The country?s second largest GSM mobile operator, Vodafone-Essar, is in the process of consolidating its outbound call centre operations. The company, which is currently being serviced by 122 different agencies, is going to bring down the number to three-four vendors to drive efficiencies in operations and cost.
According to industry sources, over 15 BPO service providers, which include top names of the outsourcing industry like Genpact, Firstsource, Wipro BPO, Aegis BPO, Tech Mahindra, Intelenet and Spanco have been shortlisted by Vodafone-Essar in the first round. The contract is said to be worth Rs 250 crore on an annual basis and will involve 10,000 seats on a total basis.
The company is expected to award the contract within the next 10-15 days. Industry experts say that similar exercises have been undertaken by other telecom companies like Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices in the past as they bring about economies of scale, reduce administrative overhead apart from bringing in 15-30% savings in the cost. When contacted by FE, the company spokesperson declined to comment on the contract.
A telecom company’s outbound call operations, which are much smaller than its inbound call centre operations in terms of call volumes, involve the customer acquisition process as well as various levels of verifications, reminders and offer updates among others.
According to industry experts, the rationalisation of Vodafone’s outbound call centre is part of a bigger exercise being undertaken by the company where it is consolidating the total number of its IT vendors, which is currently between 3,500and 4,000. Consultancy firm KPMG has been given the mandate to draw up an action plan in this regard. The consolidation exercise is expected to bring down the number of vendors by 25% to 30% and bring about saving in the range of 15-30%.
“Earlier companies used to have separate vendors for individual circles which catered to their various needs like procurement, advertising and equipment among others. However, companies are now trying to centralise the process, where they are appointing national level vendors which can service them across the country,” said Romal Shetty, director of telecommunications at KPMG. He reasoned that IT spend is a significant part of a telecom player’s cost and such exercises help in not only lowering the cost but also create more efficiency in operations.
This becomes important since telecom firms are expanding at a great speed with new players entering and the existing ones expanding their footprint.
