http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_technology http://www.hclbpo.com/ http://www.hclbpo.com/group_vision.html http://www.indiainfoline.

com/Markets/News/HCL-Tech-continues-to-expand-market-share-VineetNayar/5135658605
http://www.hcltech.com/bpo/ http://www.hcltech.com/BPO/success-stories/ http://www.careerquips.blogspot.com/2008/07/advantages-disadvantages-of-working-in.html http://www.nijobs.com/HCL-BPO-Services-NI-Ltd-Jobs-2056.aspx

INTRODUCTION
Information Technology is the area of managing technology and spans wide variety of areas that include but are not limited to things such as processes, computer software, information systems, computer hardware, programming languages, and data constructs. In short, anything that render data, information or perceived knowledge in any visual format whatsoever, via any multimedia distribution mechanism, is considered part of the domain space known as Information Technology (IT). IT provides businesses with four sets of core services to help execute the business strategy. These four core services are broken into business process automation, providing information, connecting with customers, and productivity tools. Information technology (IT) is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications. The term in its modern sense first appeared in a 1958 article published in the Harvard Business Review, in which authors Leavitt and Whisler commented that "the new technology does not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology (IT). IT professionals perform a variety of functions (IT Disciplines/Competencies) that ranges from installing applications to designing complex computer networks and information databases. A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking,

engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as management and administration of entire systems. Information technology is starting to spread further than the conventional personal computer and network technologies, and more into integrations of other technologies such as the use of cell phones, televisions, automobiles, and more, which is increasing the demand for such jobs. In the recent past, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology and the Association for Computing Machinery have collaborated to form accreditation and curriculum standards for degrees in Information Technology as a distinct field of study as compared to Computer

Science and Information Systems today. SIGITE (Special Interest Group for IT Education) is the ACM working group for defining these standards. The Worldwide IT services revenue totalled $763 billion in 2009.

COMPANY PROFILE
In an ever flattening world of increasing competitive pressures and changing market dynamics, Business Process Outsourcing is attaining tremendous significance. BPO has become an essential enabler of significant and sustainable operational efficiencies and cost economies for mid-to-mega sized business organisations. HCL BPO was started in 2001. Today, with USD 214 million in revenue and over 10,500 professionals operating out of India, Northern Ireland and USA. HCL BPO runs 23 delivery centers across India, UK and USA and offers 24X7 multi-channel, multi-lingual support in eight European and eight APAC languages. HCL BPO's focus verticals include Telecom, Retail & CPG, Energy, Utilities & Public Services, Banking & Financial Services, Insurance, Hi-Tech & Manufacturing and Media, Publishing & Entertainment. The company also services various areas of operations that include Supply Chain Management, Finance & Accounts Outsourcing, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, Human Resources Outsourcing, Customer Relationship Management and Technical Support Services. HCL Business Services has the largest Telecom engagement in India and runs business processes for world renowned Clients in back-office services, particularly in the Telecom and Retail domain. HCL's BPO is heading towards a maturity level where a new form of BPO, called Business Services, is evolving that constitutes Full Process Outsourcing and Multiple Process Outsourcing. Transformation and innovation is core to HCL Business Services and we have evolved from a traditional BPO to the NeXt Generation BPO. HCL's BPO operation in consonance with the HCL tradition is a leader and pioneer in the highgrowth, high-expectation market space of BPO. HCL BPO focuses on meeting Customers' continuous and emerging expectations of significant year-on-year cost savings, Customer-centric pricing models, proactive partnership, service delivery predictability and value generation. In short, HCL BPO's value-centric approach, best practices and commitment to process improvement delivers the most effective business impact to all its Customers. HCL BPO ranks 3rd globally in the industry for collections process and operational efficiency. HCLs BPO provides various services such as Telecom, Retail & CPG, Banking & Financial Services, Insurance, Hi-Tech & Manufacturing, Media, Publishing & Entertainment and Utilities. This apart, the company services various areas of operations that include Supply Chain Management, Finance & Accounting Services, Knowledge & Legal Services, Customer Relationship Management, Technical Support Services and Data Management Services. It is best in class BPO enablers across delivery, innovation and governance.

