BANGALORE: Epicenter Technology,
the first third-party BPO to come
up in Mumbai in 2001, is doubling
its manpower. By March 2005, the
number of employees will rise to
2,500. To accommodate all of them,
the company is adding another 60,000-1,00,000
sq ft of space in Mumbai over the
next few months. Speaking to ET,
Mr Sanjeev Dasgupta, CFO, Epicenter
said, “We are extending our
recruitment to campuses of colleges
in smaller cities. In about nine
months, we will also be looking
to set up another facility outside
Mumbai.
We have done a cost analysis and
it makes absolute business sense
to enter smaller cities. Locations
such as Hyderabad, Pune, Jaipur
and Chandigarh are the more attractive
locations.” The finance for
expansion, amounting to about $
5 million, will come equally from
three sources: internal accruals,
existing shareholders and some debt
from banks.
In order to attract and retain these
people, the company is exploring
various options such as providing
accommodation etc.
“We are also tying up with
a leading B school for offering
part-time management courses for
our employees,” he added.
Speaking of the hiring challenges
facing the industry, he said, “Hiring
quality people was not an issue
two years back but has become a
challenge in the past 12 months
as the environment has become competitive.
Three years back, we were the first
third party call centre in Mumbai
and hence we had an advantage.”
Late stage collection services are
a tough call to make, and can fetch
anything between $11-15 an hour,
plus incentives. The highest Epicenter
has been able to charge on calls
of this nature is $20 an hour.
“It took two years to get
to this stage,” admits Mr
Dasgupta.
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