BPO Rankings: 17 | 24/7 Customer: Slower Growth

When the voice/non-voice debate started surfacing in the Indian
offshoring arena, 24/7 Customer was one company that unequivocally (and
strongly) reiterated its commitment to the voice-centric customer lifecycle
management services business. Nothing wrong about that, but while all voice
players took definite new steps to ensure growth, 24/7 was slow on that front.
As a result, its growth was the slowest among all the DQ BPO Top 20 companies.

Most voice-focused players have taken one of the three steps to
sustain growthbuy out onshore companies, grow India in domestic business, or
leverage the parent companys IT capability better. 24/7 Customer did not do
any of those.

The end of Avivas three-year BOT agreement with 24/7 Customer
also had its impact. Not only did 24/7 have to transfer 1,600 agents, it also
saw substantial reduction in the business generated from Aviva (from close to
25% of total revenue) in the coming years.

	RANK 17 PV Kannan, CEO
Launched 24/7 Ascend, a partnership program for the academia Executed transfer of Avivas BOT project
FACTSHEET
l Start-up Year: 2000 l Delivery Presence: Bangalore (1), Chennai (2), Hyderabad (1), Manila (2), Guatemala City (1) l Address: Embassy Golf Links, Off Intermediate Ring Road, Challaghatta, Varthur Hobli, Bangalore 560071 l Tel: 08030582470 l Fax: 08030582469 l Website: www.247customer.com

But, the company did relentlessly pursue two strategies:
enhancing its global delivery capability, and developing talent. It launched
delivery centers in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Shanghai and China to add to its
presence in Guatamela and Manila.

However, its thrust was in people development. S Nagarajan,
co-founder, gave up the COO position to take up the responsibility as chief
people officer, a fairly pioneering step. In his new role, Nagarajan drove
talent management globally while Reene Kuwahara, was designated the COO.

There were attempts to foray into non-voice, including
analytics, to boost margins. Initial successes included an F&A account win
with Aviva. Also, 24/7s early thrust in Europe, way back in 2003, with its
European revenue close to 41% will help the company tackle the sliding US
dollar.

Despite all this, 24/7 Customer continued to enjoy the
limelight. If it was Tom Friedmans World is Flat that gave a lot of publicity
to 24/7 Customer in 2005, last year, it was BBC TVs program on the life of
Indian call center executives, shot entirely in 24/7s facilities.

The rumors about a possible IPO in early 2007 was denied by the
company. DQ