|
Knowledge
Process Outsourcing (KPO) overview
What
is Offshoring/Outsourcing?
Offshoring
– the practice of moving processes or services to another country,
in order to improve business efficiency and reduce costs – is
now an integral part of the modus operandi of western business,
and the numerous companies that have gone down this route in
recent years have derived immense benefits, not just from cost
savings, but also in terms of overall focus and business development.
The practice
of offshoring (or outsourcing, as the trend is more commonly
known) has gained considerable momentum over the past years,
and there is little doubt that it is here to stay. But even
as it benefits the business interests of companies, many still
believe that outsourcing is detrimental to western economies,
not least because the creation of jobs in countries where labor
is cheap is perceived to come at the expense of western workers.
In a recent Harris poll, for instance, 52% of adults surveyed
in America said that the loss of jobs to foreign countries represents
the single biggest threat to the U.S. economy in the next five
years. However, despite
such fears -- which have been rampant since the beginning of
the outsourcing trend -- there is no denying that the outsourcing
route is one more and more companies are taking, and those that
have already benefited from it have realized that it has much
to offer beyond cost-cutting.
Indeed,
organizations that have already outsourced certain business
functions are not only outsourcing greater amounts of work,
but also more significant work, and this helps to enhance both
the value of the organization and what it can deliver to its
clients. The outsourcing of a greater number of business functions
enables workers in the U.S. to concentrate on the most core
and essential functions of their day-to-day work, confident
in the knowledge that while they sleep, workers in other countries
will take over the relay and support their endeavors with quality
work. The business process thereby becomes seamless in terms
of delivery, execution and standard of work -- mandatory for
any company that wants to be at the forefront of today’s global
economy.
______________________________________
with research and editing
assistance by Divya Easwaran and Mike Cleaver
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=729
Everyone
can benefit from Outsourcing
Globalization
Is Inevitable
The world
is truly flat, and it is becoming flatter as the years go by.
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has said it so many
times, and he is not wrong. Over the past years, several technological
and political forces have converged, and that has produced a
global playing field that allows for multiple forms of collaboration
without regard to geography or distance – and perhaps soon,
without regard to language, says Friedman.
Of course, the reality of the emerging global economy is that
the workforce is experiencing higher turnover than ever before.
The challenge is how to make that inevitable process less painful
and share more of the wealth being created.
The Job
Loss in the U.S. is Only “Surface”
At face
value, it would appear that outsourcing service work to another
country is detrimental to the U.S. workforce. This is only at
the surface, though, and even as it inevitably will hurt certain
individuals, the net effect created is a positive one for the
U.S. The creation of jobs in countries such as India leads to
the creation of new wealth, and a new class of consumers will
have increased purchasing power to buy U.S. goods. Countries
like India, to which jobs have been outsourced, make for new
markets for the U.S. to export to, and this in turn creates
revenue for the U.S.
The Cost-Saving
that Blue-Chip Corporates Like IBM Achieve by Outsourcing Lends
Itself to the Entire U.S. Economy
The outsourcing
of service work also lends itself positively to the overall
development of a U.S. business. Workers can focus more
on specialized areas and precious resources can be freed up
to further these. In turn, more specialized and focused
businesses have a chance of creating additional jobs for more
skilled workers by branching off into areas that require a special
skill set. On a more macro level, the overall wealth of a nation
like the U.S. can improve if companies are focusing on developing
core businesses.
Indeed, companies such as IBM and other blue-chips of the technology
world are fundamental to the U.S. economy. Studies point to
the fact that if these companies can achieve significant cost-savings,
then the nation as a whole benefits, since their contribution
to the overall wealth and progress of the U.S. is fundamental.
“If IBM is able to lower its cost structure, the U.S. economy
benefits as a whole,” states the vice president of NASSCOM India,
the IT industry trade group. “It is all about the overall mutual
benefits rather than individual.”
Another
industry that makes full use of outsourcing services is the
financial services industry. According to Deloitte & Touche
studies, the top 100 global financial services firms – whose
outsourced work spans the gamut from basic backoffice IT work
to intricate, highly skilled knowledge services – topped out
at more than $700 million in 2006. It is no secret how
important the business of Wall Street is to the U.S. economy,
and as capital markets continue to develop all over the world,
to the global economy. While the outsourcing of financial
sector jobs has undeniably moved the job of the more junior
rungs to India and other countries, it has also created space
for the more sophisticated, skilled workers to prove themselves.
