This Paper was amongst top-10 winning entries in "Opsyrus 2005", the CoolAvenues.com - OIG (IIM Lucknow) Paper Writing Competition held in October 2005.

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Executive Summary

Today, India is considered first choice destination for ITES/BPO but changes are fast coming up. But other countries are also acquiring the competencies. Cost and Quality are no longer the only criterion for success. New strategies are being implemented to succeed in this space. There are two ways to take on the global competition in the software services and business process
outsourcing (BPO) space and still succeed. This could be either by doing the same things better or taking a new approach that distinguishes one from the rest by developing the design mindset. And significantly, this has to be achieved at lower costs. Therefore, a continuous thrust on quality benchmarks and practices has become the order of the day.

The paper traces the evolution of Indian ITES/BPO industry and describes three distinct phases. The paper identifies specific requirements for each phase in terms of dominant characteristics. Indian advantage has been established and compared with other countries in world.

The paper describes the model (Source: Mckinsey Research) that clients use to make decision to outsource, and the paper uses the same model to identify the key performance parameters that are of utmost importance for clients.

Through this paper, we have tried to identify "Key Operational Challenges" that companies face. We have also drafted a model for Operational Excellence that incorporates various aspects of BPO where companies need to focus to achieve the excellence.

Finally, the model clearly defines all the operational issues and best practices that need to be implemented to achieve operational excellence.

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* Contributed by -
Vibhor Mittal & Surya Kiran Sharma ,
2nd Year Students,
Shailesh J Mehta School of management, IIT Bombay.