Remember the time when you were in school?

Your parents / guardian used to have one of those chats with you. Beta (child), what do you want to do after you graduate from school? What followed was probably a career path discussion. You may have had a crystal clear picture of what you wanted to do or a series of maybes, including things that ranged from a career in computers or taking up a cliched profession in engineering or medicine. If your choice was not one of the careers I just mentioned, then you are probably one of those who passed out from a state university and soon realized that the bachelors degree you had was quite meaningless and not sufficient to get you what you wanted in life. You may have taken some sidedish courses to enhance your chances of landing a good career, maybe in computers or related to some kind of a hobby / interest you may have had at that time. You may even have taken up some kind of a job to kill a lot of the free time that comes with studying in a university, like teaching students or working in a pizza place, to earn some extra bucks.

Most of us want the same things we want a job that pays well, we want to earn loads of money and we want to settle down in a big city, with a lifestyle that makes a statement to our family and friends. Here is a glimpse into the BPO life, which is one of the most sought after career choices available to us in India today.

What does it take to get a job in a BPO? It is fairly straightforward, actually. If you are talking about a BPO, you are probably not talking about a 9-6 job. You are talking about shifts at work, be it shifts that start in the afternoon that go into the night or shifts that start in the night and take you till morning. Shifts do seem fantastic to begin with, if you are single, that is. You get the feeling of being different from the crowd, being the privileged one who gets to be at home during the day and even pursue a day course, if you are the industrious sort, and are out at night. You sleep when people around you work and you work when people around you go to sleep. You can earn a decent amount of money, meet other wannabes and party hard as the crowd you work with often considers this as a way of life. At times, your day may look up as your supervisor / team leader would be happy with your performance or you may have received appreciation from the customer / client that you deal with. So far, so good!

There is another side of this life that is important for you to know about. The shifts could potentially cut you off from your social group. You may find it tough to keep in touch with your friends / relatives and you may even miss

some family functions if you do not get leave when it is needed. If the place you work in is a call center by any chance, you may be required to take up to a 100 calls a day and you may soon start feeling that your ears are ringing. You may become averse to taking calls and you may become one of those people who drop calls, put customers on mute while you tell the person sitting next to you how silly the caller is and as a result, your call quality may drop. This is not good news and it could directly impact your career growth. What you can do, however, if you have had consistent performance and the monotony is getting on to you, is to involve yourself in working with the team leader or the training team and start monitoring calls for your team or even take some sessions off and on. This gives you a good break and creates opportunity for your growth as a Team Leader and if you persist, you could even become a Manager. One thing to keep in mind is, of course, that this, like any other career, comes with its trade-offs. You need to constantly ask yourself the question Is this what I really want to do? Is this lifestyle making me happy? If it is, you are definitely in the right place. If not, well, what can I say, its time to switch! Business Process Outsourcing or BPO, as it is popularly known refers to the industry, is one of the fastest growing industries of the country and worldwide. BPO refers to outsourcing or contracting of certain responsibilities or operations of one business firm to a third party. This third party is referred to as the service provider to the business firm. Thus business process outsourcing is in reality the process of transferring services from one firm to an outside company by replacing the services to be enjoyed from the employees of that firm by those of an outside firm.

Originally, the concept of business process outsourcing was followed in only manufacturing firms around the world. But today, business process outsourcing is seen in the field of human resources, offshore & near shore services and finance & accounting services. Most business processing firms work in collaboration with information technology based firms and that is why the industry is often referred to as ITES BPO (Information Technology Enabled Service Business Process Outsourcing).

KPO (Knowledge Process Outsourcing) and LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing) are also segments of the business process outsourcing business in India.

Academic Qualifications for Working in Business Process Outsourcing Firms

The BPO firms do not stress on stringent academic qualifications or educational degrees from applicants. A minimum education of 10+2 is required with adequate working knowledge on computers. Fluency in English is also required if you wish to work in a BPO. Most business process outsourcing units work with clients from the US or the UK and English is the only way you can communicate with them. Confidence and a pleasing personality are added advantages for bagging the job.

Some BPO units may require you to speak in a foreign tongue, which largely depends on the country or the client they are dealing with. Knowledge of the local language is also necessary before applying for a job in a business process outsourcing unit.