This dynamic also spurs future members of the financial services
industry to really push themselves to do better and acquire
skill sets above and beyond the ordinary. In today’s world,
therefore, society can no longer remain static; it is up to
every individual to be the best that they can be in order to
remain competitive, no matter what industry they are in.
President
Bush, while not often considered a visionary in other fields,
has defended outsourcing as the way of the future, for both
the global economy and for the economy of the United States.
Indeed, globalization has paved the way for such a momentous
collaboration between nations that there can be no place for
protectionist policies, whether that be in the U.S. or elsewhere.
According to Outsourcing Journal, a publication of the
Outsourcing Center, the demand for outsourcing services is only
going to increase in 2007 and going forward. The Everest Group
has predicted that the demand for applications maintenance and
outsourcing will expand by at least 2.5 times in the next three
years. Currently, total demand is at $7.7 billion, which
will grow to at least $18.6 billion by 2009.
The increase in demand for outsourcing services, though, is
also changing supplier landscape, and there is a proliferation
of suppliers, who now face margin compression due to price competition,
an increase in overhead, and rising wages. Buyers of these services
will have to rethink how they create relationships with suppliers.
The good news, though, according to the Outsourcing Journal,
is that prices are falling, so buyers will pay less for already
bargain-priced quality service.
Outsourcing “Surface” Jobs Allows Greater Skill
Sets to Develop, and Higher Paid Workers to Benefit
Going back to the job story: According to forecasts, the U.S.
unemployment rate will continue to rise in 2007 (http://www.forecasts.org/unemploy.htm).
However, there are factors other than outsourcing that are driving
this.
In the IT
world, by way of example, several studies have found that outsourcing
has actually resulted in more IT jobs being created in the U.S.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more
IT jobs are available in the U.S. today than at the height of
the dot-com boom. Employment in the information super sector
is expected to increase by 11.6%, the BLS states, adding 364,000
jobs by 2014. Information Technology contains some of the fast-growing
computer-related industries such as software publishers; Internet
publishing and broadcasting; Internet service providers, Web
search portals, and data processing services. Employment in
these industries is expected to grow by 67.6%, 43.5% and 27.8%,
respectively. The creation of new jobs as a result of outsourcing
calls for greater skills, and those who perform these jobs are,
therefore, higher paid.
According
to a study by consulting firm McKinsey, $1 of labor outsourced
from the U.S. creates a global value of $1.45 to $1.47. Out
of this, the receiving country (India) captures just 33 cents;
the remainder goes to the U.S. in terms of new revenue, repatriated
earnings and redeployed labor.
Outsourcing
“Surface” Jobs Allows Greater Skill Sets
to Develop, and Higher Paid Workers to Benefit
Going back to the job story: According to forecasts, the U.S.
unemployment rate will continue to rise in 2007 (http://www.forecasts.org/unemploy.htm).
However, there are factors other than outsourcing that are driving
this.
In the IT
world, by way of example, several studies have found that outsourcing
has actually resulted in more IT jobs being created in the U.S.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), more
IT jobs are available in the U.S. today than at the height of
the dot-com boom. Employment in the information super sector
is expected to increase by 11.6%, the BLS states, adding 364,000
jobs by 2014. Information Technology contains some of the fast-growing
computer-related industries such as software publishers; Internet
publishing and broadcasting; Internet service providers, Web
search portals, and data processing services. Employment in
these industries is expected to grow by 67.6%, 43.5% and 27.8%,
respectively. The creation of new jobs as a result of outsourcing
calls for greater skills, and those who perform these jobs are,
therefore, higher paid.
According
to a study by consulting firm McKinsey, $1 of labor outsourced
from the U.S. creates a global value of $1.45 to $1.47. Out
of this, the receiving country (India) captures just 33 cents;
the remainder goes to the U.S. in terms of new revenue, repatriated
earnings and redeployed labor.
From
BPO to KPO: Outsourcing Enters its next Incarnation
While the
offshoring of information technology services continues to dominate
the trend in the form of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO),
companies in various industries have, over the past years, been
outsourcing other, more integral parts of their businesses.
