"The Northeast’s English-speaking population is a key asset for call centers"

DSS Mobile, the major domestic call center company has diversified into
international call center business by setting up a 200-seat call center in
Guwahati, thus becoming the first ITeS company in the Northeast. The call
center, set up with active help from Northeast Development Financial Institution
(NEDFI) and the state government, is a significant development since this is the
first serious investment made in IT by any industrial house in the region.
Pravin Kumar, MD, DSS Mobile, speaks about the business prospects in the region,
the issues and how the company plans to address those issues

l Yours
is the first major call center in the Northeast. What took you there?

Yes, we are the first one to set up a call center in Guwahati. The
Northeast undoubtedly has more potential than any other region in the country.
There are three major reasons why we opted to set up a center here. First, the
rate of literacy in the region is very high, being second only to Kerala.
Second, English is a natural language in the region and third, the region has a
lot of exposure to the Western culture.

l
Why have others not ventured into the region yet?

My belief is that even if 50 % of Nasscom’s projection of the ITeS
industry is to be achieved, call centers will have to move from metros to other
regions. The industry cannot sustain the growth rate if it falters on the supply
of manpower. The industry has also realized the immense wealth of manpower
availability in the region and has set up recruiting bases in the city.
Companies like Daksh and Spectramind are recruiting heavily from the region.
Even NIIT’s ITeS training initiative has a major thrust on the region. All
these companies have realized the availability of an English speaking population
there.

l What
were the issues you faced while setting up the call center in Guwahati?

The proposal was floated in 1999 to set up the center. We took a long
time to decide on the viability of setting up a center in the Northeast. Once
the viability was established, NEDFI supported us actively and even took a stake
in the venture. There was also active support from the state government.

l What
has been your experience with the center till now?

Running a call center in Guwahati has been a unique experience since
people there are hungry for good employment opportunities. Our surveys have also
found that women in the Northeast are very independent and thus open to career
options in an industry requiring unconventional working hours. However, the
downside is that the communication infrastructure is not reliable. The IPLCs do
not guarantee 100 % uptime and the satellite connectivity is also down. The real
problem is that there is no reliable connectivity from Mumbai to the region.
Other factors that need to be addressed are educating BSNL employees about the
sensitivity of such operations. So we have worked on bringing such issues to the
notice of the concerned authorities.

l What
steps have you taken to address these issues?

We have had several meetings with officials of BSNL, VSNL and the
central government. The outcome of a recently concluded meeting has set the
mandate that VSNL’s microwave communication network from Kolkata be made up
and running by 30 November and that there should be stricter vigilance of the
IPCL circuits so that communication is available at all times. We hope that
these steps will improve the communication infrastructure considerably.

l How
do you plan to leverage on the region’s strength?

We have drawn a blueprint for a huge call center training initiative
in the region. Initially, we will focus on Guwahati and later move into Shillong
and Aizwal. We plan to roll out our new initiative in the early part of next
year and train about 5,000 students in the first year itself.

Balaka Baruah
Aggrawal

CNS