Call centres to open new
vistas for employments
by Maswood Alam Khan
NOMAN sir, my most respected teacher, often emerges in my mind in a vivid picture when I clearly hear his low-pitched voice giving us an advice in one of our English classes in Dhaka College ages back: 'Young boys! If you are really serious to learn English, write in English, speak in English, think in English and, if possible, dream in English.' Noman sir has passed away, but his advice still inspires many of his students to learn and teach English through immersion into English environment - a technique known as 'immersion language programme' which is nowadays employed in modern language laboratories.
Among the knowledge-based skills 'ability to communicate in a foreign language, especially in English' has now become the most lucrative asset for young people seeking employment.
A young girl or a boy in India who has graduated from a university with a degree on accounting or business administration and who can speak and follow instructions in English is earning in a call centre $400 every month i.e. $ 4,800 per annum, whereas per capita income (average yearly income of an individual) in India is not more than $500. In the Philippines, a boy or a girl, having some knowledge on computer science and accounting, can start his/her career in a call centre with an initial pay of $275 per month if she can speak in and follow American English and allied dialects.
These youngsters work in call centres answering calls from different corners of the world, instantly giving guidance or taking notes to call back as immediately as possible with appropriate info and assistance to the callers. In cases where intervention from technical or higher authorities is essential they instantly forward those calls to relevant departments. Call centres are churning out employments and business worth billions of dollars in many developing countries except in Bangladesh.
At last, however, our government has realised that our young people, like in India, the Philippines and other countries in South Asia, may also earn substantial amount of wages by answering calls and doing chores over telephones and internet from call centres to be set up in Bangladesh that will undoubtedly open new business windows for the country to earn hard currency in millions, or maybe in billions.
The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission through its website, www.btrc.gov.bd, has recently sought opinions from the general public on their draft policy for setting up local and international call centres. Employed with handsome salary in those call centres, if set up in near future, our young people on behalf of corporations and business houses at home or abroad will handle volumes of calls from clients and customers over telephone and internet. The business houses that will engage such call centres would be mainly mail-order catalogue organisations, telemarketing companies, cell phone companies, computer manufacturers or any large organisation that has to use telephone and internet to sell or service products.
American manufacturers of everything from blue jeans to semiconductors comb the entire world in their search for the cheapest labour they can find with a view to making their products more affordable though such outsourcings have been costing hundreds of thousands of American jobs.
They have found out that not only the assembly line jobs like stitching a jeans trouser, but a job - like saying 'Hello, this is Dell. How can I help you, sir?' - that involves a computer or a telephone can also be transferred from the desk of an office in New York to a small workstation of an office in Manila - or in Comilla - saving money on account of wage expense. Inspired by low cost of producing Nike shoes in Indonesia and Pierre Cardin polo shirts in Bangladesh western companies are now increasingly outsourcing their desk jobs in developing countries where labour is as low as a few pennies per hour compared to $12 in the United States.
From the US, whether you know it or not, when you call IBM or Hewlett Packard's technical support toll-free telephone number, chances are you will be talking to an Indian or a Philippine. If the agent working in such a calling centre, for instance, in Comilla pronounces English in perfect American accent the caller from Washington will perhaps never know that the girl who so courteously guided him over telephone on how to fix a simple problem of the operating system of his newly bought Toshiba laptop was a young girl named 'Kulsum' from Bangladesh, not really an Elizabeth from Indiana, nor a Cathy from New Jersey. Kulsum, to win such clients, will have to parrot American accent during her training and she must be a regular viewer of American movies and an avid reader of American comic books.
Thanks to extremely low cost of telephony through internet, forwarding calls from New York to Comilla or any part of the world has become unprecedentedly clearer, swifter, easier and cheaper. The reason for American firms to outsource some desk jobs to countries like India or Bangladesh is not only to save cost but also to save prestige. Let's face it, to an American young man customer service jobs suck; most western boys and girls would rather be doing anything else other than answering 'stupid questions' from funny customers or making cold sales calls.
For about a decade our next-door neighbours in India are making money from hundreds of such calling centres catering to back office jobs that mostly come from big American and European companies making the BPO (business processing outsourcing) business in India, presently an $11 billion dollar industry, which is poised to grow to $30 billion by 2012. Employers from the west are happy with a stable democracy in India, their enormous English-speaking population, and a solid education system that each year churns out more than a million college graduates who are happy to work for a small fraction of the salary of their American counterparts.
