Outsourcing to India is now more about high quality rather than cost. Indian companies are fast scaling up to match or surpass international quality standards and are ensuring that they stay ahead through stable quality systems and continuous quality improvement.

The Indian BPO industry, which previously relied on its cost effectiveness to attract customers, is now under an entirely different dictatorship. Quality is the new buzzword and is dominating business processes and services like never before. Ninety percent of ITES-BPO companies now have specialized quality departments that are responsible for ensuring accurate, reliable services to their customers. The spotlight in Indian centers is now focused on ensuring standards of quality that are at par with, if not superior to their counterparts abroad.

Defining Quality

Quality departments have a straightforward approach to identifying the areas that require quality control. The first step is the identification of parameters that are 'critical to quality'. These parameters almost always include the client's requirements and expectations. Other key factors like accuracy, productivity and turnaround time are also outlined.

Most companies are now also following the process approach. The process approach is a description of the linkages between all the activities that work towards meeting the finest quality standards that have been identified by prevalent quality norms and the client's expectations.

The Indian Advantage

The Indian advantage lies primarily in the educational and technical qualifications of the personnel, who are often more qualified than the people working in the parent locations. A survey conducted in 2002 by NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies) showed that an India based ITES-BPO center in the banking and financial service sector, performs better than a UK or US based facility on significant factors such as the number of correct transactions/total umber of transactions, total satisfaction factor, number of transactions per hour and the average speed of answers.

The ITES-BPO industries are most sensitive to incorporating internationally accepted standards of quality assurance. The NASSCOM survey also found that 50 percent of Indian companies have implemented varied levels of ISO (The International Organisation for Standardization, which conceives sets of quality management standards) such as ISO 9002, ISO 9001, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 9001:2001.

The survey also says that 45 percent of Indian service providers have certifications like Six Sigma (a disciplined, statistical quality control method that measures the number of defects compared to the opportunities to make defects) and CMMI ( Capabilty Maturity Model Integration - which is a process improvement method that provides a set of best practices that address productivity, performance, costs, and customer satisfaction.). Moreover, a lot of organizations are upgrading their quality standards to from the ISE 9000 to the new ISO 9000:2000, and from the CMM framework to the new CMMI framework.

Quality Lapses - People and Industries

Despite superior performance levels and accreditation from international bodies, India still remains at a disadvantage when it comes to certifications for quality professionals. There are little or no certifications for quality professionals in India, and those that are available are either US or UK based. Although most companies make their employees undergo the processes for these certifications, the lack of an indigenous certification body is being felt, especially due to the scarcity of training centres for quality assurance and control. The only two popular certifications in the ITES industry are the 'Certified Software Quality Analyst (CSQA) and the Certified Software Test Engineer (CSTE). Both these certifications are offered by the Quality Assurance Institute, which is again, an international body. But these too are largely considered inadequate by most authorities.

Another major problem concerning industries like the customer contact center industry which relies on verbal one-on-one communication, is the use of incorrect accents and grammar. Quality lapses are felt strongly because of misunderstandings or the customer's inability to understand Indian accents. Efforts are being made to improve the quality standards in these areas by deploying specific bodies that evaluate prospective employees on English speaking abilities such as accent, grammar, fluency and overall communication skills. The international standard in contact center operations - the COPC certification is now in great demand among Indian contact centres. While six of the top 25 players already have COPC certifications, 12 more companies are in the process of being certified.

Efforts towards Improving Quality

The frenetic pace, with which Indian players are moving towards achieving internationally recognized quality control standards, largely arises out of the awareness that the BPO industries cannot sustain themselves on the advantages of lower costs and English speaking abilities alone. The importance of consistency, low error rates and customer satisfaction has never been felt as strongly as right now. Naturally, governing bodies like NASSCOM are holding no bars in its efforts to improve quality regulation. By the end of 2004, it plans to introduce a common certification programme across India for aspiring candidates, in terms of the skills and knowledge required by the BPO industry.

Another significant move towards ensuring quality is NASSCOM's initiative towards controlling issues like copyright infringement. It plans to formulate a comprehensive draft proposal to ensure information security and data privacy. The proposal will also emphasize the need for internal checks and continuous quality reviews, both by the internal senior management team as well as by the client team.

NASSCOM also plans to create a common yardstick for BPO organizations. Attempts to create such a yardstick are being made by Carnegie Mellon University which is involved in developing E-SCM or the E-Services Capability Model. This model is extremely useful for clients who are selecting a suitable service provider, as it allows them to compare the capabilities of different service providers, and also compare issues associated with the initiation and completion of the project.

The concept of benchmarking is also beginning to be used more regularly. Benchmarking is a continuous process of assessing and comparing an organization's performance with a recognized industry leader. This is especially useful in knowing where a particular company stands in relation to its competitors. It also makes it easier to identify which areas need more attention in terms of quality control.

The Quality Assurance Institute holds various training programmes in Six Sigma, COPC Implementation and Support and non-certified skills like maintaining customer satisfaction, people management, service levels and transaction monitoring.

For a company, ignoring quality now means certain extinction. Quality therefore, is no longer an option, it is the only choice.

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