HCL BPO has made significant investments in technology, human resources, quality and intellectual property, ensuring critical and high degree of service delivery. HCL BPO's technology

infrastructure is robust, reliable and scalable with strong Business Continuity Plans and Data Information Security Systems. Human Resource management at HCL BPO is a key strategic

function that ensures continued high level of performance. The company has developed IPs and methodologies across assessment, transition and operation areas. This includes process migration and engagement management framework ARMOR (Assessment / Resolution / Migration / Operation / Relationship) that enables accelerated and seamless migration of processes from a Client

environment with customization option for specific verticals. The outsourcing assessment framework POEM (Process Outsourcing Evaluation Matrix) helps in viability of outsourcing of business processes by analyzing and scoring factors like standardization, interface, de-linkage, skill-sets and risk. HCL BPO follows industry best practices and metric-based quality norms for all its processes. This is supported by robust technology infrastructure, strong human resources and a customized training program and transition framework. The various services provided by HCL BPO are as follows: Supply Chain Management Finance and Accounts Outsourcing Knowledge Process Outsourcing Human Resource Outsourcing Customer Relationship Management Technical Support Services
They are briefly discussed below-

1. Supply Chain Management: Supply chain executives have a daunting daily challenge managing a global supply chain. Organisations are looking at improving operational and supplier performance to help them move towards a dynamic, real-time supply chain model to increase productivity and business flexibility, and extract greater value. With the current scenario, outsourcing of Supply Chain Management has attained significant momentum, resulting in improvised business processes across all functions of supply chain management. 2. Finance and Accounts Outsourcing: With increasing scrutiny by governments and investors in the shadow of the current economic constraints, Companies are bound to be vigilant and cautious about the true and fair depiction of the books of accounts. A minor slip in this area can cost to the company in financial or non-financial terms. HCLs transformation-led Finance and Accounting Services are sketched to support the client by establishing compliance and controls, balancing expense vs. growth, reducing the cash cycle and

maximizing return on investment (ROI). 3. Knowledge Process Outsourcing: As the market for outsourced services has evolved from low-end business support services to include value-added, business critical functions, HCL BPOs Knowledge Process Outsourcing division is well positioned to assist Clients with a full spectrum of outsourced services. The Knowledge Process Outsourcing division in HCL is divided into three broad categories of service segments. 4. Human Resources Outsourcing: In most of the organisations, the Human Resource function (HR), which is entrusted with managing this asset, spends most of its time on transactional, non-core tasks. HRO offering blends the perfect mix of HR domain expertise, best practices & processes, best-in-class IT infrastructure and HR ERP platforms. 5. Customer Relationship Management: HCL BPO's extensive experience in almost every component of the Customer Life Cycle Management has enabled its Client to derive significant benefits in terms of increased market share, Brand equity, customer loyalty and enhanced customer satisfaction. 6. Technical Support Services: HCL BPO is a leading and respected player in the Technical Support Services segment and aims to relentlessly deliver value in addressing each Clients specific business goals. Helpdesk models are thus tailored to meet the needs of individual customers for successful outsourcing outcome, as the one-size-fits-all option no longer exists. Acknowledging the concerns of the market through commitment and customer feedback, the company has developed solutions for the entire Support Life Cycle Management.

Accolades for HCL BPO Services:

Ranked in the 'Leaders' category of the Global Outsourcing 10, International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) 2010 Tops the Black Book of Outsourcing 2009 lists of Top 50 Best Managed Global Outsourcing Vendors, and Top Cross Industry BPO vendors Ranked No. 1 Employer in India and Best Employer in Asia by Hewitt Associates, 2009 Ranked 3rd in the Employee Satisfaction Survey by DQ-IDC, 2008 Won Technology Award at the BPO Industry Awards by Indiatimes, 2008 HCL NI won European Call Centre of the Year 'Best People Practice' Award by Call Centre Focus (CCF), 2008 The first Indian BPO to enter the Telecommunications Expense Management (TEM) market HCL BPO among the Top 5 service providers in the UK market for Life & Pensions Won 2008 CIO 'Bold 100' award - IDG India 2008 Ranked among the Top 10 ITeS-BPO companies in India (NASSCOM & Dataquest) First BPO company successfully appraised at Maturity level 3 of People CMM First Indian BPO to be COPC certified for Collection services Third BPO in the world to be COPC certified for Collections services Largest Telecom BPO service provider in Asia Largest BPO service provider in Northern Ireland Special award for 'consistent excellence for outsourcing practice across all disciplines' by the National Outsourcing Association (NOA '07).