The Philippines, thanks to its long association with Americans during colonial era, is perhaps the only country in the world where 95 per cent of the population can speak in English though their mother tongue is not English. This advantage coupled with the Philippine government's aggressive policy on foreign direct investment has enabled the country in capturing more than 30 per cent world market share of BPO in contact/call centre services which is now poised to earn at least $12 billion in revenues in this sector by the year 2010.
At present, the US has more than three million call centre seats that support large companies with millions of customers. US firms are under pressure to cut costs and increase returns, and because of these they may outsource in English speaking countries up to 1.5 million US-based call centre jobs that are currently being staffed by Americans. The Philippines and India are prime candidates to receive those jobs in the next few years. Bangladesh may also join hands if we can train our boys and girls to handle calls from American callers.
India is not sitting idle with BPO operations for stereotyped functions alone; their IT industries have already up-scaled their domains to BTO (business transformation outsourcing) providing comprehensive management services to their clients by sharing risks and gains with their outsource business partners ensuring higher gains in value chains and reducing the overhead costs through managing priorities, people and processes of organisations. MBPO (medical business process outsourcing), RPO (research process outsourcing), EPO (engineering process outsourcing), ESO (education service outsourcing) are a few of many such outsourcing domains where billions of dollars worth of business are already being handled by qualified specialists in medicine, education and engineering disciplines in India.
Economists believe the whole outsourcing revolution will be one of the key factors in moving third world countries like India, Pakistan and the Philippines towards developed economy status.
While call centres actually began in the Philippines and India as simple providers of e-mail response and handling services, these have developed capabilities for almost all types of customer interactions, ranging from travel services, financial services, technical support, education, customer care, and online business to customer support and online business to business support.
The calls handled by call centres can be classified into inbound and outbound calls. For outbound calls, the services cover telemarketing, advisories, sales, verification of credit cards, bill collection, reactivation/reinstatement of accounts, loyalty programme benefits, customer services and order entry. Inbound calls cover a broad range of services, from all types of inquiries, technical help, transcription, complaints, customer service, support, sales, marketing, and billing. Some of the call centre services also include medical and legal answering services for doctors and lawyers, order taking answering service for catalogue and retail companies, seminar registration, internet answering service and so on and so forth.
Indian cities are about 12 hours ahead of New York, so operators, who are known as calling agents, man the calling centres largely at nighttimes. By day, they are truly Indian sons and daughters by their names of Arjun or Sangita. By night, they take on names such as Ricardo or Nancy so they can sound like the boy or the girl staying in Ohio or California.
Bangladesh has similar advantage to see the sun 12 hours ahead of New York and our boys and girls can also forgo a part of their night sleeps working as calling agents in graveyard shifts if only local entrepreneurs in joint ventures with American partners come up with companies first to train them how to master the art of writing, speaking, thinking, and dreaming in English in perfect American style and accent and then employ one of them to greet an American from Arkansas: 'Hello! Good morning, sir! This is Susan from Texas Instruments,' when it is stark night under a dark sky at her workplace in Dhaka.
Training a graduate to pick up English in American style should not be deemed a rocket science. I have seen with my own eyes and heard with my own ears during my three-and-a-half a year stay in Kuala Lumpur how Bangladeshis, who didn't even complete their secondary school certificate examinations, picked up Malay within a week of their arrival in Malaysia. Our youngsters are very intelligent and dexterous. Given a little scope, guidance and training they can do wonders in any profession - call it cricket, software engineering, chartered accountancy, or handling a call over telephone from an ill-tempered American client.
The eldest son of a very poor father from Madaripur, Jewel came to my house when he was only nine years old to help us in household chores. He calls me mama (maternal uncle). Sensing his aptitude and thirst for knowledge I got him admitted to a nearby school from where he got his SSC last year with a grade 'A-minus' and he is now attending Tejgaon College towards his higher secondary certificate. Though he is extremely poor in English grammar he is very enthusiastic to learn English. Believe me, Jewel has already picked up English and he can easily follow dialogues from any American movie. The secret behind his picking up English was a chance and an idea I gave him only a few months back.