Institutes Providing Training in Business Process Outsourcing

The size of the BPO industry in India and elsewhere has increased like no other. In order to ensure the best applicants in the leading BPO firms of the country, several institutes and coaching centers have started operating in different parts of the country to provide practical training to students who wish to pursue a career in business process outsourcing. The chief cities in India from where the maximum numbers of BPOs operate are New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Gurgaon.

How does the hiring process in BPOs differ from that in other industries? In the BPO industry, we typically hire a large number of service professionals at one time.For example, after receiving a new client agreement, we could be faced with a hiring need of hundreds of service professionals.Additionally, we need to ramp our programs quickly, so not only do we need to find a lot of qualified professionals, but we need to find them fast.The specific skill sets that we typically look for are candidates who have a strong command of the English language, combines with technical knowledge and, in some cases, IT experience.

What are the various advantages of working in a BPO?

The BPO industry offers many advantages. For one, the work schedule affords individuals the opportunity to be with their families or study during the day, and work in the evening. In addition, service professionals are exposed to many leading global brands, and can quickly become well-versed in the industry and/or technology of the client they support. Stream also provides our service professionals excellent career growth opportunities.In addition to custom-designed classroom and on-the-job training, Stream offers many interesting career development opportunities, enabling service professionals to assume new skills and leadership responsibilities. In fact, the majority of our team managers today began their careers providing customer service or technical support to our clients, while others have moved into new positions in human resources, scheduling, training and quality.

What are the qualities that BPOs seek in an applicant at the initial levels and middle level? At the initial level, we look for service or support professionals that are eager to learn and have a passion for providing excellent service.As a service professional grows in their career are Stream, we look for proven management strength, the ability to influence a team, drive performance and team motivation.

What do you focus on while going through bio datas and CVs? When we evaluate candidates for Stream, we look for past career stability, a willingness to learn, and someone who has worked as an active team member. These qualities typically ensure that a candidate has the desire and ability to grow to lead a team.

What are the desirable traits one needs to demonstrate during an interview? Again, the traits that are best suited for work at Stream as a service professional are flexibility, eagerness to learn, a positive attitude and demonstration of long-term commitment.

What are the negatives to be avoided?

While the BPO industry offers excellent current and future career opportunities, it is important for prospective employees not to substitute a BPO career for their education.Therefore, Stream and other BPO companies partner with education institutes to provide education to its employee through the learn while you earn strategy.We as a BPO /ITES community understand this and would like our future generation to be committed to the education system that we have.

What are the current hiring trends in the BPO sector? The current market outlook for BPO companies in India is a positive one, and we expect to see further growth toward the end of this year.

What is the scope for career growth in BPOs? The BPO industry offers excellent career growth for anyone looking to grow their career in a business dedicated to providing service to some of the worlds leading technology, communications and media brands.As I stated earlier, Stream is committed to promoting from within, and therefore our service professionals have the ability to grow their career to team managers, country managers and even potentially vice presidents. The BPO industry itself has matured in recent years and its growth is on par with other leading industries.

What are the future prospects for those working in the BPO sector? The outsourcing industry in India has undergone massive growth over the years, and while it has stabilized, there is still future growth available for those looking to join this exciting industry.India offers a highly skilled technical workforce and therefore companies looking to expand their email and chat-based support services will look to BPOs in our region.Therefore, candidates with strong technical skills will have an opportunity for positive career growth opportunities. Any advice or guidance you would like to share with new aspirants? Interested candidates should look at the BPO industry as a long-term career.There are endless career opportunities within the BPO industry and specifically at Stream. With our promote-from-within philosophy combined with your talent and ambition to succeed, Stream can help you reach new career heights.As an innovative, fast growing company with the vision to be a

leading integrated global BPO provider, Stream has great career opportunities in store.

Are there any myths about working in the BPO sector that you could eliminate/ clarify? One of the common myths about working in the BPO industry is that there is limited growth potential.This is definitely not the case at Stream.Working at Stream provides service and support professionals with invaluable international exposure of working for leading global companies.Also, the skills developed while working at Stream, skills such as communication abilities, specific technical skills, industry and domain knowledge, etc.,are highly desirable, transcending industries across India and overseas.

