This post is going to be about BPO industry in India and how it has been keeping thousands of Indians "happy" - hence the title "Happiness Outsourced." This is going to be a quick short post by me and this post does not intend to analyze the pros and cons of working in a BPO, so please do not leave comments of the same - may be I could save it for another post.
BPO is a segment which constantly keeps on growing without looking back in the ITES industry. Companies with international market presence (especially US and UK) are convinced that outsourcing a process to India means effective and efficient work flow at reduced costs. The ITES/BPO sector has grown so big in the past 10 years to a point where we could find several successful BPO units running even in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Few years back, this industry was restricted to Tier-1 cities (Mumbai/Chennai/Bangalore rocked and still rocks). Today it is a different story, companies in Tier-1 cities are looking for options in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities due to reduced infrastructure costs and possible quality work force. India is recognized as the world's best destination to outsource and it is because of the large English speaking Internet savvy youth available and the unique geographical location.
I remember hearing the word BPO first time in the late 1990s while I was still at school. I never knew the real meaning of the same at that point of time. The first outsourced service I remember is medical transcription which spread like a wild fire with new units mushrooming everywhere. I was very skeptical about that industry but later on had a very long satisfactory run working in the same industry. The BPO industry transformed greatly in the early 2000 as state dominated telecommunication services where pushed backward by private telecommunication providers. It was the time I started to hear words like "call center," "inbound," "outbound," "voice," "non-voice" and many. This time I was able to understand all these jargon because I had a couple of friends working in call centers.
As years passed by, whenever I visited Chennai or Bangalore I could find MNCs establishing subsidiaries of their parent companies in these cities. As I worked for one of the leading health providers in the US, I could avail only the US holidays and the US weekends. Whenever I needed a break, I used to hit the cities as I had friends and family there. On these days, I could find a large number of BPO executives hanging out in all kinds of places - they were everywhere - call it theaters, pubs, food joints. It was like you could find one every 2 steps you take and they were very sociable. Some of these executives (good friends of mine) I met were very outspoken and I felt as if they were bringing in a new cultural shift - obviously now I could say they (we) definitely did. On Monday evenings, the scene shifted and I could find the same large number of people hooked on to their mobiles and going to work - the same group which buzzed all the "hangout spots" sometime back. All faces going to work - happy.
BPOs have helped the Indian youth greatly. I remember reading somewhere that almost 70% of today's Indian youth work for BPOs. They help fresh graduates to jump start their career as an executive and get attractive pay packages - making these jobs the best option for everyone with English language skills could get their hands at. I dislike people when they say that BPO culture is bad and it has promoted the "pub" culture and also the "casual sex" culture. Pubs existed long before BPOs existed and they were busy during the old times too. The media has been very successful in amplifying news on sexscapades of BPO executives although everyone know the fact that it can happen anywhere and not limited to the BPO industry alone. BPO executives are classic examples of the tweaked corporate cultural philosophy 'work hard smart, play party hard.' I do not intend to get more into the "culture," will save it for another post - may be.
I honestly feel this post needs a sequel and definitely I will post one with more deeper insight. Here comes the last few lines of this post:
I have been working in this sector for many years and so do lot of good friends of mine and I always feel that it is not just work outsourced by companies - it is indeed "Happiness Outsourced" which keeps thousands of Indians like me smiling and happy 24x7.