Paraphrasing what my Noman sir advised me years back I told Jewel: 'If you want to learn English you must dream in English.' 'How?' he asked. I said: 'Okay! Insert the DVD disc titled "Alice in Wonderland" into the DVD player, choose from the menu the option 'display subtitle in English' and follow conversations carefully tallying those with the running English subtitle on the TV screen…pause and rewind the movie sequences as many times as you like till you fully grasp and mimic those dialogues yourself.' Jewel religiously followed my advice.
A taxi driver from Dhaka who speaks in fluent Hindi did not earn an honours degree in Hindi literature from an Indian university. Nolok who secured the highest score in the Close-up toothpaste-sponsored music competition, aired by the NTV, did not receive a degree on folk songs from Shanti Niketan either. They found Hindi movies and folk songs interesting and their genes - the most intrinsic learning device in any living being -were activated to prod their cerebrums to learn reflexively the arts of mimicking dialogues and parroting songs.
Fluent speaking in English alone would not qualify an agent to perform efficiently in a call centre. Expertise in fields like accounting, IT, basic knowledge of English grammar, sentence construction and vocabulary, typing speed, good communication skill - pronunciation and ability to articulate expression, the art of convincing other people to make a successful deal or business, etc are also
essential.
Thanks to our connectivity through submarine cable and other infrastructural facilities like IPLC (international private leased circuit) for point to point connection already in place Bangladesh should initially allow companies to jumpstart with non-voice segment of BPO business to take care of back office operations like preparing payrolls, data entry, billing, debt collection, building data bases of human resources, cash and investment management, tax compliance, internal audit, etc before embarking on more sophisticated and cost-intensive voice-based calling services. It has been estimated that if a bank shifts business processing work done in back office by 1,000 people from the US to a developing country it can save about $18 million a year due to lower costs.
Our country earned the brand name 'nuisance number one' in the US market when heavy nails stuffed into shrimps were discovered in some Bangladeshi export consignments at a US port of entry a few years back. Therefore, while giving license to a Bangladeshi company to open call centres the BTRC must be extra cautious as our country is embarking upon a maiden venture on a sensitive business with live and direct exposures to the western clients. The first license should go to a company with a major share of a highly reputed US partner firm with relevant experience and which must have a track record of world class professionalism in export and IT business.
Success or failure of our maiden venture in BPO will determine its future potential that subsequently will affect the future fates of millions of our children who would be scouting for employment for their survival. It is not the company's financial future alone, it is our prime national interest for ensuring secure employments for our posterity.
If we carry on devouring natural gas and exhaust our gas reserves within a few years without introducing an alternative source of energy for our posterity, if the BTRC fails to find a suitable BPO company which should project an excellent image to the west that may guarantee more and more jobs for our grandchildren, if we fail to provide our next generations with better tomorrows - our great-grandchildren will spit on our graves.
Maswood Alam Khan is general manager, Bangladesh Krishi Bank and may be contacted at maswoodalamkhan@gmail.com
The reader over your shoulder
Mr Grammarian
L111
Errors in preposition
1 Patients who came to the hospital were given treatment of gangrene.
2 His works have been translated into many languages and they are in the syllabus of a number of universities around the world.
3 The art form of drama has been losing audiences as one can see dramas of their own choice in different television channels.
4 I wrote him a cheque of Tk five thousand.
5 Eight persons were arrested in Mymensingh district town on Friday for their alleged involvement of producing adulterated honey.
6 We also lack in modern rescue vessels.
7 The Election Commission on Monday formally requested the government to create an atmosphere conducive for electioneering in the run-up to the polls.
In sentence 1 the expression 'treatment of gangrene' should be 'treatment for gangrene'. The appropriate preposition before the word 'syllabus' is 'on' not 'in' as used in sentence 2. In sentence 3 'in different television channels' should be 'on different television channels'. In sentence 4 the expression 'a cheque of Tk five thousand' should be 'a cheque for Tk five thousand'. The noun 'involvement' takes 'in' not 'of' as used in sentence 5. In sentence 6 the preposition 'in' after the verb 'lack' needs to be dropped as it is a transitive verb. The adjective 'conducive' takes 'to' not 'for' as used in sentence 7.
Errors in syntax
1 In their statement the students accused several teachers and students for violating the Emergency Powers Rules on the campus.
