BPOs bar the ‘O’ word to avoid backlash

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‘This year and next will be tough for IT & BPO’

New Delhi, Sept 20: If you ever hear words like co-sourcing, global sourcing, partnering, strategic partnering, restructuring or multi-sourcing, don't be flummoxed. All these are euphemisms for outsourcing. To avoid backlash and announce million dollar deals discreetly, BPOs and their clients are busy coining new words and phrases to replace outsourcing.

For instance, HCL called its $330 million outsourcing deal (announced in January, this year) with UK based DSG international as 'a strategic IT partnership'. Wipro Technologies calls its outsourcing deal with Adobe Systems Inc as a global alliance. Similarly, companies also avoid putting the number of jobs migrating to India. “Companies in the West have to be sensitive to the community. They have to be politically correct, more importantly at the time of elections to avoid a social backlash," says Outsourcing Advisry firm Tholons MD and CEO Avinash Vasishtha. "With processes moving beyond cost advantage, outsourcing or offshoring terms become incompetent especially when your rival coins other terms," he adds.

Companies like Infosys and TCS use direct terms like bagging or winning contracts while other companies disguise them under technical jargons. On the other hand, Genpact uses the 'outsourcing' word rather openly. For instance, in its recent deals with NDTV and US based Wachovia, the BPO openly uses the word 'outsourcing'.

Some experts however feel that offshoring or outsourcing words are outdated and don't adequately represent the kind of high-end value added work that Indian BPO and IT companies are doing at present.

"In outsourcing, the level of the job done and the involvement of a vendor is very low. Also, the outsourcing word has become more of a cliche," says HCL BPO CEO N Ranjit. Other words like business transformation deal, strategic IT partnership are also being used instead of outsourcing.

Companies which openly announce a job loss face huge backlash. For instance, UK's largest insurer Aviva's announcent this month to cut 4,000 jobs in UK and move about 1,500 to India is inviting a backlash in UK. Aviva's anouncement, which includes up to 2,000 compulsory redundancies, has invited backlash from trade unions.'This shows the priority for Aviva is shareholders, not customers,' says David Fleming, national organiser at union Amicus.