Higher-end knowledge work, for one, is increasingly making its
way from the U.S. and taking root in countries such as India,
in the form of Knowledge Process Outsourcing, or KPO. The KPO
phenomena, driven by the success of the BPO trend, is the wave
of the future, many say, because India – the main KPO provider
-- has a large pool of knowledge workers in various sectors
ranging from Pharmacy, Medicine, Law, Biotechnology, Education
& Training, Engineering, Analytics, Design & Animation,
Research & Development, and even Intelligence services.
As such, a KPO company can bank upon finding a delivery item
that possesses the requisite professional skills to support
any U.S-based organization in its high-end, knowledge-based
services and core processes.
The KPO
wave is recent, but already it has gained considerable ground,
and experts predict further deepening, as industries such as
financial services and law rely more upon Indian intermediaries.
KPOs aim to capture the best in Indian talent available in different
fields. India has 357 universities, comprising 15,600 colleges
that turn out an average of 2.5 million graduates every year,
so there is no shortage of talent.
Current
estimates of the KPO market stand at anywhere from $1 to $3
billion. But according to a report by GlobalSourcingNow, the
global KPO industry is expected to top out at a whopping $17
billion by 2010, of which $12 billion would be outsourced to
India. The Indian KPO sector is expected to employ more than
250,0000 KPO professionals by 2010, a significant increase from
the 25,000 it currently employs. A report by Evalueserve also
predicts that India will capture more than 70% of the KPO sector
by 2010.
In fact,
the KPO boom is expected to overtake the BPO business, and as
the KPO sector grows, over 300,000 new jobs will be created.
Further, a report by Forrester Inc. estimates that an additional
35,000 new jobs will move to offshore locations by 2010, while
a massive 79,000 more will shift to offshore locations by 2015.
Again, nearly 70% of those jobs will be shifted to India.
Legal
Process Outsourcing (LPO): India is the right place for the
next KPO frontier
But it isn’t
just cost savings that make the LPO an attractive business prospect
for U.S. companies and forward-looking law firms. As is the
case with the BPO and the KPO, LPO users can avail of a range
of benefits, not least saving time on getting important work
done. LPO users can gain more operational efficiencies by focusing
on core business activities while having access to a breadth
of skills, technology and service offerings, at a reduced cost.
An Educated and Skilled Pool of Lawyers Make India the
Ideal LPO Location
Of course, for an LPO to really be both high-quality and effective,
it needs to be staffed with an educated, legally skilled workforce,
capable of independent thinking, decision-making and analytical
research. India is therefore the ideal location. There are currently
over a million lawyers in India and an average of 80,000 more
graduate every year from Indian law schools, many of them prominent.
The generally acknowledged list of India’s top-ranked law schools
is as follows:
1. National Law School (NLSIU), Bangalore
2. Nalsar University of Law, Hyderabad
3. WB National University of Juridical Sciences
(NUJS), Kolkata
4. National Law Institute University (NLIU) Bhopal
5. Government Law College, Mumbai
6. Faculty of Law, BAH
7. University College of Law, Bangalore
8. Faculty of Law, AMU
9. Bangalore Institute of Legal Studies
10. Faculty of Law, BHU
11. Faculty of Law, University of Madras
12. ILS Law College, Pune
13. Faculty of Law, Delhi University
14. Symbiosis College, Pune
The legal graduates India produces are equipped with analytical
and research skills and the ability to write and speak in English.
Like the U.S. and the U.K., India is a common-law jurisdiction
rooted in British legal traditions and systems. Indian legal
training and Appellate and Supreme Court proceedings are conducted
in English; legal opinions are written in English; lawyers in
India are trained with similar rigor and methodologies as those
in the U.S.
As such,
the access to legal talent in India is largely not an issue,
at least for those LPOs promising high-end, challenging work.
The relatively low cost of living in India, together with the
fact that the domestic legal profession in India is relatively
less remunerative (except at the senior level), also help in
making India the hub of outsourced legal services, and in ensuring
that LPOs have a steady supply of talented and willing workers.
LPOs
Are Poised for Growth
Both consumers and forward-looking providers of legal services
are on the threshold of taking full advantage of all India has
to offer in terms of knowledge process outsourcing, as it shifts
offshored services from commodity processes to higher skilled
knowledge work, such as legal research, preparation of pleadings,
docketing, proof-reading, transcription of recorded documents,
litigation support, case studies, immigration visa processing,
and even law firm marketing. The LPO (legal process outsourcing)
industry has extremely high growth potential in India, and according
to the latest estimates, may create 79,000 jobs there by 2015.