2 The US assault ships can bring relief and comfort that this government are incapable to providing.
3 It only discharge its function as an interim government and carry on the routine functions.
4 When the EC will resume hearing the case on Monday the AG's office will make efforts to convince the court about legal propriety of government's decision to try the case under EPR.
5 Ananya Publications released few other books yesterday.
6 Samples were sent to Dhaka through the district livestock office for being tested.
7 It does not absolve the government of its abject failure in ensuring timely distribution of fertilizer to the districts.
8 As the Book Fair grows in popularity, the Academy compound that houses the Fair has been less and less capable to accommodate them in terms of infrastructure.
9 He claimed that his expenditure for his five-member family has increased by half in a year.
10 Even if the chief adviser and the prime minister enjoy same status, the chief adviser cannot exercise the constitutional powers given to the prime minister.
11 Speakers at a views-exchange meeting underscored the need for taking collective efforts to make the Women and Children Repression Act effective.
12 Khulna City Corporation mayor yesterday fainted in the dock of a Khulna court after feeling pain in chest.
13 Edmund Hillary who conquered the Everest in 1959 died recently after enjoying a halo of global fame.
14 The valuation of properties owned by Jamal and his family members exceed Tk 150 crores and it is likely to be much more when investigation completes.
15 At least 21 posts out of 83 have been lying vacant in the two colleges since long.
16 The post of librarian is also remaining vacant in the college.
We accuse someone 'of doing something wrong', not 'for doing something wrong' as used in sentence 8. In sentence 9 the expression 'incapable to providing' is a violation of the syntax 'incapable of doing something'. In sentence 10 there is no subject-verb agreement: the subject is singular (It) but the verb is plural (discharge and carry on). In sentence 11 the use of future tense in the time clause (When the EC will resume...) is wrong. The future tense is not normally used in a time clause. One should write: 'When the EC resumes.... In sentence 12 the expression 'few other books' should be 'a few other books'. 'Few' is negative, while 'a few' is positive'. In sentence 13 the expression 'for being tested' should be 'for testing'. The word 'failure' used in sentence 14 takes an infinitive 'to ensure', not a gerund: 'in insuring'. In sentence 15 the expression 'capable to accommodate' should be 'capable of accommodating'. The word 'same' used in sentence 16 requires the definite article: 'the same'. The phrase 'by half 'used in sentence 17 requires an indefinite article: 'by a half'. Sentence 18 may be more succinctly put as follows: 'Speakers exchanging views at a meeting underscored the need for collective efforts to make the Women and Children Repression Act effective'. The word 'chest' in sentence 19 requires the definite article: 'pain in the chest'. The definite article before 'Everest' in sentence 20 should be omitted as a single mountain does not require the definite article. We say 'the Himalayas' but we say 'Everest'. In sentence 21 the time clause at the end of the sentence (when investigation completes) should be rephrased as follows: 'when the investigation is complete.' In sentence 22 the phrase 'since long' should be 'for long.' In sentence 23 the use of the continuous tense (is remaining vacant) is not correct. What is required is the simple present tense: 'is vacant'.
Errors in idiom
1 Students of the Islamic University in Kushtia went out on demonstration on the campus on Sunday against a teacher for allegedly hurling abuse on some female students over wearing veil in the classroom.
2 Of the 15 students, six took admission to management department.
In sentence 24 there is an error in the idiom 'hurl abuse on'. The correct idiom is 'hurl abuse at'. The expression 'took admission' is unidiomatic. It is better to say 'enrolled on the management course at the university.'
Error in vocabulary
1 If we allow such acts to go unpunished, it will be difficult to restrict the plunderers from ruining our valuable heritage.
In sentence 26 'restrict' is not the right word. I would suggest 'restrain/prevent the plunderers from ruining our valuable heritage'.
Revolt in Pakistan’s tribal areas
by Syed Saleem Shahzad
The ceasefire deal between the Pakistani security forces and a leading member of the al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, brokered by two stalwart Afghan commanders who persuaded Mehsud to stay in Afghanistan, is just the lull before a big storm and the beginning of a new chapter of militancy in Pakistan.
On Thursday, the government officially announced a ceasefire in the restive South Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan. At the same time, Mehsud's spokesperson announced a ceasefire throughout the country.
