A typical day at work for Meera Walia starts at 8:00 a.m. in a plush glass tower at Gurgaon. A quick round of emails, multiple interactions with business and domain heads across the company’s verticals, and a number of off-shore calls and discussions with her UK-based client later, she has reached the fag end of the day. The doctor-cum- knowledge consultant is working at the outsourcing company WNS as a Senior Vice-President for its pharmaceutical and healthcare services.   

Life, however, used to be much different about eight years ago for Walia, an Armed Forces Medical College alumna, who used to be a full-time doctor in the Indian Military (and also in Oman). After a nine-year stint as an ophthalmologist, Walia decided to join the business process management (BPM) industry.

Walia has been with WNS for five years now and is engaged with one of the top five pharma companies in the world as her client. She is enjoying her 9-hour work day, not to mention a hefty compensation for her subject matter knowledge, and past experience of patient interactions and research and analytics. “It’s not very different from being a clinician,” says Walia. “All through your medical career you evaluate what is right for the patient but now you are on the other side where you are looking at which pharmaceutical company will be best suited for clinicians.

Her division’s business has doubled from this UK-based client, she’s quick to add. The BPO industry has come a long way from being a wage arbitrage player for its international clients, who were seeking just voice-based services or simplified data analytics services from India. For instance, WNS started operations 10 years earlier as a back office of British Airways for online and voice-based support. And now, 80 per cent of the company’s revenue comes from data driven high-end services. “We have been able to show the client that we have not just been able to play the wage arbitrage model really well but can deliver much higher value as well,” says Keshav Murugesh, Group CEO, WNS Global Services.

Compelling career options BPO behemoths turning into BPMs offering higher value services such as analytics, finance and accounting services, research and legal process outsourcing has been the biggest change this industry has seen so far.

The model has brought forward many compelling career options for youngsters. Many CAs, lawyers, statisticians, PhDs, doctors, and HR professionals are entering offshore outsourcing businesses with a view to having a long-term profession.

Like Walia, professionals in large number are attracted to this relatively newer career option in lure of a work-life balance, handsome compensation, rapid growth and international experience.

Young people in their 30s are running very large portfolios at such companies. “In a growing organisation the chance to take on a leadership role at an early stage is very high,” says Murugesh. “Where else would you get an opportunity to lead an entire business portfolio, or a group, at a very young age. You are constantly learning, and travelling across the world.”

WNS has close to 8,000 qualified professionals for its finance and account practices, along with close to 2,500 analytics professionals. The outsourcing firm has employed doctors, and pharmacists in large numbers as well.

Flexible opportunities Kunal Purohit, Country Head, India, of Integreon Managed Services, an offshore Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) outfit that works for law firms in the US, UK and Australia, shares Murugesh’s views, “With rapid growth comes a steeper learning curve and more opportunities to explore options. Such flexibility in industries where growth is stagnant is hard to come by,” says Purohit. “Our employees have the opportunity to gain on-the-job project management and business development skills that can complement their technical and academic expertise.” With a growth rate of 30 per cent each year, the LPO industry is currently one of the fastest growing segments in India.

The Indian IT-BPM sector directly employs nearly 3 million professionals currently, adding over 1.6 lakh in the coming year. Though the industry needs professionals at various levels with previous experience, most of the candidates are hired at entry-level, especially those who have recently completed their education and are looking to enter the job market.  The doctors, lawyers, CAs, and pharmacists, even at entry and mid-level in the outsourcing business, are well compensated. All the hygiene factors in terms of salary, travel, perks, growth and lifestyle are taken care of by the industry.

“The compensation offered by the BPM industry is as high as three times what an entry-level professional will earn in the traditional practice which further makes such jobs a lucrative option,” says Jyorden T. Misra, founder member and Managing Director of Spearhead InterSearch, an HR consultancy.

Right fit Outsourcing jobs have emerged as an option for lawyers, according to Integreon’s Rashmi Kishore. “Lawyers really just have two options when it comes to law practice in India: either you practice in court or become a corporate lawyer,” says Kishore. “Corporate law too has not matured as much in India; LPOs provide opportunity to various young lawyers in India.” Integreon currently employs 500 lawyers and 250 MBA/engineers (consultants) on its payroll. They work under three business units of litigation, research and business services.

When the nature of work becomes complex, getting the right candidate to do the job becomes important. Thus, unlike the bulk hiring that BPOs used to carry out, the outsourcing companies have become more careful in picking up talent when it comes to hiring domain experts. “We hire from a select group of colleges and are selective in picking up talent with a conversion ratio as low as two or three per cent,” says Integreon’s Purohit. “We look for candidates who bring strong domain and analytical skills.”

Rebranding the industry WNS too has a strong hiring engine and recruits candidates from top institutes and even those who complete the Indian Army’s short service commission. “The doctors, financial analysts, and pharmacists we hire are highly qualified and come to join us at the prime of their lives,” says Murugesh. “Once they have spent two or three years in this industry, nobody will leave this industry essentially because of age and experience.”

Industry body Nasscom recently published a report, according to which, the BPM industry is expected to add overall revenues of $ 13-14 billion to existing industry revenues of $ 118 billion. Export revenues for the next year is projected to grow by 13-15 per cent to reach $97-99 billion.

“We are looking at complete rebranding of the industry - so that student, teachers, people could look at the industry as a compelling career choice,” says Murugesh, who is also Chairman of the Nasscom BPM Council 2013-15. “We want to create an ecosystem of talent by working with institutes and universities to build business-ready graduates, who will be trained as per industry requirements.” Nasscom is currently running a pilot project in 20 colleges in Haryana, Chandigarh and Bangalore currently, offering a tailor- made course.

According to the Nasscom–McKinsey Perspectives 2020 report, the BPM industry in India is expected to earn revenues of $50 billion by 2020. Currently the export revenues from the BPM industry stand at $18 billion. With the shift in the traditional business model of BPOs from an onsite-offshore model to a more specialised, domain-centric and high-end analytical services provider model, the industry is in for a major re-branding. And, Nasscom is striving to make India a preferred global destination for BPM.

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