Indian Outsourcing Industry and Standard Quality
The Indian BPO industry is now under an entirely different dictatorship. It was relying on its cost effectiveness previously to attract customers. Ninety percent of ITES-BPO companies now have specialized quality departments that are responsible for ensuring accurate, reliable services to their customers. The spotlight in Indian centers is now focused on ensuring standards of quality that are at par with, if not superior to their counterparts abroad. Quality is the catchphrase of business processes and services and is dictating everywhere.
India and the benefit
1. The National Association of Software and Service Companies survey also found that fifty percent of Indian companies have implemented varied levels of The International Organization for Standardization, which conceives sets of quality management standards such as ISO 9002, ISO 9001, ISO 9001:2000, and ISO 9001:2001. The ITES-BPO industries are most sensitive in including internationally accepted standards of quality assurance.
2. A survey conducted by National Association of Software and Service Companies in 2002 showed that an India based ITES-BPO center in the banking and financial service sector, performs better than a UK or US based facility on significant factors such as the number of correct transactions/total umber of transactions, total satisfaction factor, number of transactions per hour and the average speed of answers. The benefit of India lies primarily in the educational and technical qualifications of the personnel because they are more qualified than the people working in the local areas.
3. It also found out that forty five percent of Indian service providers have certifications like Six Sigma. Six Sigma is a disciplined, statistical quality control method that measures the number of defects compared to the opportunities to make defects and Capability Maturity Model Integration. Here the CMMI means a process improvement method that provides a set of best practices that address productivity, performance, costs, and customer satisfaction. Moreover, a lot of organizations are upgrading their quality standards to from the ISE 9000 to the new ISO 9000:2000, and from the CMM framework to the new CMMI framework. And this process is beneficial and continues.
Excellence
Quality departments have a straightforward approach to identifying the areas that require quality control. The first step is the identification of parameters that are 'critical to quality'. Other key factors like accuracy, productivity and turnaround time are also outlined. These parameters almost always include the client's requirements and expectations.
Another fact to notice is the process approach. Most companies are now also following the process approach. It is a description of the linkages between all the activities that work towards meeting the finest quality standards that have been identified by prevalent quality norms and the client's potential.
Descend of the Quality
The only two popular certifications in the ITES industry are the 'Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) and the Certified Software Test Engineer (CSTE). Both these certifications are offered by the Quality Assurance Institute, which is again, an international body. But these too are largely considered inadequate by most authorities.
There are little or no certifications for quality professionals in India, and those that are available are either US or UK based. Despite superior performance levels and accreditation from international bodies, India still remains at a disadvantage when it comes to certifications for quality professionals. Although most companies make their employees undergo the processes for these certifications, the lack of an indigenous certification body is being felt, especially due to the scarcity of training centres for quality assurance and control.
The use of incorrect accents and grammar is another major problem concerning industries like the customer contact center industry which relies on verbal one-on-one communication. Quality lapses are felt strongly because of misunderstandings or the customer's inability to understand Indian accents. The international standard in contact center operations - the COPC certification is now in great demand among Indian contact centers. While six of the top 25 players already have COPC certifications, 12 more companies are in the process of being certified.
Conclusion
Efforts are being made to improve the quality standards in these areas by deploying specific bodies that evaluate prospective employees on English speaking abilities such as accent, grammar, fluency and overall communication skills.