HCL BPO's Quality certifications include:

CCA Global Standard COPC 2000 (CSP Release 4.1) ISO 9001:2000 OHSAS 18001:2007 ISO 14001:2004

Leadership Credentials:

The first Indian BPO to enter the Telecommunications Expense Management (TEM) market HCL BPO ranks among the Top 10 ITeS-BPO companies in India (NASSCOM &Dataquest) Largest BPO service provider in Northern Ireland Won the largest engagement in Indian BPO history Largest provider of Telecom BPO services in Asia First Indian BPO to be COPC certified for Collection Services Pioneered blended - shore operations for Indian BPO service providers

VISION OF THE COMPANY "Together we create the enterprises of tomorrow".

MISSION OF THE COMPANY "To provide world-class information technology solutions and services to enable our customers to serve their customers better".

OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPANY: The main objective is to answer the Information Technology needs of the client for its existing operations; to reduce the time for existing activities; increase efficiency; provide a vast database of information at its fingertips and maximise consideration of the environment in the roll out of new recycling projects.

MARKET SHARE
HCL BPO was started with a small team of 20 people in September 2001, and had grown to about 13,000 people in the span of seven and a half years. Over this time, there has been a paradigm shift in customer expectations from cost arbitrage to skill arbitrage, from input-based pricing to a preference for output-based pricing, from operational efficiency to business transformation. Customers also moved away from looking at mere savings in cost; they look to the service provider not as a vendor but as a partner who adds value to their business. HCL BPO ranked as the 4th major BPO player worldwide by the Black Book of Outsourcing, 2008. HCL BPO has the largest Telecom engagement in India and runs business processes for world renowned Clients in back-office services, particularly in the Telecom and Retail domain. In order to effectively address this changing customer paradigm, we re-architected ourselves completely. We did this by a conscious strategy to move away from linear monotonic growth and delink the revenue growth from headcount growth. We adopted a global delivery model to further expand our delivery footprint to offer near-shore, off-shore options, and to minimize risks from currency fluctuations, and country-specific risks. HCL BPO is consciously moving from voice-based services to transaction-based services to knowledge-based service. We are also moving away from input-based pricing to output-based pricing to outcome-based pricing, while strengthening our customer acquisition process. Advantages of BPO jobs: 1.Salary: BPOs in India offer good starting salaries with regular raises every year. Typical salary of a person working in India can vary between 15000 rupees to 30,000 rupees or even higher. This is much higher than individuals working in most other traditional professions like Government jobs, teachers, clerks and armed forces. there is no doubt that money is very important these days and BPOs are a good opportunity to earn some good money. Therefore you need not be just an engineer or a doctor to earn good money.

2. Qualification: All BPOs require you to be fluent in English, although most do expect you to have at least a bachelors degree like BSC or BA. For certain types of jobs like Medical or Tech. outsourcing, having a background or education in that field can certainly add to your advantage. Bilingual (people who speak multiple languages) individuals who are fluent in Spanish, German and French have a great advantage over others. Spanish language has nice penetration in United States due to Mexican (Spanish speaking) immigrants, similarly French has a great demand in Canada.

3. Clean Work: Well there is no running around to get your work done, most bigger BPOs will even provide you a convenient bus service from several pick-up locations in the city. This is especially convenient for girls of India because of elevated women crime in recent years. Your job requires talking over the phone after going through an intensive customer support training. Most BPOs also provide free snacks and drinks to their employees.

4.Growth-flexibility to change jobs easily: People with just a few years on experience are in great demand, and will usually be able to change their jobs to a competing BPO company for a better salary and position. . 5.On Job Training: BPOs provide training and how to deal with customers and the best part is that they even pay you when they train you. The training typically lasts for a few weeks and often followed by a supervised practical experience.

6.BPO Employees may be able to work from home now: As of August 2008, The Indian government has given its go-ahead to agents working at BPOs, other service providers included, to work from home. But BPO firms are already voicing security concerns which, they say, would not allow them to make full use of the concept.

