OVERVIEW OF THE BPO INDUSTRY – 3

Posted by girish seshamani on June 11, 2010

CALL CENTER TERMINOLOGIES

ABANDONED CALL

A call wherein the caller disconnects the line before he speaks to a call centre agent.

AUTOMATIC NUMBER IDENTIFICATION

It is used by all call centers to keep a record of people who have called up with their phone numbers. It is also an effective method to detect threatening or nuisance calls and pass on the information to the relevant authorities.

AUTO ANSWER GREETING

When the customer calls up the call center, he is greeted by a pre recorded voice message to put him on hold, till his call is answered by a call center agent  This pre recorded greeting can be done by the concerned BPO itself.

CALL DISTRIBUTION

Many call center agents’ work in one process. The experience and ability level will obviously vary from one agent to another. With this system, the call can be routed to the appropriate call center agent, taking into account his knowledge and experience.

DISPATCH CALLS

In this, the call center agent has to simply take the message and pass on the information to the recipient, by way of a text message to a cell phone.

AVERAGE CALL HANDLING TIME

This is the total number of minutes put in by the agent in a day, divided by the total number of calls taken by him. This gives the Average Call Handling Time (ACHT)

HELP DESK

Help Desk calls basically refer to calls providing customer support services to people who have problems with software packages or hardware problems.

INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE

This is basically to reduce customers waiting time and provide them with quick and efficient services. When a customer calls up customer service, he will have instructions given to him, by a pre recorded voice. The customer has to follow the instructions, to ensure that his call is handled by the right person.

SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENT

This is the agreement signed by the BPO and the company, when the company has decided to hand over the operations to a BPO.  The Service Level Agreement contains the guidelines which the BPO has to strictly follow. Any kind of deviation may lead to customer dissatisfaction which will make the customer go for another company. No company would want to lose its existing customers. Normally the Service Level Agreement will cover the following areas:

• Recruitment
• Training
• Quality Score
• Customer Satisfaction
• BARGING

When a new agent is on a call, the quality team can hear the conversation between the agent and the customer. This is called as barging.

SCRIPT

If you are a part of an inbound or outbound process, you are given a script, which you necessarily, need to follow. The script contains details of the dialogue, to be followed by the agent, while interacting with the customers. All Voice Processes have a script.

QUALITY

The job of the quality team is to listen to the interaction between the customer and the agent and give them a feedback on their performance. This is done only in the case of new call center agents wherein they are given a quality score for each call and also a constructive feedback.

QUALITY SCORE

When a new call center agent takes calls he will obviously take some time to settle down before he starts performing. The initial three months when a fresher joins a BPO till he is officially made part of the team and given targets, is normally referred to as the honeymoon period. The quality team will listen to some of the calls and give him a quality score. The quality score is given in percentages. All agents who are part of the voice process need to get the qualifying quality score, even if they have over performed. This applies to all agents of a voice process, irrespective of whether they are fresh or inexperienced.

PREDICTIVE DIALING

In this a database of customers with the phone numbers are loaded in the system. The dialer will start dialing the numbers automatically and if the call is picked up, it will route it to the concerned call center agent. If the call is not picked up it will put the number back in the list for redialing.

QUEUE

The queue is a system wherein calls are on hold or yet to be answered by the call center agent. The number of customers in queue can be seen on the screen by the call center agent and this will help him to dispose of each call as quickly as possible depending on the queue.

TALK TIME

Talk Time is the total time spent by the call center agent on the phone with one customer. The talk time starts from the moment the agent greets the customer till he finishes the call.

TOLL FREE NUMBERS

Toll Free numbers enable customers to call up the call center without incurring any charges.

FLOOR

Floor is the place where all call center agents, team coaches and team leaders sit.

BAY

The entire floor is divided into various sections. Each section is called a bay. Typically each bay will have a team leader and his team of agents.

