The Global Offshore Outsourcing Summit 2006, organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce kicked off on Friday at the ITC Grand Central, Mumbai.
The 4th edition of this one-day event will chalk out the roadmap of the knowledge process outsourcing industry in India.
KPO is the next logical move up the value chain in the business process outsourcing segment, and GOOS '06 brings the industry leaders on a platform to identify the challenges and opportunities in the KPO industry.
US Consul General Michael Owen was the Guest of Honour at the event. In his inaugural address, the Consul General said that India was poised to take KPO, a fledgling industry at present, to greater heights.
Highlighting the need for better security measures in Indian BPOs, he said, "Indian companies need to take care about the security issues. And I am glad that Indian companies are taking measures in this direction," he said.
Owen also emphasised that as India becomes adept at knowledge processing, it should put an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regime in place.
Manish Modi, conference chair, in address, said that GOOS '06 will outline a 5 year growth agenda for the KPO industry. He added that this is a good opportunity to interact with seasoned, successful CEOs who have created values and helped the BPO industry scale new heights.
Owen also unveiled an Ernst & Young Survey Report, 'Global Sourcing of Knowledge Services'. Milan Sheth, associate director, Ernst & Young, while explaining the key points of the report, said, "We have concentrated on the supply side of priorities for leadership as there is a need to understand the customer's requirements in the KPO industry."
As per the findings of the survey, the Engineering Services Outsourcing, now, accounts for 55 per cent of the $ 1.2 billion spend that is outsourced from India. The legal & IP research services, business, financial and market research are also on a high growth curve.
Retaining talent in the high attrition BPO industry was recognised as the pressing issue today. Acording to Pramod Bhasin, president & CEO of Genpact, retaining talent at the top-level will be absolutely necessary to inspire confidence among customers.
As India moves up the value chain towards more efficient knowledge processing, it's the outflow of knowledge vested in the top-level professionals that will need to be retained. Bhasin suggested that creating more value for employees within the organisation and training would curtail attrition rates to acceptable levels.
IACC regional president Atul Nishar was also present.
Photo: ( Left to Right) R K Chopra, Secretary General, IACC; Milan Sheth, Associate Director, Ernst & Young; Atul Nishar, Regional President, IACC, Manish Modi, Conference Chair, GOOS 2006; Michael Owen, US Consul General, Mumbai; and Sanjay Singh, President, HP BPO India at the Global Offshore Outsourcing Summit 2006 in Mumbai on Friday.
Photograph, courtesy: IACC