Rahul has recently joined Stream Global Services and is heading the Human Resource function for India. He has experience in Sales, Marketing, Operations, Training and Human Resources in various industry and brings to Stream more than 15 years experience in global service organizations. He loves playing soccer, cricket, badminton and also enjoys travelling and trekking. He is actively involved in CSR activities, and spends the majority of his weekend playing with his nephews and going for a ride on his bike. He is just back from white water rafting with his team last weekend in Kolad.

@@@@@@@@@@22222@@@@@@@@@ BPO is know as Business Processing Outsourcing. It is a modify name of the Call Centre.BPO,it work's on the Principle's of Inbound and Outbound. In a Inbound process the call will be land to agents and they have to ans that call's with in a time limit. But in Outbound process the agent have to out call the cust and they have the specific target for the same.

Is This Answer Correct ? 0 Harmeet Singh

18 Yes

2 No

Re: how can we explain bpo Answer #4 BPO is known as Business Process Out sourcing. Bpo is divided in to two types:- 1. domestic call center 2. International call center. In domestic we are a lot of operations taken place. For eg:- we call for the domestic country and it might be either in bound or out bound. and also we have back end department is also there for either domestic or as well as international call center.

Is This Answer Correct ? 0 Manikishore

6 Yes 2 No

Re: how can we explain bpo Answer #5 Bpo is the place where the call's r landing inside the country and outside the country for the purpose of

telemarketing etc and there r so many business r going on. Basically it's known as a business process outsourcing.

Is This Answer Correct ? 0 How Can We Explain Bpo

2 Yes 2 No

Re: how can we explain bpo Answer #6 Re: how can we explain bpo Answer # 4 BPO is known as Business Process Out sourcing. Bpo is divided in to two types:- 1. domestic call center 2. International call center. In domestic we are a lot of operations taken place. For eg:- we call for the domestic country and it might be either in bound or out bound. and also we have back end department is also there for either domestic or as well as international call center.

Is This Answer Correct ? 0 How Can We Explain Bpo

2 Yes 2 No

Re: how can we explain bpo

Answer #7 BPO is stand for business processing outsourcing.it divide into two part 1-Domestic and 2- inyernational. in BPO we sale the product through verbal communication.and provide answer also we say that ive satisfaction to customer through telephonic conversation.

Is This Answer Correct ? 0 Vikesh Kumar

2 Yes 3 No

Re: how can we explain bpo Answer #8 BPO is business processing outsourcing. It has two process first is inbound and second is outbound ..

Is This Answer Correct ? 0 Atul Uppal

1 Yes 0 No

Re: how can we explain bpo Answer #9 bpo is know as business process outsourcing of a business

where one company represent other company to reduce their operation cost and provide better services through their experties or bpo is mainly increasing their profit,in bpo people use to work on either inbound or outbound and maybe we have to work on combined.

Is This Answer Correct ? 0 Jay Kumar

1 Yes 0 No

Re: how can we explain bpo Answer # 10 bpo is know as business process outsourcing of a business where one company represent other company to reduce their operation cost and provide better services through their experties or bpo is mainly increasing their profit,in bpo people use to work on either inbound or outbound and maybe we have to work on combined. Bpo is divided in to two types:- 1. domestic call center 2. International call center. In domestic we are a lot of operations taken place. For eg:- we call for the domestic country and it might be either in bound or out bound. and also we have back end department is also there for either domestic or as well as

international call center.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain.[1] In the contemporary context, it is primarily used to refer to the outsourcing of business processing services to an outside firm, replacing in-house services with labor from an outside firm. BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as contact centre services. BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing. Often the business processes are information technology-based, and are referred to as ITES-BPO, where ITES stands for Information Technology Enabled Service.[2] Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and legal process outsourcing (LPO) are some of the sub-segments of business process outsourcing industry. Contents [hide] 1 Industry size 2 Benefits and limitations 3 Threats 4 See also 5 References [edit]Industry size

India has revenues of US$10.9 billion[3] from offshore BPO and US$30 billion from IT and total BPO (expected in FY 2008). India thus has some 5-6% share of the total BPO Industry, but a commanding 63% share of the offshore component. This 63% is a drop from the 70% offshore share that India

enjoyed last year: despite the industry growing 38% in India last year, other locations like Philippines, and South Africa have emerged to take a share of the market[citation needed]. China is also trying to grow from a very small base in this industry. However, while the BPO industry is expected to continue to grow in India, its market share of the offshore piece is expected to decline. Important centers in India are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Patna and New Delhi. The top five Indian BPO exporters for 2009-2010 according to NASSCOM are Genpact, TCS BPO, WNS Global Services, Wipro BPO, and Aegis Ltd..[4] [edit]Benefits and limitations