It goes
without saying that the LPO trend offers great benefits. India’s
legal services are affordable, efficient, and above all, skilled.
Outsourcing legal work to India costs up to 80% less than the
cost of using the services of American law firms.
Focus on a Niche Further Maximizes LPO Potential
Because it is far less expensive to hire talent in countries
such as India, an outsourcing company is in the enviable position
of being able to commit larger teams of talented workers to
more specific areas of concentration. An LPO, for instance,
can afford the luxury of dedicating an entire team to register
trademarks or process immigration visas. Often, these
teams are in a far better position to handle a sole task than
in-house, U.S.-based employees, because they are hired for that
specific purpose.
An Eager Workforce Can Produce the Best Possible Results
The greatest
asset in the Indian workforce is its high level of motivation.
Despite significant economic progress in the past years
and India’s prominence on the global stage, many in this nation
are still struggling to make ends meet. The prospect of being
employed by an outsourcing venture that pays a regular and above-average
wage therefore presents a golden opportunity to scores of Indians,
who have a strong work ethic.
According
to Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, author of “Outsourcing to India,”
Indians make for loyal and determined employees. “When
a task is going well,” Kobayashi-Hillary writes, “I have witnessed
people working long hours through the sheer enjoyment of completing
a task. When things are bad, I have seen dedicated teams work
through the night without a complaint. In my opinion, this spirit
of utter dedication to getting the job done does not exist in
any other nation.”
India is Ideally Situated on the World Map
The geographical
location of India lends itself extremely well to a 24/7 operation.
The time difference between the United States’ Pacific Standard
Time (PST) is about 12 hours, meaning that a job submitted at
6 p.m. PST reaches India at 6 a.m. and can be completed by 6
a.m. PST the following day. Depending on the time of year, India
is 4.5 to 5.5 hours ahead of the U.K. and 9.5 to 10.5 hours
ahead of New York and Eastern Standard Time (EST). This difference
provides similar extended hours, especially crucial on quick
turnaround assignments.
“Outsourcing
provides law firms with a greater resource base, a better distribution
of work,” says Matthew Banks, CEO of a Bangalore-based LPO.
“It increases their productivity and turnaround time,
all at much reduced cost and without any compromise on quality.”
In
the LPO Business, Attrition is Not a Serious Issue, at Least
Not Now
One of the greatest problems the BPO business has encountered
in recent times is attrition, or the loss of manpower at rapid
rates to other, similar enterprises. Some BPO concerns have
even ceased to exist as a result of high attrition rates.
In the LPO
segment, though, attrition is negligible, thus far estimated
at a mere 15%, according to EvalueServe. Any threat of a shortage
of trained manpower in the industry is likely to be thwarted
due to the vast pool of talented lawyers who are currently and
will be in the future willing to join the LPO bandwagon. Furthermore,
a sizeable percentage of the lawyer population is already trained
in outsourcing work and is capable of training many more lawyers
at lower costs.
However,
at least one business research company, Valuenotes, expects
that eventually there will be a shakeout in the search for talent,
with the higher-end LPOs coming out on top:
"[A]s
the industry matures, the battle will be fought over 'talent'.
In this context, players focused on higher value services .
. . will be better positioned to attract the best people, as
compared to those operating at the low end offering services
such as transcription, litigation coding and secretarial tasks.
Not only will the high-end providers be able to pay better,
the quality of work will ultimately be the magnet for the best
talent."
If that
is the case, then higher-end LPOs such as SDD Global Solutions,
Intellevate, and Pangea3 seem likely to be the victors.
CHALLENGES TO THE LPO BUSINESS
It would be naïve to assume that the LPO trend does not face
a challenge. Like any other business line, the LPO track
has issues with which to contend, some that have to do with
the nature of the legal profession in the U.S., and others that
pertain to India in particular.
The following
concerns/challenges are definitely present, but they are surmountable,
and anyone seeking to employ the services of an LPO in India
can be reasonably sure that the positives still outweigh any
of the negatives.
Qualifications
One of the
greatest concerns is whether the qualifications of the lawyers
working in an LPO are up to the mark. The basic academic qualification
required for employment with a legal outsourcing firm is a graduate
degree in law. In addition, jobs in intellectual property and
patenting services often require a strong scientific/engineering
background.