CALL ESCALATION

When a call center agent is not able to handle a customer, he will ask the customer to hold the line, and transfer the call to a senior agent or his team leader. This is known as call escalation.

SIDE JACK

When new agents come to the floor after they clear the training, they are made to sit with experienced call center agents. The new call center agents are given headsets which can be connected to the system. The new agents can then hear the conversation between the agent and the customer. Normally side jacking is done for three or four days. This is very effective because the agent can listen to live calls and knows how to handle various situations.

DO NOT CALL REGISTRY

In the US and UK customers can register with their phone service provide and pay a fixed amount each year to ensure that their name is not put in the telephone directory. Such people are part of the DO NOT CALL LIST

Abroad each person gets around 20 telemarketing calls on an average. Customers who do not want to be disturbed register with the DNC Registry.

Since all BPO’s buy databases directly from the market, there is every chance that the database contains lot of DNC numbers.

Normally many calls go to DNC customers who get very angry or irritated. They can also record the call and sue the company according to their legal laws.

LOG ON

When the shift is about to start, the team leader asks all the agents to log in and get ready to receive or make calls as the case may be.

LOG OFF

Agents normally log off from the system when their shift finishes or when their team leader wants to talk to his whole team.

UPDATES

When there is a change in the product, as in, if new schemes are launched by the company or new features are introduced in a model, this information is passed on to the agents who can use it effectively while interacting with the customers.

RESUME BUILDING

There is no definite structure for a resume. I will list down the important points that you should keep in mind.

I personally do not believe in mentioning the career objective. It looks very superficial. It is very much understood, that as an employee, one needs to contribute towards the growth of the organization and work with a high level of integrity and loyalty. Likewise it is also understood that all professional organizations have Human Resource Interventions in place, to keep employees happy and productive. Ultimately when I look at this exercise, it ultimately boils down to this point.

Ensure that your name, residential address, contact numbers, date of birth and E – Mail is put first.

Put your residential contact number first and then mention your mobile number.

Your date of birth should be in the DD\MM\YY format, with the age in brackets, as in, 235\1990 (20 years)

If your permanent address and the present address are different, mention both the addresses.

Coming to Academics, take your latest qualification first, and then go back.

For e.g., if you have completed your B.Com, mention your B.Com first, then come to your H.S.C. and S.S.C. Put your academics in a tabular form, as in, Degree, Academic Year, Board\University and your Percentage or Class.

If you have done any project which you feel will give you leverage over other candidates, mention the details of the project

There is a huge difference between hobbies and extra curricular activities. Hobbies are activities which we do in our spare time. Extra Curricular Activities are events in which you have participated at the school or college level, for which you have a certificate, to back it up. If you have won elocution contest or you have won an essay competition in the English Language, do make a mention of it in your resume.

Mention hobbies, only if you have one. Do not invent hobbies and put them in your resume. You are digging your own grave.

If you have attended any seminars or workshops related to Personality Development or Public Speaking, make a mention of it.

Mention the languages which you can speak, read and write.

References can be given on request. Make sure that you have two references ready with you. The first reference can be of your professor at the degree level. The second reference can be your friend who is working in a BPO or an individual who knows your family well, who is highly qualified and holds a good position in a reputed organization. Ensure that you take the permission of the concerned people, before you put their name in your name. Keep them informed of the purpose for which you are giving their reference.

Mention your Passport Number with the expiration date.

Do not write statements like, I declare that the above information is true………..You do not have to prove your honesty to anyone.

Do not go beyond two pages. Restrict the resume to one page if possible, but ensure that you do not cramp it. The resume should look professional and neat, with well spaced out gaps and no grammatical errors.

• Keep the font consistent throughout.
• Avoid the use of passive voice.
• Mention your skill sets.

THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS

The recruitment process at a call center requires a candidate to go through five rounds in the normal course.

