All Bets on ITeS

In his mid-thirties, Zia Shiekh is among the breed of entrepreneurs flying

back to India to catch the ITeS boom. Quitting a high-paying job with Morgan

Stanley Dean Witter in New York, Zia moved back to India to start Infowavz.

Today, the company has received two rounds of funding from ICICI and is looking

ahead of its call center business to bite into a larger share of the BPO pie.

Zia spoke to Dataquest on ITeS, BPO, and other related issues.

l On his

return to India...



Many of our co-founders are ex-McKinsey people. Sometime back in 1998, a

study predicted a huge opportunity for remote services out of India. The best

success example was McKinsey’s own knowledge center out of Gurgaon. We felt

there was potential and founded Infowavz to target call centers and the CRM

space.

l On India as

a destination for remote services...



Global players had credibility issues with the numerous Indian players.

Though they had done a fine job of handling ITS, this new segment called for a

completely different ball game. So most of the players had no option but to

juggle with prices and get non-critical business to India. However, today things

have improved quite a bit. A lot of Indian companies have successfully delivered

on their promises. For example Infowavz is handling eight Fortune 100 companies

and this goes a long way to show how India has become the hot spot for remote

services.

l On the ‘BPO

is hyped’ theory...



There is some truth in the American way of ‘We ain’t seen nothing till

now.’ The potential is huge and we have just scratched the surface. Unlike

during the dot-com bubble, we are seeing the best brains from around the globe

being attracted to India to set up their own branch in the BPO space. However,

the hype factor is also catching up. For example, I know of people showing

customers an empty piece of land and saying this is where the BPO infrastructure

is going to be set up. It is attracting a lot of non-serious players and this

could hurt the industry in the long run. But I guess this is the way any

fledgling industry evolves.

l On training

issues...



While training is not our core competency, we cannot deny the fact that it

is inevitable in terms of survival. Though we hadspoken to a lot of local

vendors, none could come up with solutions that met our need. Currently we have

tied up with a few leading local and global players and have a strong in-house

training team. Once the basic training is over, I feel the team members should

take on the second phase. The government should take the initiative on the same.

l On trade

unions and Western fears of employment generation in the Third World...



Let’s take the case of the UK–the attrition rate in call centers is very

high. Every 6-12 months, companies have a totally new workforce. There are

obvious issues for any company outsourcing its services to such call centers.

While trade unions and governments can raise a hue and cry about this, it is a

fact that the government has lost control in the ITeS space and can no longer

impose any legislation. From any company’s perspective, if it does not find

cheaper alternatives, it won’t live long enough to create employment.

l On future

plans…



We have successfully received the second round of funding from ICICI who

have invested in us again. We are looking at the third round of VC investments.

Plans are afoot to set up a 300-seat center in Pune as a JV with the UK based

Port@l Network Services. We are looking at setting up a third facility within

the next six months as the 500-seat Mumbai facility is already being utilized to

its maximum capacity. Long term plans also include exploring a global IPO in

2004-05.

Yograj Varma in New Delhi