TMCnews Featured Article

When most people in the United States conjure up images of India, two things immediately pop into their heads – the Taj Mahal and call center outsourcing facilities. This year, the landscape of where the award-winning Slumdog Millionaire was made, was overtaken by the Philippines as the number-one preferred destination of outsourcing call center services.

In a typical outsourcing company located just outside Bangalore, in place of cubicles filled with busy agents under headsets is what might seem like a dentist office, as you will see models of molars covering desks and teeth X-rays on computer screens.

Though interesting, why in the world would these teeth-related items be present in a call center? Because these agents are actually assisting customers who have filed insurance claims and sent them in anticipation of approval to their American healthcare provider.

In fact, more and more healthcare companies are turning to outsourcing as a way to cut rising costs. Some industry analysts forecast that outsourcing within this space and many other verticals will only increase in years to come.

 With stark competition from organizations relocating to the Philippines, Indian companies are trying to diversify their offerings by working with dental workers, nurses, accountants, lawyers and mathematicians.

 “There has been a shakeout in the guys who thought this was an easy industry, and now the rest of us are moving upmarket,” according to Partha Desarkar, head of Hinduja Global Solutions, the BPO arm of the Hinduja conglomerate.

Many major companies based in the United States, including General Electric, have turned to India to power multiple call center services including back-office outsourcing in areas from tax and regulatory compliance to human resources.

 Earlier this month, TMCnet reported that in 2011 alone, the Philippines’ IT-BPO market contributed approximately $11 billion in export revenue, generated 640,000 direct jobs and approximately 1.5 million indirect jobs in the country. Overall, the BPO industry comprised 5.4 percent of the country’s GDP in 2011 and officials expect this figure to reach nearly 8.6 percent by 2016.

To read the full report, click here.

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