The rounds are as follows:

1. Telephonic Interview
2. Aptitude Test
3. Technical Interview
4. Typing Test
5. H.R. Interview

TELEPHONIC INTERVIEWS

In a BPO, the telephonic interview is held first because the accent, pronunciation, fluency and voice modulation of the candidate is of prime importance.

The telephonic interview normally consists of five rounds:

1. Reading sentences or tongue twisters
2. Putting jumbled sentences in the right order
3. Correcting the mistake in the sentence
4. Filling the blank in a sentence with the right article, preposition or conjunction
5. Giving a speech, on the spot, for at least three minutes

I will share with you some points to be kept in mind, while having a telephonic interview.

Let me clarify that all BPO’s , normally have walk in interviews. The candidates register their names and are called in one by one by the HR person who calls up his Voice and Accent Trainers. The candidate has to interact with them and they take a decision on the candidate.

Some companies have self introduction rounds, to assess the fluency, voice modulation, pronunciation and accent of the candidate. Around 25 candidates are seated in a room, and they are called out one by one, to give their self introduction.Apart from this, they could also be asked to talk on a topic for a minimum of three minutes continuously. They have to start speaking immediately, after the topic is given to them. No time is given to think.

POINTS TO BE KEPT IN MIND DURING THE TELEPHONIC INTERVIEW (FOR BPO INTERVIEWS)

Greet the caller and introduce yourself by name. Get to know the name of the interviewer by asking, ‘May I know your name please’

Keep a tight leash over your mind. Do not allow any kind of fear or nervousness to dominate your mind.

Sit comfortably.

Ensure that your lips and tongue are wet. Have a glass of water. Similarly keep a glass of water beside you in case you need it. If your lips and tongue is not wet, you will not be able to speak properly and will have exercise lot of strain, which will go against you.

Listen to each question carefully and give answers to the point.

Do not hold the mouthpiece very close to your mouth while speaking. You will damage the ears of the interviewer!!!!!!!!!

Be very conscious of what you are speaking. Choose your words carefully.

Ensure that you speak at the right pace. Do not speak too fast or too slow. The ideal speaking rate is between one hundred forty to one hundred sixty words per minute. Always remember that no one likes holding to the telephone for too long. If you speak slowly, the listener will get frustrated. If you speak fast, the listener will not be able to grasp what you are saying.

• Avoid the use of fillers. When you use too much of fillers, the very purpose of communication gets lost.
• Always smile while speaking. It gets reflected in your voice.
• Sound enthusiastic. Do not give the impression of a dead speaker.
• In case you feel like coughing or sneezing, always mention, ‘Excuse me, I am sorry’
• Never interrupt the interviewer while he is speaking.
• Never answer in monosyllables, as in, Yes or No.
• Be particularly careful while mentioning dates. If there is a mismatch in what you say and what is mentioned in the resume, it is your funeral.
• Another technique for gaining time is to rephrase the question asked by the interviewer. This should not be done regularly, but only in cases where you feel you need time to think.

Thank the interviewer for giving you a chance to showcase your skills.

APTITUDE TEST

The aptitude test will basically test your ability to think on your feet. It will have simple mathematical problems, questions on logical reasoning and grammar. Normally you get 30 seconds to answer one question and to qualify for the next round you need to get at least 80%

TECHNICAL INTERVIEW

Technical Interview is normally conducted by the Operations Manager. When a BPO recruits people, it does so for one process. The operations manager will basically look at the accent and fluency of the candidate. Since the responsibility of the whole process lies on him, it is ultimately his call.

TYPING TEST

Candidates need to have a typing speed of at least 20 words per minute with an accuracy of 80 %

H.R. INTERVIEW

The H.R. team will try to see whether the candidate can work in teams and secondly as to whether the candidate will stick with the BPO.

Since BPO’s have a very high attrition rate which is close to 40% it is very critical for the recruitment team to select the right fit. The cost of training one candidate costs up to one lakh rupees.

