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Call Centers and their scope in Pakistan

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  • #16417
    Muhammad
    Guest

    When we hear a word call center, its quiet clear it’s not something that Pakistan people use to. So they are not aware of the level of the customer service, sales approach, Tech. Support, ect in US or UK or any other country.

    India has captured BPO market so Pakistan is not far behind to attract them. If call centers are big success in India so why not Pakistan because they were not use to of the idea of call centers too (what is call center for). If they can attract companies then so de we because we have all the goods too. I can accept that Indians are working hard and their hard work is paying off.

    Now Pakistan is going in rite direction by supporting the call center and government has taken steps to promote. We have realized that BPO is next big thing in ASIA and by giving them secure ground, it will help our economy and make name of our country in open market.

    Today there are many call center in Pakistan and very happy to say that they are very good and can compare it to any call center in the world. Process of being the good to excellent will go on and will never end this is something we have to remember.

    People often think about the accent problem in Pakistan but they are completely wrong. If you take a survey and talk to people in English, you will be surprised by their accent. Our new school system especially private schools are designed a very systematic approach to improve English. Secondly, our young generation is very hard working, quick learners and once they go through an intensive English training program; they are ready from word go.

    #16418
    GKM
    Guest

    Yes.
    I agree with my friend. We ( asians ) are good not only with our native languages and local skills but also dynamic to adapt to the needs of the hour by picking up the the minutest details of any profession and excel in that.

    Let us get the fruits of the BPO industry and give good finacial and technical resources to our societies.

    I am sure you will appreciate that we all like Raj Kapoors and Mehdi Hasan.

    Art, Science, Engineers and Human feelings have no borders.

    #16419
    Anthony Mitchell
    Guest

    Pakistani firms (along with new entrants in Sri Lanka and elsewhere in South Asia) could and will hopefully be successful in the international call center field, especially if they learn from the experiences of firms elsewhere in South Asia and the Middle East.

    But the mere knowledge of English and some IT skills does not and will not enable a new IT industry in any country to break into the world market. You need to know about the business practices and operational priorities of your potential clients. And adapt accordingly.

    Watching a few American movies and TV shows does not make anyone an expert in U.S. business practices, yet this appears to be the primary training that many IT managers have before they attempt to break into an unfamiliar and fast-paced environment.

    The risk that Pakistan’s and Sri Lanka’s IT industries face is that if they lead off with program failures or business practices that are seen as contrary to what clients expect, then it could scare off Western clients for many years to come. India was almost at that point two years ago, when U.S. clients expected more in terms of performance and QA than what Indian call centers were accustomed to providing. Hence the consolidation of the industry there now.

    The experience that InternationalStaff.net has had in trying to place business in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East is that neither promoters there nor their managers understand enough about business ethics and negotiating practices in the West. They also have little or no understanding of institution building methods that have been successfully employed in Indian IT firms. This is causing most firms in the region to handicap themselves unnecessarily.

    With all the press hype about the international IT industry, promoters and managers in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East have unrealistic expectations about how easy it is to break into the field. There is not enough discussion about how and why new facilities there need to invest in themselves, perform well in easy, core areas, and then expand from there.

    Call centers in Pakistan are getting trapped in B2C programs that are going to be very hard to move away from. I have yet to encounter one single Pakistani or Middle Eastern facility that is in compliance with B2C telemarketing rules in the U.S., except for DNC rules.

    For InternationalStaff.net to place programs other than B2C at facilities offshore that are basically outlaw firms (from a U.S. perspective) is to jeopardize the trust and confidence of our clients. Although enforcement is rare now, U.S. clients should be careful about getting involved with any call center that is breaking U.S. laws with other clients.

    With an inbound order-taking program, for example, if an outlaw facility running such a program gets caught breaking B2C telemarketing rules, then it could jeopardize the reliability of that inbound order-taking program. Who wants to let someone else run their cash register for them if that cash register could be shut down because of lawbreaking and other misconduct in the operation of collateral programs?

    Pakistani and Sri Lankan facilities now appear to have an inadequate understanding of quality expectations by U.S. clients. They communicate too infrequently and too poorly with U.S. clients. Metrics reporting can be and often is shoddy. Corrective action plans are often inadequate or improperly implemented. Instructions communicated by U.S. clients are often not implemented expeditiously or at all. Mangers and promoters make good speeches, but then are often loathe to take personal responsibility to follow through and ensure that their commitments are honored. They cannot understand and often cannot support what ‘customer service’ and ‘customer centric’ really means in the IT service industry.

