New Year. A new series!

All those questions you had about BPOs will now be answered by our expert, Zia Shiekh. This is the first of a series:

I wonder how many BPOs deal in non-voice based or back-office work. Can you give me any relevant information? I worked at a call centre for a year. I now have a day job [at another concern]. Mine is a technical job and the compensation is on par with the call centre. Do you think I did the correct thing by quitting the call centre?

- Sunil Mandavkar

Zia Shiekh: It depends on what your priorities are. If you are very ambitious, want to grow rapidly and take on higher responsibilities at a young age, the international call centre environment would have enabled you to do so. 

But if your priority is family and work-life balance, which tends to take a hit in international call centre environment, then your decision is correct.

As for the first part of your question, there are lots of BPOs, especially captive centres (for example, back-office processing centres of Citibank, JP Morgan, HSBC, Standard Chartered, ABN Amro Bank, Deutsche Bank, American Express), who are doing large volumes of back-office data and transaction processing work.

There are also several outsourced third party providers (like WNS in Mumbai, Progeon in Bangalore, Vertex in Delhi) who handle back-office work for clients.

A science post graduate, I have 14 years of experience in sales and marketing, 13 years of which have been spent in the pharmaceutical industry. What career can the BPO sector give me and what will be my cost to company?

- Kapil Kumar Manglam

Zia Shiekh: You can try for business development, sales, marketing, solution development, project management/ migration or other similar positions in BPO, which involve client interaction as well as sales/ marketing skill sets. 

Please be aware that, most likely, you will face lifestyle issues -- working in these roles in BPO would involve working with North American clients and you would need to work their hours.

I am a business development professional and I have been in the export industry for the last seven years. I have been trained in various aspects of operations, apart from business development.

I would like to try the BPO industry now, but hardly find the place/ people to approach for senior positions in Operations / Business Development. Everybody wants me to join at an associate level and grow from there.

I did try this route but found myself with low confidence levels. My skills as a manager were not utilised at all. I want to join a good international BPO. What should I do?

- Avnish Soni

Zia Shiekh: Please feel free to email your resume to us at careers@infowavz.com, and we will get back if we can meet your career aspirations. 

As a general strategy, I would advise you to research on the key BPOs/ call centres and build your understanding of their requirements.

You would then be able to structure your resume and skill sets better, and find a position that is appropriate for your level of experience and career aspirations.

I have a thorough understanding of banking operations, financial statement analysis and credit appraisal. I also can do security analysis and research. I have 20 years of experience in banking, and I based in Hyderabad. I hold a B Sc and a CAIIB from the Indian Institute of Bankers, Mumbai. I recently took a VRS from my bank as a Manager.

Where can I fit into the BPO industry?

- Kumaraswamy

Zia Shiekh: You should try to find a position with one of the captive banking BPOs in India.

There are several across the country.

In Hyderabad, you have GE Capital International Services as well as HSBC back-office processing centres for international banking operations/ back office data/ transaction processing. 

Other captive centers in India include Citibank, JP Morgan, Standard Chartered, ABN Amro Bank, Deutsche Bank and American Express. 

You will find that you will be able to use your expertise and skill sets in these environments best.

I am a software development professional with 25 years of of experience. I am the head of software development of a US based offshore development centre in New Delhi. Is there any way I can join a BPO?

- Sharan Ahuja

Zia Shiekh: Sure, why not. You already have a strong operations experience, albeit in the IT environment, supporting an international client. I believe your skills are transferable to the BPO industry as well.

You could send your resume to careers@infowavz.com.

We are a team of seven people, ranging from 35 years to 58 years. Most of us were working for a public limited company. After taking a VRS, we floated a company to undertaking e-accounting, data conversion, pay roll and other back-office services.

We tried to get assignments in e-accounting and data conversion, in vain. We hired some consultants but it did not work out. Kindly suggest what we should do.

Could you also suggest a source from which we can get data conversion/data entry assignments? We have a good infrastructure at a prime locality in Bangalore.

We are given to understand that USA and UK universities have embarked on digitisation of their records, research work, etc, and there is vast scope for augmenting business here as well as in e-accounting.

- K C Nagesh

Zia Shiekh: I am sorry, but we won't be able to help you in this area.

We are primarily focused on customer services and technical support areas, rather than back-office or BFSI segments.

Zia Shiekh is the CEO of Infowavz International, a leading international BPO company with offices in Mumbai, London [Images], Toronto and New York.

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