Welcome to the nineteenth column of the “ICT and BPO Catalyst – To Make Sri Lankan Economic Dreams a Reality!”. This is the place where we discuss about Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sectors. It’s a fact that the awareness on this critical aspect of our future economy is still fairly low and hence the effort to spread the message.
This is the last column for this year, and I am truly happy with the successful ICT/BPO awareness increasing efforts that we have taken this year. It’s a noteworthy year with many successes recorded for the year, most of which we discussed as and when they occurred.
BPO Careers
I thought of discussing about BPO careers today.
First of all let me tell you that BPO is such a wide-ranged sector, so career opportunities also are so wide. We have spoken about voice (call centre) and non-voice segments in detail. There are also financial & accounting as well as technical support outsourcing arrangements. Further, the ICT sector has a large outsourcing arena. Many high end outsourced work such as analysis and research would fall into Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO). So, the first point is BPO career options are wide and opportunities are immense.
The second point is that most predominant outsourcing form is with international companies. Hence the work is of international nature and companies are able to pay salaries that are way greater than that of local companies. This would be followed with many employee benefits such as transport and insurance schemes.
Thirdly, I want to tackle a myth about the BPO sector, especially in the voice segment. Many believe call centre jobs are not real career paths but just quick money earning short term jobs. I wouldn’t disagree that they are a good way of earning money quickly because of the high salary range they pay even for freshers, but I disagree that there isn’t a good career path. It is a good starting point so that young people can start to earn early and use that money for ongoing education, professional development and personal use. Dealing with customers is a learning that would help someone’s entire career. Good customer care is something that we need to excel in. I wrote a column on this series earlier explaining the importance of it, and I believe an early call centre job can put a strong foundation of good customer care skills. Huge improvements in communication skills by being a voice agent is something that would benefit in all most all jobs that he or she would take up in the future.
Source:-http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=14379
