But what is KPO and how does it differ from BPO? KPO involves offshoring of knowledge intensive business processes that require specialized expertise, thus delivering high value to organizations by providing business expertise. Examples of KPO are online teaching, patent filing, legal and insurance claims processing, valuation research, investment research, media content supply and the likes. BPO on the other hand involves a pre-defined way to handle a business process which is taught to agents or employees. BPO services normally include transaction processing, setting up a bank account, selling an insurance policy, technical support, voice and email-based support.
WHY INDIA IS IDEAL CHOICE FOR KNOWLEDGE PROCESS OUTSOURCING?
With its firepower of engineers, chartered accountants, doctors, MBAs, lawyers, research analysts, scientific researchers and PhDs , India is well positioned to address the global KPO need. The ready access to a large intellectual pool with domain expertise in specialized areas, coupled with operative English language skills.
The Indian Education System
The ideal KPO employee possesses domain specialization, computer skills & English proficiency. With the Indian way of education which lays great emphasis on higher education & specialization, a talent pool with specialized knowledge in any field is readily available. There is also tremendous emphasis on mathematics and science, resulting in a large number of science and engineering graduates.
The Indian Ivy League
The Government of India set up IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) and IIMs (Indian Institute of Management) across the country in the 50s & 60s. These ivy-league institutes of formal education are centers of excellence competing with the best institutes worldwide.
The Indian Higher Education System
India has more than 300 universities (over 1500 colleges) and engineering colleges providing computer education at the degree / diploma level. The output of trained human power at the degree / diploma level has been consistently increasing since 1985 and touched 130,000 during 2000. The formal education system is augmented by thousands of private training institutes providing computer education. By mid-2002, India had 840 business schools, which churned out 65,000 MBAs.
The Indian Institute of Information Technology
Another milestone was the establishment of IIIT (Indian Institute of Information Technology) as a joint initiative between the government and industry. Apart from producing B.Tech / M.Tech / PhD graduates, it also trains professionals and industry-sponsored candidates.
The English Advantage
In all good educational institutions, from kindergarten to graduation & beyond, the preferred medium of education is English resulting in a significantly large population of educated & qualified professionals being conversant if not proficient in the English language.
Government Policies that will aid KPO
The Indian government has recognized that knowledge processes will influence economic development extensively in the future & has taken remarkable measures towards liberalization and deregulation. Recent reforms have reduced licensing requirements, made foreign technology accessible, removed restrictions on investment and made the process of investment much easier.
Infrastructure Improvements
The government has been continuously improving infrastructure with better roads, setting up technology parks, opening up telecom for enhanced connectivity, providing uninterrupted power to augment growth.
Knowledge Parks
The last five years have seen vast development in Knowledge Parks, with infrastructure of global standards, in cities like Chennai, Bangalore and Gurgaon. Multi-tenanted ‘intelligent’ buildings, built-to-suit facilities, sprawling campuses are tailor made to suit customer requirements. International Long Distance, National Long Distance and Basic Telephone services have been opened up for free competition. ISPs have been granted licenses freely to establish their own international gateways and submarine cable landing stations. Internet telephony too has been allowed. Tax holidays and concessions for companies involved in scientific R&D are just some of the steps to create a pro-growth environment.
India – The Trust Factor
From individual companies to associations like NASSCOM (The National Association of Software Services Companies) & the government, proactive measures are being taken to ensure that India is viewed as a destination for trustworthy outsourcing.
Efforts at Data Privacy
Nasscom collaborates with the government to ensure that India 's data privacy legislation is aligned with those of the U.S. It also intends to have the security practices of all its 860 member companies audited by international accounting firms. The government has also taken initiatives to focus on the issues of data privacy, information security and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR).
Efforts at Information Security
Indian companies are increasingly serious in protecting the information of their customers. Common security procedures in companies include employees swiping identity cards through readers, have their bags and pockets searched and deposit devices like cell phones, PDAs, pens and notebooks in lockers, and shred notes of client conversations after the shift ends.
Employee Scrutiny
Companies have set up advanced systems to monitor phone conversations, guard data, and watch workers' every move. It may also include biometric security - retina scans and palm reading, to identify employees against their records. Employee background checks are a regular feature of the recruitment process. Bangalore , Hyderabad and Mumbai have been found to be low risk outsourcing locations, in a recent study by Hill & Associates, an enterprise security and risk management consultancy firm. These measures work well towards alleviating concerns of privacy and information security of customers wishing to source services of Indian KPO vendors.
Sustaining the Momentum
The government has been taking the right steps to ensure an ever-increasing talent pool of highly qualified professionals. IITs / IIITs have been planned in every state. The industry would help formulate some of the courses offered to ensure emerging professionals are in sync with industry requirements. There are plans to include computer courses in every engineering discipline in the country. So regardless of the discipline, every course in engineering, science and commerce should see the inclusion of computer science programs. Existing premier institutions like IITs, IISc, RECs would be doubling or tripling the output by suitable restructuring.
Quality Initiatives
They have realized that the key to best output would be hiring, training & retention of a skilled workforce. HRD divisions in most companies have well defined processes to hire the right professionals, allocate substantial energies towards regular training and constantly develop ways to address attrition.
Standards in Quality
Companies already in India have achieved high levels of quality standards. More than 200 companies are quality accredited and serve over 255 Fortune 500 companies. India now has far more SEI CMM Level 5 companies than any other country. Many companies have aligned their Quality Management Systems with ISO 9000 standards.
Reverse Brain Drain
With business opportunities in India becoming on par with those overseas, many highly qualified Indians are opting to return. Even American, European & Chinese knowledge workers are increasingly considering India for job opportunities. An Indian who has returned after an international exposure demonstrates the best blend of western work system experience and familiarity with Indian work ethics. With all these forces working together, you will be able to outsource any knowledge–intensive task out of India . What will be left for the Western companies is the ''ideation''.
Outsource your Knowledge Services to India
Why you must seriously consider Palpap as your KPO Partner?
Palpap has developed a ERP for education industry, called InsPro Plus. It has 14 modules including Academic, Non-Academic and Finance. It generates 500 Reports. It is a education management software that has been installed successfully to 60 Engineering Colleges and Universities in India . Palpap has been working with education institutions and Universities for past 7 years. It has also established state-of-the-art R&D centers for product development and to provide innovative solutions to our customers in education industry.
Through our close association with higher learning educational institutions, we established a “Brain Net” – a network of highly learned and experienced engineers, professionals and professors of the country. We also have with us a pool of researchers, professors and engineers in diversified field of specialisations. The objective of establishing a “Brain Net” is to help our global clients to address their specific knowledge oriented problems and issues. Palpap will be the ideal knowledge Process Outsourcing partner in solving in the following industries in market research data analysis.
BSFI
Retail Industry
Market Research Data Analytics in the Manufacturing Sector
Pharmaceutical Industry
Health Care Analytics
Insurance Data Analytics
Telecommunications Analytics
DATA ANALYTICS
- Regression Analysis
- Cluster Analysis
- Conjoint Analysis
- Discriminant Analysis
- Anova Analysis
- Factor Analysis
- SWOT Analysis
- Multidimensional Analysis
- Frequency Tables and crosstabs
- Trend Analysis
MARKET RESEARCH
- Brand positioning research
- Desk/Web research
- Online Surveys
- Company Profile Preparation
- Abstract writing services
- Competitor’s Analysis
- Competitive Business Analysis