Once the candidate clears the HR Interview he is given the offer letter immediately. The offer letter does not in any way guarantee his employment.

Once the candidate joins the BPO formally, he will undergo training for a period of one month.The candidate has to clear the training process. The training is divided into four categories:

Product Training – Details about the customers product

Process Training – How to navigate through the screen, use of head sets and other technical  nuances

Soft Skills – Presentation Skills and Inter Personal Skills

Voice and Accent – Neutral Accent without any mother tongue influence (MTI)

The candidate is tested at regular intervals and has to get a qualifying score of at least 90 % in each assignment. Only after he clears the training, he effectively becomes an employee.

Coming to Voice and Accent, let me clarify, that no BPO wants you to imitate any accent, either US or UK. They are talking about Neutral Accent.

Neutral Accent is nothing but globally understandable and comprehensible English Language.

With this, I conclude my write on the BPO Industry. I will be covering areas like Knowledge Process Outsourcing, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Legal Process Outsourcing, Document Process Outsourcing and Technical Writing in my future write ups at length.

AN OVERVIEW OF THE BPO INDUSTRY – 2

Posted by girish seshamani on June 3, 2010

In my first write up, I had given you an overview of the BPO industry. In this write up, I will cover some common myths which still prevail, and also expand on the various functions in the BPO industry, which I had mentioned in my first write up.

Over the last ten years, I have seen lot of parents very skeptical or afraid to send their children to work in the BPO industry. I will dispel lot of myths which I have encountered during the course of my conversations with parents or guardians of BPO aspirants.

MYTH

My son or daughter will get addicted to drugs or alcohol

The BPO industry by itself is a very secure and disciplined industry. I have spent close to a decade with some of the most reputed names in the BPO industry, and I have not come across a single case of someone getting addicted or being forced to take drugs or alcohol. Another significant fact that people by and large need to consider, is the fact, that close to 70% of the employees working in the BPO industry in India, are girls with an average age of 23 years. No one can force you to take drugs or alcohol. Of course since the BPO industry has a young crowd, they do chill out in the weekends. But apart from that, I am yet to come across a serious problem, as the parents perceive. Parents go more by rumours or take advice from people who ado not know anything about the BPO industry.

MYTH

My child will have health issues since BPO’s work in shifts and the shift timing keeps on changing

Irrespective of the change in the shift timings, there will be no health issues. The human body has got an inbuilt mechanism, by which it can adapt itself to any situation. So there is no question of your health getting affected. Most of the Indian BPO’s have US and UK clients. US shifts inevitably start at night. Moreover there are four time zones within the US. So the shift timing for a US process, may start anywhere from 7-30 till 11-30 pm.

In the case of UK, they are five hours behind India. So typically an UK shift will start at 3 pm and go on till 1 am in the morning.

MYTH

BPO’s do not offer you a career. It is simply a stop gap arrangement or a means to earn money

As of now, the BPO industry is close to 15 years old. It is now a very mature industry. There are lots of high end areas which require employees with professional qualifications and work expertise. It is also a well regulated industry.

NASSCOM (NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOFTWARE AND SERVICING COMPANIES) lays down the rules for the functioning of the IT and ITES industry.

Over the last three years, lot of professionals, from other industries, have shifted to the BPO industry, with the intention of making their career.

MYTH

There are no growth opportunities in the BPO industry. You have to keep on doing the same job again and again

When BPO’s initially came to India in the year 1996, the basic qualification required was only HSC. This was because, initially lot of voice processes used to come to India. Since the agent had to converse only on the telephone with the customer, the requirement, was only a good command over spoken English, a fairly good accent and the ability to understand the culture and accent of the customer. For this, all BPO’s had a one month training program to train agents on the culture and Voice and Accent. People who joined the BPO industry at that point of time, got promoted early since the competition was virtually non existent. Gradually with the passage of time, lot of people started entering the BPO industry. At the same time, lot of other functions like E Mail Support, Chat Support, Web Designing, Content Writing, Back Office Support, etc, also came in. Each of these functions required candidates with different skill sets. Depending on the profile of the candidate, they were placed in the function which suited their skill sets.

