With the improvement in economy, a sector of telemarketing services that went into hibernation is now making its voice heard again. Insurance, be it in health or property, took a nose-dive as the cash available to the consumers hit an all-time low during the tough months of the recession. The call center agents could hardly find any work in this sector because people hardly had any cash on them to invest in insurance. They were having a bad time in lead generation. The savings of the prospective consumers were not much and many of them were on unemployment benefits. The question of insurance did not make sense then.
But things are changing now. Jobs are getting back into the groove. People are going back to work. This is turning into benefit for telemarketing services firms that work in the insurance sector. There are more consumers willing to invest in insurance. Fusion BPO Services has seen a sharp rise in the number of insurance projects that we received in the last few months. We are keen on getting deeper into the insurance and finance sector. We are looking at different options on hand, that include mergers and tie-ups. The recent spurt in the insurance sector and its corresponding effect on the business process outsourcing sector is encouraging us to go ahead and do some more work in this domain.
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Some 46% of the respondents among the Gen Y group feel that they want to work in a BPO because of the flexible working hours and also the benefits. The Gen Y crowd likes their independence and wants to keep their play hours close to themselves. They believe in the mantra of working hard and partying harder. Call centers happen to be a good career option for them because they can work unusual hours and led an unconventional life. Many among the Gen Y hate the idea of a day job with no flexibility and even fewer chances of leading a different, upbeat life. Call center jobs provide them that opportunity. It sure feels different to head to work when others are sound asleep!
Other than the BPO working hours, the flexible benefits work for the Gen Y folks. There is a catch here, however. Though they want to work at call centers for the benefits, very few firms actually provide them in this current economic condition. That is a downer and many of the respondents felt that they would rather live on unemployment grants than work in telemarketing. We believe that it is the duty of the business process outsourcing fraternity to encourage more Gen Y members to join the workforce. They bring in a fresh influx of talent that telemarketing services definitely needs.
There are some parameters that separate the good from the better and the better from the best. In terms of BPO, the statement holds true. There are call centers mushrooming everywhere. We are often asked how we are able to be the numero uno call center destination for numerous clients all over the globe. The answer is simple: we do certain things that good outsourcing units don’t! For example, we employ the best talent in the business process outsourcing unit as opposed to the compromised quality in the workforce of many of our one-time peers. Over time, they have been fallen by the wayside while we continue to march ahead with bold steps. We attribute our success to our employees and it’s because of them that we have been leaders in this sector for almost a decade now.
Transparent ways of doing our telemarketing business is another reason why we could stick it out. We do not charge our clients/customers on anything extra. Our call center agents make it sufficiently clear about the payment. We do not change things during the course of your stay with us. We like to conduct the telemarketing services work within the stipulated budget. We also ensure that there are enough technological equipments and expertise with us. We like to see ourselves as the BPO unit that has a state-of-the-art back-up, along with the quality manpower.
In a non-business related post, we have something for the business process outsourcing community as a whole. We had reported in these columns sometimes earlier about the NBC show ‘Outsourced’. The show is based on the call center industry in Mumbai, India. The show is all about an American manager crossing the Atlantic to speak to the Indian members of the call center and teach them a thing or two about the American culture and subtexts. This sets off a hilarious roll of cross-cultural exchanges leading to laughs. The NBC is very clear about not promoting the show as a caricature of India. Instead, the producers of ‘Outsourced’ want to market it as a show that familiarizes the American community to a culture where their calls go!
NBC is offering their most precious slot to ‘Outsourced’. The executive producer of the show, Ken Kwapis, told reporters that their aim is not to poke fun at the Indian call centers. Rather, they want to explore the human Diasporas that work as answering service agents in these BPO firms. The aim of the show is to portray the petty foibles that make up an office. Built on the lines of their own hit show ‘The Office’ and borrowed from the 2006 film ‘Outsourced’, the show will tackle the many cultural conflicts that exist between the American work culture and the Indian way of doing things.
