Every job is special to every one for various reasons. In a way, DRISHTI is very special to me as it is my first job. Once I completed my MBA degree it was Drishti who took me aboard. It has been 6 months of association with Drishti and the experience gathered is the start of a very steep learning curve. In every aspect including like customer relations management, Industry knowledge, people management etc., Drishti has given me the training which would shape my career very well.
I started my career with zero knowledge about call center technology or ICT domain. My mind was full of questions like:
* What is call center? How does it work?
* How does the industry work? Who are the key people in the call center?
* What is contact center software? Etc., etc.
The training sessions I was given explained these things to me. I was given clarity from the basics to the industry dynamics.
Now was the time for me to step out and gain some real field experience. And as expected, it was exciting and challenging at the same time. The client has enquired for a supply chain management and product tracker information system. The question that raced my mind was – How will Ameyo support/enable any kind of business other than the call centers? But as I started pondering on the solution capabilities of Ameyo as were described to me in the product training sessions, I became confident on how perfectly Ameyo can map to this requirement.
My learning from the very first field experience was – Ameyo is not merely a call center suite; rather it is an advanced communication technology platform which has the capabilities to support and manage business processes and customer interactions.
My profile includes approaching the SMB call centers in Bangalore region and understanding their technology requirements. These small centers are mainly start-ups and along with the existing ones (both International & domestic BPOs). They need to be identified through partners and other lead sources and have to be targeted with right technology to address their process dynamics. Again targeting these segments is very challenging due to various facts.
The Market itself is very dynamic and highly unstable. I remember this news published a year back in some news paper saying 90% of the small call centres die in the first 6 months of commencement of operations. Back then, it was a mere news piece to me since I had no connection to this industry as a student.
Today, I realize and understand how that news might have impacted the industry players. I feel that this should be an eye opener to the entrepreneurs who aim to set up their own BPO business. Most of these start-ups die in the initial run phase itself not because of the decreased inflow of business but purely because of miscalculation in the business strategy to be implemented.
The issue can be very aptly addressed with the right technology and a good amount of operational expenditure can be very easily saved. I feel it is extremely important for any aspirant to understand that the right technology can really help them to improve their productivity with minimum cost. Choosing the right technology is the only way to extend the life cycle of any call center business. The one time investment they are making over technology would get them returns much higher than they could have ever calculated. Solutions like Ameyo will deliver them their ROI in the initial 6 months itself and that would just be the beginning.
This is my small message to the BPO entrepreneurs – Minimise your recurring costs by investing in the right technology. Associate with a technology partner that can deliver timely support.
Learning from the mistakes of other people would give them a clearer view of the opportunities available to them and would certainly help in defining a more stable and promising road map into future.
Now this might have been some heavy dosage of gyaan…
So, to end this on an undertone, I would come back from where I started – my field experience. ‘Field Sales’ is a challenging profile but the best part is that I get an opportunity to meet the new and existing customers directly. This in turn helps me to understand the market, competition as well as customer perspective. On a more personal note, I would say that I believe more than ever that meeting new people is a great motivation and increases self-confidence. This is purely because each experience like this is unique and tests you to apply the fundas you have learnt over your educational years.