One of the
greatest strengths of India as a whole is the quality of education
graduates in any field receive, and the legal field is no exception.
Legal education in India encompasses a wide range of commercial,
procedural, corporate and financial laws, and a lawyer can specialize
in several areas of practice, including international law and
intellectual property law. Some law graduates even qualify as
British solicitors with the Bombay Incorporated Law Society,
after three years of articles (hands-on training) with a firm
of solicitors that is recognized by the Law Society of England
& Wales.
India’s
advantage lies in its vast educated workforce, and according
to a survey by NASSCOM (the National Association of Software
and Service Companies), 45% of Indian KPO service providers
have the highest quality certification. Both KPOs and BPOs in
India are becoming increasingly quality conscious and are frequently
improving standards to meet and exceed internationally accepted
levels. Many KPOs are also in the process of obtaining management
standards from the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO), such as ISO 9002, ISO 9001, ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 9001:2001.
They are also updating their CMM frameworks.
Confidentiality
Given the sensitive nature of most legal and other knowledge-based
work, concerns about data security are still strong. This is
despite the fact that some higher-end LPOs have security systems,
such as fingerprint access controls, dedicated project areas
into which non-team members cannot enter, and extensive background
checks for new-hires, which are far more rigorous than those
of U.S. and U.K. law firms. Getting over the security concern
ultimately depends upon whether Western clients are willing
to maximize efficiency by placing their trust in the high-caliber,
professional set-up of the higher-end Indian LPO.
Training
Given the unique nature of U.S. legal work, some clients in
the States are skeptical about outsourcing legal work to other
countries and having work done by professionals whom they have
not trained themselves, or who have not been trained by U.S.
lawyers. It has to be said, though, that at least a few
LPO outfits have been mainly set up by U.S. lawyers, who have
a thorough understanding of and vast experience in the practices
and professionalism of the United States, and who endeavor to
uphold those same standards of excellence in an India LPO. These
same lawyers play a key role in training their LPO personnel,
such that they, too, maintain the highest possible standards.
Regulations Governing the Legal Profession
Rules and regulations governing the legal profession across
various countries may also restrain the scope of offshore legal
delivery. Indian lawyers, for instance, must pass the bar in
the U.S. before they can technically practice there. However,
Indian lawyers can still do much of the same legal work that
is done by U.S. lawyers for U.S. clients, so long as that work
is done under a licensed U.S. attorney. Accordingly, India-based
legal outsourcing firms do not require bar admittance or other
professional licenses to provide legal support services to Western
clients, including companies and law firms.
__________________________
http://www.valuenotes.com/BPO/freeBPO_Oct6th.asp?Writer=&ArtCd=86167
Mysore
Taking KPO/LPO business to new heights
Over the
past decade or more, the news media have been replete with stories
about Bangalore, India’s hustling-bustling technology capital,
and the seat of hundreds of outsourcing ventures. Yet
those who really want to get the best out of this business would
be better served by setting their sights 130 kilometers south
of Bangalore, on the former kingdom of Mysore -- a city that
still retains a traditional quality and plenty of Old World
charm, yet has been touted as the next destination for outsourcing
in India.
As early
as 2001, in fact, India’s leading business weekly, Business
Today, in a survey of 18 important urban centers in India,
proclaimed Mysore as one of the top 10 cities in the country.
Today, major IT players such as Infosys, Wipro, Microsoft and
Dell have committed to investing millions of rupees in setting
up centers in Mysore, taking advantage of all the city has to
offer. The KPO/LPO business, too, has started to look toward
Mysore as the ideal seat for business. In particular,
the notable high-end legal services KPO, SDD Global Solutions,
has chosen the city as its headquarters.
Mysore
Has Greater Potential than Bangalore
Back in
the day, green and cool Bangalore was the kind of place that
companies wanted to set their India businesses up in. Today,
though, the IT boom has resulted in overcrowding, continuous
traffic snarls, and high prices, and the need to accommodate
the hundreds of companies and thousands of IT professionals
and other graduates that have inundated Bangalore in a short
span of time, has put great pressure upon the city.
Mysore,
by contrast, has much to offer anyone looking to set up a business.
