Interview: Ramesh Gudalur, President, MphasiS BPO

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

Ramesh is the President of MphasiS BPO. He has over 20 years of leadership experience across BPO, financial services and manufacturing industries. Ramesh has been instrumental in creating delivery engines that have helped turn around clients’ business processes. Prior to his current role, he headed the BPO business at Cognizant Technologies. He has also held key roles at TCS BPO, GE, SRF Group, Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprises and ICICI OneSource, to name a few. ValueNotes: How has the buyer-vendor relationship changed over the last five years? How have you been handling the change? Ramesh: Over the last two years, buyer-vendor relationships have changed remarkably. Firstly, no longer do US companies give Indian service providers any concession regarding training, etc. Earlier, the buyers used to treat outsourcing as an extension of their captives. However, no longer do Indian vendors enjoy the privilege to be an extended captive. Service providers are selected for their capabilities. The focus is on core capabilities and not cost arbitrage. For example, in the retail industry, a company will first approach Accenture because they have demonstrated capabilities in the specific vertical. Client expectations have grown and therefore the relationship has changed. Indian service providers, on their part, do not want to be hand held and like to be treated as the global players and are focusing on building and strengthening their capabilities. This has in turn changed the way service providers look at themselves. Earlier we had a weaker view of ourselves. We used to ask, “How much FTE will be required for a certain task?” Now we ask, “How can we help the business?” SLAs are also outcome based. Previously, during their pitch to the client, the service providers talked more about themselves and their problems. "More worried about us - people, revenues, etc". Now we know our strengths and talk about them. ValueNotes: What are the key trends in offshoring in various verticals (in terms of contracts, SLAs, services offshoreability)? Ramesh: Earlier, SLAs were efficiency based. There was more concentration on the number of transactions per hour, level of efficiency, quality of output in terms of number of errors, turnaround time, etc. However, now, SLAs are based on effectiveness. Hence, the focus is on reducing the cost and improving the business. And now the SLAs are applicable from day one. Formerly, service providers were primarily order takers, doing exactly what the client wanted them to do. Now, there has been a shift from pure order-takers to a much more proactive partnership approach. In some areas / processes, we have developed a view of the business. Further, we have minimized the FTE model. At MphasiS, we have developed a view of the business in areas such as consumer banking, securities procurement, credit card business, property and casualty insurance, healthcare, telecom, manufacturing, accounting and HRO. ValueNotes: The financial services sector has been hit the hardest in this recession. How has this affected the outsourcing and offshoring business? Ramesh: Yes, the BFSI segment has taken a hit. However, the volumes are still there. In spite of the recession, we have kept customers well. We go by the net promoters’ goal. A good way is to reorganize and reduce costs. The economic slowdown and the unemployment in the US, these are only short-term. The focus will be on profits and on smart people who make things happen. ValueNotes: Do you think the election results in the US will impact the industry and offshoring? Ramesh: Politics will always be rhetoric. If I can't do it well in India, I will do it elsewhere. American companies are much more nimble and, according to me, the US elections will not have any negative impact on outsourcing. ValueNotes: How, in your opinion, will the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks impact the Indian outsourcing business? Ramesh: Terror attacks are such that any country and city can be subject to. However, how you deal with it is more important. When 9/11 happened in the US, the entire country was sealed and any ship entering into the American harbor was checked. The US also created homeland security. The way China went about the Olympics is commendable. So the question to be asked is how well is the government handling the situation. When there was no electricity or no internet, the outsourcing industry created the facilities. The government cannot expect the industry to do the same for security measures. These attacks will obviously have an impact on the industry. ValueNotes: MphasiS was acquired by EDS, and EDS by HP. Has this string of events brought about any structural changes in the organization? Ramesh: The integration is going well. It is good to be part of HP. HP is in the services business and both will benefit by this integration. ValueNotes: What steps should BPOs take to reassure clients in these harsh economic conditions? Ramesh: As long as BPOs are strong on clients and re-emphasize that the customer comes first, it will make a big difference. Our concern is client business. We have to work smart and efficiently. ValueNotes: How do you see the offshoring business model evolve over the next five years? Ramesh: Going forward, there will be no such thing as offshoring. The new word will be global shoring. Global delivery and global talent will be the buzz words. For instance, toys are manufactured in China. But today, we do not worry over where the toy is manufactured. One doesn't really care about where or how the toy was made as long as it is a toy.

 

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