Challenges faced by BPO industry: The biggest challenge facing HCL BPO is the economic situation. Their customers are facing challenges in their own markets. It is witnessing slower decision-making cycles. New revenue from existing customers is taking a hit. There are customers who come up for renegotiations. Service providers are challenged by customers to add value, and decrease costs. The BPO industry is maturing with the economic crisis, and so are the pricing models. Today, faced with these tough times, the companys plans both short term and long term are geared to make HCL go forward faster when things improve. The focus will continue to be on moving up the value chain, on performance, and on delivering value to our customers. The other challenges facing the BPO industry right now are significant currency fluctuations, and of course the global meltdown has affected everybody as we've become a global village and economies are so integrated that anything that impacts on one part of the world has an impact in another. But the current global economic downturn is not going to last forever; it holds a mid- and longterm positive impact for the BPO industry. When companies eventually emerge from the present crisis, they would start thinking of how to get their work done in the most cost effective manner without compromising quality. Sustaining cost competitiveness will be an important driver and the IT-enabled services industry will allow enterprises to do more with less.

Client Relationship Client Profile Services Delivered UK-based G500 Telecom Major 50+ campaigns spanning Lead Generation, Customer Service, Billing, Collections and Knowledge Services to support traditional PSTN as well as broadband business Multi-channel (Voice, email, chat) delivery from 6 centers in India and UK Significantly improved process metrics Sole service provider for a number of critical market facing and internal service

US-based F500 Telecom Major

Multi-channel - Voice/Web high-end Tech Help desk services delivery as part of a global consortia

US-based F500 Retail Conglomerate US-based F500 Grocery Chain

Manages 50% of all Proprietary/ Cobranded Credit Card Collection and Customer Service for a 50 million card-holder bas Services include Customer Feedback Processing / Profile update for loyalty card members/ Non Sufficient Fund Transaction Management and Collections / Promotional Planning for Store Inventory and Supplies / Direct Merchant Supply

UK-based Residential Property Services Provider UK based Retail Water Supply Major

Scoped and launched a new line of business - Re-mortgage Conveyancing for the Client Joint Go-to-Market initiative End-to-end Order-to-Cash process Significantly improved end-to-end process and business metrics

Profit and Loss Account

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths: Cost advantage is one of the biggest strengths of BPO industry Skilled workforce Expertise in new technologies Wide range of services provided by the company Consistent revenue growth HCL BPO ranks as the 4th major BPO player worldwide by the Black Book of Outsourcing, 2008 HCL BPO ranks 3rd globally in the industry for collections process and operational efficiency

Weaknesses: Scarce foreign language skills other than English. Expensive and poor quality telecom infrastructure High attrition rates, therefore less no. of people with extensive call centre experience

Opportunities: New outsourcing deals Increasing awareness of outsourcing services Horizontal and vertical expansion of existing customer base into new markets

Threats: Intense competition Anti- outsourcing legislation Other BPO destinations such as China, Philippines and South Africa could have an edge on the cost factor

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Every initiative at HCL is conducted or organized with the environment in mind. We believe every organization can play a major role in reducing hazards to the environment, and which is why HCL has joined the national movement of businesses and organizations that are leading the fight against global warming by aligning with Carbonfund.org, one of country's leading carbon offset organization.

The result was that HCL's Global Customer Meet 'Unstructure', organized in November 2008, was a carbon-neutral event as we compensated for the emissions by purchasing carbon credits, which were split equally into carbon offsets of Reforestation, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Advancing further into our Go Green initiative, the event was taken as an incentive to plant more than 650 oak trees in 2.8 acres of land in Champawat district of Uttarakhand.

Our employees walk hand in hand with us in making the organization green friendly by organizing plantation drives across the country, and working with organizations like Green Peace to create awareness on green issues. It is a conscious decision taken by the employees to reduce paper usage, save energy and cost by switching off lights when not required and print only when necessary, as an effort to drive the green movement within the organization. Our values are to treat people, as you would expect to be treated. HCL takes its corporate social responsibility to heart. We have ISO 9001 and 14001 and are involved with Business in the Community, and proactively source new employees through community schemes. At HCL Technologies we are deeply cognizant of our responsibilities towards environment and run a multi-layered corporate program to drive our sustainability initiatives. To achieve these objectives, the company works on a three-dimensional level; the first step of which consists of ensuring all regulatory mandates are consistently complied with 1. Regulatory/Statutory compliance HCL ensures an uncompromising adherence to all environment related statutory and regulatory frameworks. This first step is however just the foundation of our larger sustainability campaign. Over the years we have constantly aspired to go the extra mile and make a difference based on voluntary and self-driven corporate and individual action to ensure a transformational effect

on environment. We call this our Go Green Program. 2. Go Green Transformation (Voluntary combined Corporate Action) This program targets four touch points responsible for increasing or reducing an enterprise GHG and carbon footprint:
o o o o