The City of Palaces, as it is still known, is as yet mostly
untouched by the wave of so-called modernity that has crashed
into other urban centers like Bangalore. It is an open, spacious
place, blessed with good weather, and sound infrastructure.
Mysore is 14 times less polluted than Bangalore, and it has
escaped the kind of haphazard, uncontrolled and unsustainable
influx of people from rural lands that other Indian cities have
endured. The city is therefore far less congested, less stressful,
and far easier to both live in and transact business in.
A recent
and thorough study conducted on behalf of a Fortune 500 company
planning to move to Mysore in 2007 confirms that in relation
to Bangalore, Mysore has half the cost of living, and less than
half the employee attrition rates.
Even though
Bangalore has a nearly three-decade head start on Mysore in
terms of industrialization, the latter shows promise of competing
with the former because it offers a far better quality of life
to anyone looking to settle down and set up a business. The
city municipality is committed to maintaining that quality of
life and ensure a relatively pollution-free, clean environment
for its citizens.
“Secondary
cities can become an advantage to do business in, if the infrastructure
exists,” says Sid Mookerjee, CEO of Software Paradigms, a leading
company that since 1998, has had its India operations in Mysore,
and which now is constructing a 3500-employee facility there.
“We bet on the bigger centers becoming overextended in terms
of resources, and excellent infrastructure becoming available
in Mysore.” Adds Mookerji, “we are also heartened that
one of the leading LPOs, SDD Global Solutions, recently has
joined us here and seems poised for great success.”
History,
Culture and Tradition Serve as the Perfect Backdrop for
Business
The city of Mysore benefited greatly from centuries of rule
by the Wodeyar dynasty, who not only focused on extensive town
planning and careful, progressive modernization, but also paid
a great deal of attention to education and the fine arts.
Painting
and music have always been important in the history of Mysore,
with several unique styles being developed in the city itself.
The Maharajas of Mysore were great patrons of all the arts,
and gave occasion to scores of talented people to prove themselves.
Through the centuries, great artists have come to Mysore and
their talent has been allowed to flourish.
From 1910
to 1945, the city underwent what was perhaps the most important
facet of modernization it had ever seen, through the creation
of steel mills, a railway system and a network of irrigation
canals. After India became independent, Mysore, like other
kingdoms, was merged with the Union, but members of the royal
family have continued to take a keen interest in the development
of the city. Its citizens, too, are proud of their heritage
and history, and ensure that art and culture remain as important
as technological and economic progress.
It is important
to note that Mysore served as the inspiration for acclaimed
novelist R.K. Narayan’s fictitious town, Malgudi. Narayan’s
novels have been hailed by many as key to 20th century literature,
and although Narayan would never have imagined Mysore to develop
the way it has done and continues to do, the unique flavor he
captured in his work still remains a key part of this city,
and one of the main reason why anyone who comes to it would
not want to leave.
IT has Set a Precedent for KPO/LPO Business
In 1999,
Infosys became the first-ever Indian company to be listed on
the NASDAQ. Then on July 31 2006, the NASDAQ opening bell was
rung for the first time ever by an Indian company, at Infosys’s
Mysore campus – a move that signaled to the world that India,
and Mysore in particular, are a significant part of an ever-flattening
global economy.
Mysore has
been drawing a lot of the IT business that might, in the past,
have been destined for Bangalore, and in the first quarter of
2006 alone, companies in Mysore had already exported software
worth Rs. 210 crore ($46 million), which would mean that approximately
850 crore ($188 million) will be exported in the fiscal year
2006-2007 by the 42 IT companies registered with Software Technology
Parks of India (STPI).
Through
the last decade, the government of the state of Karnataka has
been enacting industry policies that are very favorable to foreign
investment. Not only has the government provided land,
uninterrupted power supply and stellar internet facilities to
the IT sector, it is also making persistent efforts to improve
infrastructure, thereby encouraging further investment in the
state. The state government is also funding the construction
of a new international airport in Bangalore, as well as a smaller
airport in Mysore, both which will make easier travel to Mysore.
In addition, the government is constructing a light rail
system, world-class technology parks, express highways and several
ring roads, all of which are for the sole purpose of encouraging
the development of IT, and will, by extension, make it easier
for anyone who is in the KPO/LPO line of business.