    Technical issues plague the IT outsourcing industries in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The rush to cheap VoIP solutions will scare off inbound clients or clients that care about voice quality.

    Intellectual property issues and the need to protect confidential information are poorly understood. Or openly defied. Even something as simple as service mark or trade mark piracy is poorly understood by firms in Pakistan and Sri Lanka that have branded their IT operations with the service marks and trade marks of well-known Western firms, without thinking to apply for permission first.

    Resistance to technology and skills transfer from North America is compounding Pakistani and Sri Lankan firms’ market entry aspirations. Whereas top-quality Indian firms are not afraid to hire and retain significant numbers of Western managers and staff onsite throughout the life of their facilities, this practice has rarely been utilized in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

    We hope that Pakistani and Sri Lankan firms can move along the IT industry learning curve and will begin to successfully implement projects that are gradually more challenging and quality-sensitive.

    But as of now, we are still waiting for Pakistan and Sri Lanka to step up to the crease.

    Anthony Mitchell.

    #16420
    GKM
    Guest

    Hi,

    1. I agree to most of the ideas.
    2. While no one likes to spoil their’s or their parners’s businesses, the issues are to be seen case to case.
    3. Bad middlemen
    Bad managers
    Unrealistic expectations
    Unreasonable targets

    (Not all , Most of them)

    Spoil the business environment.

    4. I also know many cases where the commitment made by US business houses were not met at all.

    Not call centers.

    Hightech imaging, mapping, IT solutions.

    We were put in a bad situation.
    After 8 months our business associates have refused to deliver the goods and cancelled the orders !!!

    5. Let us be honest and build a healthy win win situation for all.

    Not all VOIP solutions are bad.
    You need not have an expensive IPLC.

    6. We do not have to accept old junk for the sake of satisfying some managers who is not aware of the optimum slutions.

    Clients have to pay to train the staff and give the necessary support.

    GKM

    #16421
    Imran
    Guest

    You are rite up to some extent. At this time we don’t have that quality service which they had in their home land. Let’s take India for instance; they are the one who has showed westerns to invest in their country and setup off-shore facility. They are on the top and doing business very successfully. We will make our marks and Pakistan has stepped in this business two years a ago and there are more then 100 call center’s in Pakistan; so they are doing good otherwise why would bother to give them business and go some where else.

    1st rule of business is you get some and I get some i.e mutual interest. Western companies know there is a potential and very aware of the fact of rules and regulations or putting bad impression on their clients.

    Most of the management in call centers is foreign qualified individuals. Analysts will not do better then a person from their home land but these companies are ready to take that chance and very successful in their approach so far.

    Now if you compare a call center and UAE and in India, uae facilities are the best and they have people from corporate offices based off-shore. But then India doesn’t have that edge and they get more business.

    I have very thoroughly studied call centers all round the world and had a privilege to work in US, UK and UAE call centers.

    #16422
    GKM
    Guest

    Hi,

    1. Nice to see good notings.

    2. For call / contact / support centers to deliver the goods people and processes are most imp.

    3. Culture, Human Values, Customs, Traditions are almost same ( rather similar ) in India, Pakisthan, Cylone, Bangladesh etc.

    4. The demands of the westreners are some times ( not always )unreasonable. They are really smart.

    I have to express my views more clear. They live in a higly developed , evolved complex world. Thier evaluation procedure is good but / values some times are poor.

    Our culture is entirely differnt.We help our blood relations out of the way.

    The question is not which is right or which is wrong. We need to be aware of these and build the business houses to take care of these.

    Ultimately the pepole have to be comfortable.

    GKM

    #16423
    Jonathan
    Guest

    I agree with Anthony’s views on the market shares of ITES industry. Having had the experience of working in one of the major players in ITES industry, I would certainly look at all the factors that Anthony has covered in his post!

    #16424
    Anthony Mitchell
    Guest

    The path that call centres are following in Pakistan in terms of shifting from outbound to inbound work (where they can perform well) is covered in depth in recent articles published on eCommerceTimes.com Readers should enter Anthony Mitchell into the search feature to find relevant advice to Pakistani facilities on compliance and making the transition to inbound programs. Centres in Pakistan will be much better at inbound than outbound.

    #16425
    GKM
    Guest

    Hi,

    I really appreciate the good support and work by
    Mr.Anthony Mitchell .

    I really wish that we all can use his good work for a win – win relation.

    gkm@axiomtech.org

    #16426
    Anthony Mitchell
    Guest

    Here is an article on why Pakistan is becoming the hot new IT outsourcing destination:

    http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/37750.html

Viewing 10 posts - 1 through 10 (of 10 total)
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