Lot of BPO’s also sponsor your higher education. Once you acquire a professional qualification, you easily shift to a high end area, like a KPO or RPO.

MYTH

BPO employees suffer from lot of stress

Each and every job in this world has got its positives and negatives. Our intelligence lies in being brutally honest with ourselves, in terms of understanding our strengths and then match it with the job. Secondly at some point of time, even the Vice President of a company gets tired, doing the same job again and again. This is precisely where we need to acquire new skill sets which in turn will help us, to explore various opportunities. The problem with most of us, is the habit of jumping on the bandwagon, and then when we come crashing down, we realize we were not cut out for that job or function.

Everyone suffers from stress. It is up to the individual to keep himself motivated.

MYTH

BPO is not safe for girls working in night shifts

There is absolutely no truth in this, considering the fact that close to 70% of people working in the BPO industry are women, which I have already mentioned earlier. There have been stray cases of girls getting murdered or raped, which have been shown in very bad light by all the television channels. Any incident related to the BPO industry is always portrayed negatively. All vehicles are connected to the local police station. The concerned BPO also has got a system to track the vehicle. If the vehicle deviates from the path, the concerned BPO comes to know about it immediately. Coming to the stray cases of rape or murder, the employees themselves are responsible for it. They tend to have affairs, which in some cases, can lead to impulsive actions and thereby the consequences are fatal.

MYTH

BPO experience is not valued in the job market

This is totally incorrect. Work Experience in the BPO industry is highly valued, because of the following reasons:

Employees are excellent oral communicators and powerful listeners

They are capable of multitasking, due to the frequent training programs, which BPO companies give their employees

They can very easily adapt themselves to any kind of working environment and comfortably work in teams

They are result oriented

They have the ability to take pressure. All BPO employees work on stringent deadlines

They are very disciplined and well mannered

They are very ambitious and take up any challenge which is thrown at them, since they are young and want to grow

LET US NOW LOOK AT THE VARIOUS FUNCTIONS UNDER THE BPO INDUSTRY IN DETAIL

VOICE PROCESS

As the term suggests, Voice Process, means human voice is used to interact with the customers. Voice Processes have two major categories – Inbound and Outbound

Inbound means calls made by the customer to the company’s toll free number which is transferred to a call centre agent. Inbound calls are basically customer service calls.

Coming to performance measuring parameters, in the case of an inbound call, the performance of the agent is measured in terms of the Average Call Handling Time. ACHT is the total number of minutes worked divided by the total number of calls attended or taken in a day. This will give the average time taken by the agent to handle one call. Depending on the product,  the ACHT is fixed. It obviously cannot be the same for all products.

Outbound calls caters to selling a product or service. In this type of calling, the dialer will dial numbers automatically and the call centre agent ends up selling a product or service to the customer.

In the case of Outbound, the performance of the agent is measured in terms of the sales made by him in a month. All agents who are part of the outbound call process are given a target per month,  taking into consideration their experience.

BACK OFFICE SUPPORT

There are lots of functions which come under back office support. To take an example, we can take the mortgage process. Mortgage means, the customer pledges his house as a security with the bank, for a loan. It is the job of the back office support executive, to ensure that the application form is duly filled up by the customer and all relevant documents are attached. If there is a mismatch, only then will the agent call up the customer, to get whatever information or document is required to process the application.

Another example, we can take, is of a mobile connection. When we choose a service provider, we have to fill up the application form and submit proof of our residence, date of birth and personal identification. It is the job of the back office support executive to ensure that the entire documentation is in place.

These are also called as Semi Voice Process, because the agent will talk with the customer, only if it is required.

