Jun 14, 2013 08:21 PM
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Serco BPO, the latest acquirer of the erstwhile Intelenet Global Services, Sparsh BPO's plus smaller companies has carved out a decent name for itself with its offering of processes like Barclays PLC, National Rail, Lumar Energy, GMI besides taking over of older LOB's Transunion, VCC etc. Serco is a UK based MNC co with interests in diverse fields like Defence, Telemetry & Nuclear Medicine. With over 100, 000 employees in operations in over 10 countries, things are looking up for the IT enabled Services major having been in operations since 2004.
With the advent of change, new acquisitions & management, one would have expected to see not so much of change, instead reform may have been a better term coined to emphasize what remained solely on paper to be put into action instead. Quite a few of the expatriate BPO operations are served here namely UK, Australia, US with a track record of revenues, market capitalization & shareholders of prolific repute permeating. This however is is quite mind numbing nevertheless a lot of efforts have been undertaken to ensure the company is what it was & retention of care values a testament to the advocacy. Its best to know that this part of the overall matrix just puts the organization into a Cloud 9 perspective!
At Ground 0, unfortunately, little or minuscule changes beckon the ardent follower or admirer of its handiwork! One always feels that companies in this sector experience a sort of renaissance, or face lift being goaded by newer management styles, expectations, a public face, community expectations. What we see importantly, is the inanity, simplicity & never day die battle hardened warmonger, the context being its competition with the likes of Sutherland Global, ICICI One Source, IBM Daksh (Indian Transnationals) & the likes of 3 Global Services, J P Morgan India & Bank of America (Multi National BPO's). Name, Popularity, Clout has lost a lot of its sheen making Serco to redouble its effort lest it be called a wannabe in this growing industry.
Leaving aside captive BPO's & Contact Centre, which ultimately have unending & unflinching support of its principals having set up shop here, Indian BPO's have insurmountable mountain to climb to retain their image, dynasty, & appeal all the more especially to change the transcending face of the sector plus to portray a credibility level that supercedes all. Its perhaps here that Serco doesn't wish to either become a self styled leader or a pioneer which leaves a bitter disgust in one's throat!
A visit to the facility in Mindspace throws up some alarming facts & nefarious practices! Security is as robust as ever, with over 3-4 stage including a preliminary pat down. The lack of baggage & body scanners is more as a result of cost inefficiencies although being honest, this was never the erstwhile organization's strong point either! A walk through the concourse or patio reveals a better than average ambiance although the stench, darkened walls, unclean floors will surely set you back by a decade or so! Being a 5 storey plus basement facility, its runs its operations rather impressively to a greenhorn or unsuspecting visitor!
Going by scalability of business operations or business process re-engineering, one would be caught out without a branch to cling on to or be a victim or culture shock! Going by trending, there's a conscious effort to redress the typical dress sense or dress code that we have come to associate with the typical BPO culture! Here you will often find smart, business casuals the order of the week days & informal attire on the other days.
A regular bastion of clients in hand, one would tend to think that self sufficiency has been scaled yet what is visible to the discerning viewer is century old practices, tenets, beliefs still prevail holding back Serco like a long lost kingdom which can no more boast of its crown & glory! It has only itself to blame that a more resplendent image, culture & appeal isn't beckoning more hopefuls to its sinister confines! Expect the main concourse just to be the hors d'oeuvres & the main course beckoning beyond.
In the interstices, the lines of rumor & reality become befuddled truly leaving nothing to the imagination, arguably! Unkempt floors, centuries old neglected upholstery, miserably managed & hardly ever maintained engineering leaves the IT, Housekeeping vendors as mere showpieces with nothing to show for their labor, if it can be called that. Ridiculous toilets resembling war torn shelters will face you besides less said of the plumbing & masonry, the better. Its said that in the annals of cricket "You never changing a winning combination" but be that as it may, Serco has neither won nor is expected to win much to chagrin of those who put their undoubted faith in its ideals!
There was once a frame of thought "Be Indian, buy Indian" but that albeit a long time ago has been hanging by a thread besides enticing more cobwebs if not anything else. Verily, as one takes in the shocking realities, & wanton absurdities unable to make a head or tail of what's to come. Again, I could depart by the front gate but I choose not to do for fear of a thorough body search by the security. Really, I don't take too kindly to strange unknown mean men groping my posterior, that's sickly
