6.Lessons from Apple's Indian adventures

.Is the going good for Indian BPO industry?Apple Computer Inc.planned to build a technical support center in Bangalore,but has scrapped the plan.Had that plan seen daylight, India would have got 3000 jobs.One reason cited was the increasing costs of running outsourcing in India.Frequent turnovers plague the industry and banglaore's real estate price seems to be higher than that of san diego's.

Is this a warning sign or just one of those freaky incidents?Business standard reports that Indian BPO industry is facing a mid-life crisis.Business standard also reports that Indian BPO industry is moving out of the low value jobs and is moving towards innovation.Business standard reports that Romi Malhotra, managing director of Dell International Services says that the earlier slogan "Come to India for cost and stay for quality" can now be changed to "Come to India for quality and stay for innovation".

India grew by around 9.3% in last quarter(source businessweek) and is experiencing an unprecedented boom in it's stock market.But I am afraid that much of this development comes from MNC's and software firms.Business standard reports that 60% of business in BPO comes from MNC's.BPO is yielding quick money to India.India made $17.3 billion in outsourcing in last year(source business week)last year through BPO.

Rediff says that apple's move isnt a bad omen and says that it is an one-off freaky incident.But it also points out that Dell has scaled down it's Indian operations.Even though these might be two unrelated incidents and inspite of rediff assuring us that Indian BPO business will enjoy double digit growth rates,I guess it's time to rethink our business model.

Bangalore is not the only city in India.Many sub urbans cities in India like coimbatore have all the facilities to run a BPO.English speaking population,engineers and real estate at real low prices are some advantages in these places.

Nasscom summit gave a different idea citing a shift in strategy of BPO firms.Speakers at Nasscom's annual ITES-BPO summit felt that
Indian BPO sector has to change its business model by offering clients not just process improvement but becoming their transformational partners.

The going is good and rosy as of now.But let us not take risks.India cannot lose any more deals like Apple's deal.