Technology Convergence & Technical Support BPO

The Convergence of Technology and Skill Requirements in the Indian BPO Industry. Is there a connection? Does this matter for BPO Service Providers?

It has been happening for some time now - the other day there was an ad in the Times of India for a PDA and there was another ad in the same paper for a Phone that can double as a "palm computer". We see the New Plasma and LCD TVs getting closer to the Personal Computer and the Computer in turn getting closer to the TV! VOIP is a good example of technology convergence. Internet Protocol, Analog Phones, VOIP Technology et al.

In the United States, the VOIP User Base is getting larger .. there are industry estimates that speak of the United States VOIP User Base becoming closer to 15 Million by the year 2010. What is VOIP? It is the ability to make phone calls over the Internet by connecting your analog phone through an adapter to the internet service that you have at home. What is the Advantage? You can make phone calls to analog phones worldwide @ much lower cost.

Now let us move to the BPO Industry in India. India's march into BPO was aided significantly by its technical prowess - its huge army of smart, tech savvy people. Now to support the VOIP customer base worldwide - European customers too are embracing this technology big time - what are the skill sets that are required?An Agent in Technical Support would need to know the basics of analog telephony, internet technology and protocols, voice over internet protocal basics, computer basics and trouble shooting. A kind of tequila and cardomom tea mix. An understanding of old and new.

Is India ready for this new wave? I think we are as users - you and I can leverage this technology already when we use new age telephony companies to talk to our near and dear elsewhere in the world. We may have more work to do to support these products from India - therein lies the fortunes of many BPO Service Provider.

Service Providers who have the wisdom and wherewithal to encapsulate their learnings in these different domains and enable their agents to ramp up their understanding and abilities would be the winners.

I intend to be around watching it happen!

Cheers

Paul