On the current market and technology trends in the networking space that have potential for successful adaptation by the BPO sector in the future

MPLS technology has played a vital role in BPO by making a significant mark from potential adoption perspective. This has helped many BPO organizations build an efficient backbone to load balance their call volume and to plan their Business Continuity Planning (BCP) strategy effectively.

On the major networking products and solutions' vendors you are aligned with and your expectations from them

Intelenet deals with leading networking players and has deployed various networking equipments with high availability viz. Cisco high end switches and routers, Nortel carrier class passports, Power over Ethernet switches, peripheral security products, and network security products.

Our expectations from the vendors is to partner with us and provide us with the support to deliver seamless solutions to our clients, provide customized solutions, and enable us to make optimum use of our technology assets.

On the challenges faced in terms of procurement, after-sales services, and other service areas

• Quick Turn around Time (TAT) from the vendors in terms of procurement, on account of custom duty exemption on imports for the BPO industry.
• Ability to deliver an end-to-end solution and provide a seamless service, keeping the customer requirement in mind.
• Customization of after-sales service models for different verticals/units

On how the slow-down has affected the purchase decisions and whether enterprises are delaying their procurement plans

The slow down has improvised purchase decisions and has also given good insight to management and other team members. Every asset is analyzed and scrutinized before procurement. To summarize, slow down has created a positive impact on the procurement process.

On your plans for technology upgrades for FY 09-10

Some of our planned future IT/Operational changes are:

• Virtualization: Our main focus is on desktop and server virtualization to create a more centralized and secure environment to increase efficiency of assets and resources within the organization.
• Capacity Monitoring: Intelenet proposes to implement improved means to identify spare capacity within the system and optimize its utilization, resulting in a cost-effective technology infrastructure.

On growth projections for the BPO sector and the major technological transformations that will be seen

I believe that despite the recession, the BPO sector will continue to grow. Virtualization technology is a major trend that will transform the Indian BPO industry. Cross training of IT resources to support the business requirements is another trend that would help in effective utilization of manpower and would aid in better cost control.

On the technologies that help to reduce operational costs and increase business efficiencies

Automation of various processes that are time consuming is the key factor in helping improve business efficiency. We deploy innovation in technology and processes through digitization as a way of saving clients' money while improving service levels. Our drive to ensure digitization across all phases of operations results in cost-savings based on continuous process improvements, and ‚ single view' of processes to ensure course correction.

Another example of internal automation that has delivered tremendous efficiency is the IT Requisition System (ITRS) at Intelenet, a workflow application system that was developed for seeking approvals for IT requests made by end-users in the organization for seeking IT services.