Quality: BPO new mantra
Economic Times, September 27, 2002

The IT-enabled services sector (BPO) is getting quality conscious. Third party providers of outsourced services in India and other low-cost locations are today being questioned on the strength of their processes and their ability to support a rapid ramp-up in both employee numbers and  facilities. A major component of this quality drive is the COPC^SM certification.

The COPC^SM certification has been developed in conjunction with several leading technology firms such as Microsoft, Compaq, Intel and Dell, as well as other firms such as American Express and Motorola. According to Mr. Clifford Moore, chairman at COPC^SM, the certification is relatively more expensive than those received  by software services organisations (PCMM® and CMM®) and manufacturing (ISO). The average price is about Rs 30 lakh and certification usually takes anywhere from six to 18 months, depending on the size of the centre, he explained.

Incidentally, in India, COPC^SM had tied up with leading quality institute QAI to assist them in their certification processes. COPC^SM will work with QAI and conduct training programmes around the country.

Currently, COPC^SM has certified over six contact centres in the country, including 24/7 customer.com, ICICIOneSource, Talisma and Transworks. About this certification is catching, with another half-a-dozen centres said to be in the certification pipeline. And it is not restricted to contact centres alone. Up-market business process outsourcing (BPO) firms are also opting for the COPC^SM certification, Mr Moore claimed.

According to Mr T S Hariharan, vice-president, quality, at Bangalore-based 24/7customer.com, the COPC^SM certification was conducted without actually disturbing or impacting the functioning of the centre, He claimed that this certification allowed 24/7 to seamlessly increase their employee strength from 200 to 800 recently. "However, benefits in terms of additional customer wins will only be visible in the long term," Mr Hariharan added. Incedently, 24/7 was the first Indian centre to get the COPC^SM certification in February this year.

Additionally, the COPC^SM framework also gives centres a framework for benchmarking their internal processes, said Ms Daya Kori, general manager, customer interaction and quality, ICICIOneSource. The COPC^SM certification was a stress test which looked at several critical components such as employee satisfaction, reward programmes and recruitment processes, she added.

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