The government
of Karnataka has also shown its commitment to the offshoring
industry by awarding special concessions to software and IT-enabled
companies in cities like Mysore, including the leading LPO there.
Such companies are, for example, eligible for investment subsidies
and 100% sales tax exemption on output for at least a five-year
period.
The IT and
IT-enabled industry in Mysore is, according to Karnataka’s leading
daily The Deccan Herald, expected to create more than
40,000 jobs over the next few years, and investment in the sector
is set for exponential growth.
Many apartment
buildings have sprung up in Mysore, and rents are affordable
as compared to Bangalore. The city has several hotels, including
the famed Lalita Mahal, a former palace built by the Maharaja
of Mysore to entertain the Viceroy of India, as well as the
Regaalis (formerly Southern Star), Windflower, Metropole, Green
Hotel, and Ginger, a modern, new business hotel with rates of
$23 per night.
KPO Business Can Benefit From IT’s Penetration
With its
already proven success in attracting IT offshoring, Mysore can
easily take on the emerging KPO industry and provide it with
the very best.
Like IT
BPOs, the emerging KPO business is attracted to Mysore for the
more affordable, top quality infrastructure and workforce it
offers, as well as for the less hectic and congested environment
it provides. Land costs one third of what it is priced
at in Bangalore. Cost of operations are low in Mysore,
as are attrition rates, and the pool of educated, talented individuals
is as yet relatively untapped.
Mysore is
known as a university town and is very popular with students
from all over India and other countries, too. Every year,
the University of Mysore produces quality graduates in all subjects
ranging from engineering to law, and such talent can serve both
the BPO and the KPO/LPO industries.
Mysore is
also attractive to many working professionals who have had enough
of Bangalore. These seasoned BPO and KPO employees are eager
to relocate to a place that offers a better quality of life,
so business owners can also avail of talent from Bangalore.
Work/Life Balance is a Key Part of Business Success
In today’s
world, many are striving to find the right medium between professional
success and personal well-being. Mysore has become a destination
on the world map because it is the cradle of Ashtanga Yoga,
the most vigorous form of this ancient Indian practice that
has been acclaimed by many an overextended businessman as the
perfect means of achieving work/life balance.
Yoga, which
literally means “union,” is a discipline that is designed to
lead to the union, or realization of the non-difference between,
the jivatma or indwelling Self of the individual, and
the pavamatma, or Universal Self. Another way
of repeating the ancient teaching that we are all one, and that
divinity manifests in every person and every thing. Perhaps
the form that achieves this realization to the greatest extent
is Ashtanga. Mysore is home to Sri K Pattabhi Jois, who,
with his grandson and heir apparent Sharath Rangaswamy, are
arguably the foremost practitioners of Ashtanga Yoga in the
world. Their presence alone attracts thousands of aspirants
to Mysore, among the more than two million people, who, along
with scores of celebrities, claim Ashtanga as vital to their
spiritual practice. The relationship between Ashtanga
and business success did not escape the notice of Business
Week magazine, which recently ran an article on the pilgrimage
to Mysore taken by many entrepreneurs.
In addition
to being able to study Ashtanga and other yoga forms, those
who come to Mysore can avail of the benefits of Ayurveda, one
of the most remarkable holistic medical systems in the world.
Ayurveda, an ancient form of medicine, covers all aspects of
health and well-being – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
Mysore offers access to all manner of Ayurvedic treatments,
offered in state-of-the-art spas or by down-to-earth, hands-on
practitioners who have learned the art at its source.
Conclusion
This article,
focused on KPO and legal services offshoring in particular,
has run the gamut from the general to the specific, and from
the mundane to the sublime. A lot is debatable.
But one conclusion removed from serious debate by the facts,
is that KPO and legal services KPO are waves of the future,
which already have started impacting the present in a big way.
Additional Links:
(Savita Iyer is a freelance writer of Indian origin.
A financial journalist by training, she has written articles
on all areas of business and finance, including outsourcing,
for numerous publications in the U.S. and Asia, including Business
Week, Securities Industries News, International Financing Review
and Investment Advisor. Her essays and articles (financial and
otherwise) have also appeared in The Times of India, The Hindu,
and magazines such as India Currents, Femina and Outlook, India's
leading news weekly. Savita is currently based in Mysore, India,
and can be reached at siyerwriter@yahoo.com.) for
SDD Global Solutions
|
|