EMAIL SUPPORT

E MAIL SUPPORT basically means, responding to customer complaints. Let us take the example of a person, who has been traveling with Jet Airways, for the last ten years. One day, he finds that the service is lousy, and shoots off a letter to the public relations department. Such complaints are answered by the email support executive. It can be oral or in writing, but most of the complaints are responded in written form only. The email support executive, should be able to convince the customer that he is highly valued, and this kind of a mess up will not happen again. All service industries, run on word of mouth publicity. One bad mouthing customer, can literally mess up the profits of the whole organization because this person is going to speak about the lousy service to everyone.

As they say, bad news always travels faster than good news.

CHAT SUPPORT

In airports, there are lots of computer terminals. Businessmen normally have hectic and last minute schedules. When a businessman comes to the airport, he can go on an online chat, and get all the details about any flight, very quickly.

WEB DESIGNING

A web designer designs the website of a company. All professional organizations have a website. If the website of any company is not professional, it will totally spoil the reputation of the organization even if the organization happens to be a market leader in that field The job of a web designer is to decide the color combinations of the website. Apart from this, he has to decide where the information has to be put, how it needs to be structured, which points need to be highlighted and so on

CONTENT WRITING

The job of a content writer is to design the written part of a company’s website. There are several profiles of people who will visit a company’s website. It could be a prospective employee wanting to make a career, a supplier, a customer or a bank. The information required by each of these people, are different. The content writer has to fully understand all the details about the organization, and accordingly decide on the language to be used. He should also cater to all type of people who are bound to access the company’s website, and also take care on how to structure and put the information.

Both the web designer and the content writer normally work hand in glove, because it requires lot of coordination between them.

TECHNICAL WRITING

The job of a technical writer is to convert complex information and put it in a simple language, which a layman can easily understand and comprehend, To give you a very simple example, when we buy a mobile handset, there is a manual which comes with the set. The manual is written in a very simple language. This manual is designed by the technical writer.

KNOWLEDGE PROCESS OUTSOURCING

KPO is an emerging field. A professional with around 5-8 years of work experience in a specific filed and having expertise can get into KPO. He need to know his function like the back of his hand, since he will be handling the client him self.

RECRUITMENT PROCESS OUTSOURCING

When a company wants to recruit people in huge numbers, they first need to release an advertisement in the newspaper. They have to then shortlist the candidates, send interview letters to the short listed candidates, conduct all the selection rounds and ultimately narrow down on the right candidate. Those candidates who are selected need to be sent offer letters and then followed up. Practically when we look at this entire process, all employees of the  HR Department get involved in this exercise.

In the case of RPO,  the company will identify a reputed placement organization, give its requirements, and ask the consultant to take care of the entire selection process. This gives a huge advantage to the company, because the HR team can then focus on more critical issues, which require immediate attention.

MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION

In Medical Transcription, the conversation between the doctor and the patient is recorded in a voice file. This file is sent to India on the same day. A medical transcriptionist has to listen to the recording, and type it word to word and send it back on the next day to US. This line is a very lucrative field but also equally challenging.

Any medical transcription company, provides a training of one year to selected candidates. They are then made to sit with experienced transcriptionists to understand the process. This line is difficult, because you need to have an excellent understanding of all the medical terminologies. Apart from this, you also need to understand the accent. Normally one voice file of 15 minutes, takes around two hours to be translated verbatim, by an experienced medical transcriptionist.

MEDICAL BILLING

In the case of Medical Billing, an agent has to maintain all details, pertaining to a patient. Let us take an example of patients admitted in an hospital, in the US.

The agent has to update the record of each patient, in terms of the date of admission, diagnosis, the name of the doctor, details of operation, if any, and the daily cost of the treatment, which would include the tablets, injections, doctors visit, operation charges, room rental and so on.

In my next write up,  I will be covering the various call centre terminologies, and share with you, inputs, on how the resume needs to be prepared for a BPO job, and details on the various rounds which form part of the selection process.