‘Outsourcing is here to stay and acquiring certification is crucial’

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: Hero Mindmine Institute Ltd, a leading training and consulting organisation has recently parternered with BPO Certification Institute Inc, US, although outsourcing is on a downturn. AW George, business head, Hero Mindmine, speaks to FE’s C Jayanthi on the necessity of having certification programmes for BPOs. Excerpts:

Why has Hero Mindmine Institute Ltd, one of India’s leading training and consulting organisation, partnered with the BPO Certification Institute Inc (BCI), US, now that outsourcing is on a downturn? Neither economy is doing well.

Hero Mindmine (HMM) actually partnered BCI well before the US financial sector meltdown and the collaboration has a long-term view to it. Also, despite the recent shocks, outsourcing is here to stay because it makes biggest sense for businesses worldwide as you do not pile up long-term costs by in-sourcing. In fact, though, from the top, it may appear outsourcing is on a slide, a closer look reveals that only IT off-shoring has been on a downturn over the last year because of US recession. The mortgage and the sub-prime crises did impact some F&A BPOs, but almost all of them have recovered by diversifications into newer markets.

How will it help those who will apply for this certification?

Indian BPO aspirants will get to train on world standards in HMM training centres and once they qualify the stringent BCI assessments, they are awarded globally relevant certificates. The BCI certifications serve as qualifications and help BPO talents prove their superiority over non-certified talents. This helps them get better jobs.

How will the $12 billion Indian BPO industry benefit from the certification?

BCI spells out service delivery standards for BPO enterprises and also human competence standards for BPO employees. These certifications together can help Indian BPO industry graduate to the next level of competitiveness. The BCI-BSDQ and BTMQ standards prescribe processes and systems for efficient enterprise functioning. On the other hand, BCI’s 10 professional certifications mean that BPO companies get to hire the best and the most competent talents who have been tested on global standards for all levels of BPO expertise. Only better systems and competent employees can take Indian BPO to the next level and Hero Mindmine-BCI is committed to helping India do it.

Can you tell us what are the elements of this certification?

BCI offers the entire range of human competence certifications a large BPO company needs—right from fresh agents to business leaders. Each of these certifications is based on nine master standards. Employees are assessed on 21 different skills areas and then evaluated for the suitability of a certification award.

Which are the companies that have expressed interest?

To name a few companies: Interlace, IBM-Dash, WNS, vcustomer, Keane worldzen, Omnia BPO solutions and Dell.

How long does it take and what is the cost of the programme?

The cost varies from Rs 15,000 to 35,000, including certification and the number of hours would vary from 180 to 230.

These certification programmes are CIP (Certified Customer Interaction Professional), CBTS (Certified BPO Team Lead Specialist) and CCIS (Certified Customer Interaction Specialist), among others.

Hero Mindmine has earlier developed two fresh agent development programmes—BReady and BPOPassport, through which aspiring BPO talents are trained. The certifications are available at over 150 centres of Hero Mindmine across 170 locations in India. The real utility of the BCI CCIP certification for BPO freshers, is that it covers domains other than call centres and contact centres and therefore, a CCIP-certified fresh talent is fit for hiring across most types of BPOs. Global BPO Certifications have always been well accepted in India and like in the west, are expected to create that necessary bottom-line on people-quality consciousness.

How long has the Hero Mindmine been in the training area and how many people would you have trained and in which sector?