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Q&A on BPO With Aegis

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is arguably the right strategy in these no/slow-growth times for a growing number of industries and verticals.

BPO firms can ramp programs up and down at their contact centers far easier than in-house departments for their facilities. They act as demand modulators, handling the peaks and valleys typically, for contacts that are too complex and/or requiring the human touch for managing by in-house self-service solutions yet which do not require the authority and knowledge of internal agent teams. At the same time BPO companies feel the economic impacts; it is they who must hire, let idle and let go staff while having to keep up with the latest technologies amidst stiff and often price-based competition for clients.

Aegis is one of the world’s largest BPO providers in the world, one that continues to grow. For example it recently acquired Actionline Argentina, bringing its number of employees to 46,000 in 47 contact centers spread across 10 countries. It currently employs close to 5,000 people in nine contact centers in the U.S. alone. It serves industries such as banking, financial services, insurance, telecommunications, healthcare, travel and hospitality, consumer goods, retail and technology. Aegis is wholly owned by the Essar Group—a $15 billion conglomerate.

 

TMCnet recently interviewed Sandip Sen, who is Aegis president of the Americas and chief marketing officer on BPO trends and on what is happening with his firm.

TMCnet:         What is Aegis seeing in the way of market demand for BPO services? Which areas are hot and which ones are in decline and why? What new services are being offered and which ones are BPO companies exiting?

SS:       We are seeing an increasing demand for BPO services in reaction to the global economic slowdown. But corporations are also being wise with their outsource dollars and are choosing fewer vendors. A primary paradigm is what we call customer lifecycle management. Once the client comes into the system, we handle it all from managing them to customer service to customer retention to collections to customer data analysis. And within this paradigm of customer lifecycle analysis we are doing a lot of work for telecom, financial services, healthcare, travel and entertainment. Those are the big verticals. Each sector is growing, even telecom and financial services. There is a growing propensity to outsource financial services – due to cost and efficiency. Health care is huge – more than 32 million people will newly acquire insurance over the next 10 years.TMCnet:         More contacts are being handled by automated voice and text-based such as web self-service. At the same time strict legislation has limited outbound calling. What is your taking on how these trends are affecting the need for BPO services and on companies' profitability?

SS:       We have developed automated voice response (IVR) and text-based solutions for our clients, and they have been well received. Legislation that has limited outbound calling has primarily impacted our collections business; people who need to call for customer care can still reach out around the clock. Also, on the outbound side, majority of our calls are made to customers who have existing business relationships with our clients and the legislation necessarily doesn’t affect that population.TMCnet:         Outline what is happening in the BPO marketplace. Are firms expanding, merging, or shrinking? Is this a field that is predominated by midsized firms or by several large multinational companies, an array of boutique firms and an array of small suppliers? Please describe. Are there new entrants? What types of BPO providers will be the winners and losers?

 

SS:       Yes, all of the above. But unlike other industries, there is no one gigantic dominant player; rather there are many major players such as Aegis. The companies that will win in the BPO space are global. At Aegis, we say we "follow the sun." We have operations in Australia, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Africa, throughout the U.S., Central America and South America. We have about 45,000 people in all these locations. TMCnet:         Where is the BPO work taking and will be taking place: on-shore, near-shore, offshore and/or "home-shore" and what are the drivers?

SS:       The right-shoring approach is the best to take. We do not squeeze clients into offshore situations if their needs do not warrant them. Aegis has the scalability and the agility to handle customer lifecycle in any location. We can locate anytime, anywhere, with any process that makes business sense.

TMCnet:         What is happening in pricing, pricing methods and contract terms?

SS:       Pricing is becoming increasingly more competitive. Vendors are working harder at being more efficient. We are presenting a number of pricing structures including fixed-rate pricing, fixed-cum-variable pricing, variable pricing, and transactional models. We will work closely with our clients to develop the model that is the most appropriate for them.TMCnet:         What does Aegis bring to the table? What is your unique value proposition? Where are you now in the marketplace and where will you be five years hence?

 

SS:       What makes Aegis truly unique is that the company’s organic and inorganic growth has fostered an entrepreneurial spirit. I define entrepreneurial spirit as a can-do, flexible, customized attitude in which the client comes first. The proof is all of the company’s top leaders have been successful entrepreneurs.  Their companies were acquired by Aegis and they have stayed with the company. Our executives know what it is like to run a successful business. As we grow we have ensured that the entrepreneurial spirit pervades the culture.This helps Aegis deliver a better client experience. Some of the biggest names in business trust Aegis to take care of their customers and their brand equity. These are long-tenured relationships; in fact, we have many marquee clients who have been with us for 15 years or more. We mitigate risk thanks to strong financial backing. Our association with the Essar conglomerate brings the stability necessary to structure deals with a long-term perspective in mind. We are a global company that thinks and acts “Local.” We treat every client of ours as if they were our only client. Aegis’s responsiveness and can-do attitude are what differentiate us in today’s environment where everything is changing all the time. Our global delivery model offers flexibility in supporting a range of deployment scenarios, using offerings with on-shore, near-shore, off-shore, multi-country and multilingual capabilities.
Brendan B. Read is TMCnet’s Senior Contributing Editor. To read more of Brendan’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Chris DiMarco