An advantage of BPO is the way in which it helps to increase a companys flexibility. However, several sources[which?] have different ways in which they perceive organizational flexibility. Therefore business process outsourcing enhances the flexibility of an organization in different ways. Most services provided by BPO vendors are offered on a fee-for-service basis[citation needed]. This can help a company becoming more flexible by transforming fixed into variable costs.[5] A variable cost structure helps a company responding to changes in required capacity and does not require a company to invest in assets, thereby making the company more flexible.[6] Outsourcing may provide a firm with increased flexibility in its resource management and may reduce response times to major environmental changes[citation needed]. Another way in which BPO contributes to a companys flexibility is that a company is able to focus on its core competencies, without being burdened by the demands of bureaucratic restraints.[7] Key employees are herewith released from performing non-core or administrative processes and can invest more time and energy in building the firms core businesses.[8] The key lies in knowing which of the main value drivers to focus on customer intimacy, product leadership, or operational excellence. Focusing more on one of these drivers may help a company create a competitive edge.[9] A third way in which BPO increases organizational flexibility is by increasing the speed of business processes. Supply chain management with the effective use of supply chain partners and business process outsourcing increases the speed of several business processes, such as the throughput in the case of a manufacturing company.[10] Finally, flexibility is seen as a stage in the organizational life cycle: A company can maintain growth goals while avoiding standard business

bottlenecks.[11] BPO therefore allows firms to retain their entrepreneurial speed and agility, which they would otherwise sacrifice in order to become efficient as they expanded. It avoids a premature internal transition from its informal entrepreneurial phase to a more bureaucratic mode of operation. [12] A company may be able to grow at a faster pace as it will be less constrained by large capital expenditures for people or equipment that may take years to amortize, may become outdated or turn out to be a poor match for the company over time. Although the above-mentioned arguments favor the view that BPO increases the flexibility of organizations, management needs to be careful with the implementation of it as there are issues, which work against these advantages. Among problems, which arise in practice are: A failure to meet service levels, unclear contractual issues, changing requirements and unforeseen charges, and a dependence on the BPO which reduces flexibility. Consequently, these challenges need to be considered before a company decides to engage in business process outsourcing[13] A further issue is that in many cases there is little that differentiates the BPO providers other than size. They often provide similar services, have similar geographic footprints, leverage similar technology stacks, and have similar Quality Improvement approaches.[14] [edit]Threats

What is BPO The new buzz word 'BPO' seems to be every where now a days! Ever wondered what is BPO? Let us explain: To put it in simple words a BPO (business process outsourcing) is a process in which a company delegates some of its business processes mainly back office operations to a third party by giving the third party total control over that process. What does BPO include?

Business process outsourcing or a BPO includes everything from Call centers to transaction processing to back office operations to customer relationship management to telemarketing to payroll maintenance to Finance/Accounting/billing maintenance to HR management to logistics management to supply chain management to medical transcription to database management and pretty much all back office operations. As the trend shows, of all the things being outsourced, business process outsourcing stands out of the rest as the major segment in the outsourcing market. Benefits of BPO By outsourcing their back office operations to third world countries, companies can get huge cost cuts and concentrate on their core businesses. By doing so they can provide better customer satisfaction leading to customer retention, increased productivity, deal with competition effectively and in turn increase profitability. By outsourcing business processes to countries like India many companies have nearly cut their operational costs by half resulting into huge profits. No wonder there is so much hype about outsourcing as almost all companies no matter how big or small they are, have understood the benefits of outsourcing and are taking a major dive into the industry. How to get started? If you are planning to take a plunge into the BPO wave, you

got to formulate an effective plan by understanding your vision along with your long term goals. Deciding on the right BPO destination and more importantly the right BPO vendor can go a long way in ensuring smooth operations with good returns. As of now, India with its easily available English speaking, computer literate, low cost manpower, better infrastructure and quality certified software and BPO venders seems to be a great destination for outsourcing. So take your pick!