Facilities Operations Travel IT Events

At the epicenter of these four touch-points is HCL's Corporate Environmental Policy, which clearly states the principles the company has adopted to regulate and ensure a positive environmental impact. Also at the epicenter is a dedicated team that has been established inside the organization called the Health, Safety and Environment (HES) group. This team centrally orchestrates the 'Go Green program' as well as ensures that the company adheres to all regulatory mandates. The group consists of highly competent and experienced Green Experts boasting of certifications like Lead Auditor for ISO 14001:2004 (Environmental Management System), OHSAS 18001:2007, etc. 3. Go Green - Participation (Voluntary Individual Action) This endeavour seeks to enable and ignite voluntary individual action towards environmental issues.
o

Individual Awareness consists of regular campaigns we run internally with global torchbearers like Greenpeace to increase employee awareness around topical environmental issues like recycling, forestation, climate change, GHG emissions, etc. Individual Action consists of specific initiatives and platforms that are made available to employees to contribute to the eco cause. Proud of our Green credentials

Winner of Golden Peacock Eco Innovation Award 2009

First company in India to launch RoHS compliant laptops. All HCL Laptops are RoHS compliant.

HCL in alliance with TERI (headed by Dr. R.K. Pachauri, 2007 Nobel Prize winner) are active members of ICSD (India Council for Sustainable Development), a nongovernment organization working towards the ultimate "Green Goal" of Government of India by participating in various sustainable development projects at various

HCL, as one of the strategic partners of World Economic Forum, has been contributing to WEF's Strategy and Government Affairs meetings on contribution of ICT

levels.

industry to managing climate change.

CONCLUSION
The Indian outsourcing industry has registered a massive growth over the years. It has withstood the pressure and negative campaigns by the media and others to emerge as the hot destination for young job seekers. It is very necessary to judge the mood of the people working for BPO companies as success of an organization completely depends on the satisfaction level of their employees. If they are satisfied with their job and work with a peaceful mind, then it will enhance the quality of their work and their company will witness better productivity results. These results are most essential to convince the foreign investors who outsource their businesses to India. It is believed that if an organization can satisfy their own employees, they will definitely be able to meet the expectations of their clients. HCL BPO is among the Top 5 service providers in the UK market for Life & Pensions. It is the Largest Telecom BPO service provider in Asia. It Won Technology Award at the BPO Industry Awards by Indiatimes, 2008. It also tops the Black Book of Outsourcing 2009 lists of Top 50 Best Managed Global Outsourcing Vendors, and Top Cross Industry BPO vendors. Thus it can b said that HCLs BPO services are growing at a rapid rate and serves the customers in the best possible way. My opinion: After collecting all the information related to the project and going beyond the boundaries i realised that i personally would not choose a BPO sector due to the biggest disadvantage, being the odd lifestyle. Other drawbacks are as follows: 1. Odd Working Hours: Most of the call centers in India support overseas operations and majority of professionals have night shifts. Although many have day shifts as they support domestic Indian customers, or off-business support hours of the overseas company which happens to be day-time for India. But in majority of cases Indian call center jobs mostly hav odd hours. 2. Health Issues: Sleep disorders, heart disease, eyesight problems and depression are just a few issues surrounding the call center jobs. People also tend to gain weight as most of the time they are sitting in their small cubicle. Health issues in Indian call center industry is becoming a major issue. Even though you work only 5 days a week, for rest of the two days it is not easy to swap your sleep cycle the other way around. 3. Abusive Clients: Many of the customers you speak with can actually get very abusive or angry.

4. Negative Social Perception About The BPO Industry: This is another grey area, because of which many potential BPO employees turns off from getting into BPO sector.