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created around the first mover advantage, successfully delivered on repeat customer projects and hence created a critical mass. The sector is targeting a turnover of $20 billion by 2008. Is this realistic? Yes, subject to some conditions being fulfilled. First and foremost, the pilots that India has bagged from 100-odd Fortune 500 companies must deliver successful metrics of quality. While our teams are outstanding in product knowledge, understanding the cultural context of our customers is an area of learning. Next, the sector urgently needs back-up in the form of more robust telecom services and improved manpower training. Currently, BPO players have to organize themselves to deliver the entire training cycle. A strong training industry, especially in areas like linguistics, can reduce the burden and create a more scalable platform. The third key factor is the government's ability to recognize BPO as a big provider of employment and redesign the education system, which ensures that a fresh graduate is industry-ready. Subjects like US GAAP accounting, emphasis on quality of spoken English and so on, are many dimensions of customizing our education system. From a global standpoint, India as a destination and BPO as a sector are well positioned to deliver above average returns that global investors can earn in their home markets. The missing link is the number of entrepreneurs and the quality of teams that are getting created to put this capital to work. Continued tax incentives under section 10A and 10B will also ensure continued flow of capital. Players focused on sharp niches will have better chances of success. India Inc is off to a good start around its natural resource advantage. The key question is whether we can leverage that via a larger game plan so that we can pro actively drive growth rather than depending on external factors. NASSCOM and government initiatives like branding India Inc. providing tax breaks, improvement of state-owned telecom

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infrastructure are steps in the right directions that generate optimism. This elephant can run.

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