'A ceasefire has been agreed. This is why there has been little by way of major exchange of fire in the past few days,' a senior Pakistani official said on Thursday night.
Over the past few months, Mehsud, a hardline Takfiri - a believer in waging war against any non-practising Muslims - has become isolated from the Taliban leadership, with Mullah Omar 'sacking' him because of his fixation in waging war against the Pakistan state. Mehsud has widely been accused of complicity in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpinidi on December 27.
The ceasefire deal, brokered by Taliban commanders Sirajuddin Haqqani and Maulvi Bakhta Jan, is face-saving for both the militants and the security forces and provides them with breathing space; they had reached a stalemate in South Waziristan.
The militants had laid siege to the main military camps at Razmak Fort and Ladha, and were firing missiles and mortars from three sides into the camps, at the same time cutting off their supply lines.
Earlier, commandos from Pakistan's Special Services Group launched an operation to catch Mehsud, but the mission only resulted in them losing several score men and the militants about a dozen.
At this point, Islamabad reached the conclusion that its only option was to unleash an aerial assault on suspected militant camps. However, local tribal elders intervened and assured the authorities they would get Mehsud to retreat.
Once this was guaranteed, the authorities accepted with alacrity, mindful of the parliamentary elections scheduled for February 18 and the demoralisation of their troops in the bitterly cold weather and harsh terrain.
It's not over yet
The Afghan Taliban see the ceasefire as the ideal opportunity to step up their preparations for their annual spring offensive - they rely heavily on the Pakistan border areas for manpower and provisions.
Acutely aware of this, the US State Department has indicated its disapproval of the ceasefire. A ceasefire in North Waziristan in September 2006 - after partial ones beginning in April of that year - led to the Taliban's strongest showing in the battlefield since being ousted in 2001.
Even before Thursday's ceasefire, the Taliban's preparations in the strategic backyard of Pakistan were well underway. This included the isolation of Mehsud and appointing a new team of commanders in the Pakistani tribal areas. Most of the new appointments are Afghans, to signify the importance of fighting a war in Afghanistan rather than in Pakistan. The two main commanders are Abdul Wali in Bajaur Agency and Ustad Yasir in Khyber Agency.
A key component of the Taliban's offensive this year will be to counter the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's plans against them and al-Qaeda.
Last year, the New York Times published a story of a classified US military proposal to intensify efforts to enlist tribal leaders in the frontier areas of Pakistan in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. This was to be part of a broader effort to bolster the Pakistani forces against an expanding militancy, US military officials said.
This would include pumping more military trainers into Pakistan, providing direct finance to a tribal paramilitary force that until now has proved largely ineffective, and providing funds for smaller militias to fight against the militants. The US currently has only about 50 troops in Pakistan, according to the Pentagon, and this number could grow by dozens under the new approach.
A contact affiliated with al-Qaeda told Asia Times Online on condition of anonymity, 'Pakistan has already tried to revive an outdated tribal system to counter the Taliban, but by killing tribal elders in Waziristan, the Taliban effectively stopped that scheme. Now the Americans and the Pakistani government are working on tribal elders of the Shinwari and Afirdi tribes of Khyber Agency, which is the main route of NATO supplies to Afghanistan. Approximately 80 per cent of supplies pass through this route.
'But since the Taliban want to chop off NATO supplies from Pakistan into Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban have warned these tribal elders to stay away from the conflict. However, the elders have received huge bribes [funds] from NATO, and so they are obsessed with providing protection to the supply convoys. Therefore, the Taliban will increase their activities in Khyber Agency, which means a war with the elders of the Shinwari and Afirdi tribes,' the contact said.
The second sector of Taliban activity will be in Nooristan and Kunar provinces in Afghanistan, where US forces are conducting huge counter-insurgency operations.
'This year, the Taliban will focus their main attention on a new plan specifically aimed at Kunar and Nooristan. The details of the plan cannot be revealed at this point,' said the contact.
The contact said that the al-Qaeda camp in Pakistan is convinced that American pressure will be so strong that the ceasefire will not be long-term.
This perception is not without substance. Wana military airfield in South Waziristan and Miranshah airfield in North Waziristan have been upgraded from makeshift airstrips into proper runways with backup facilities, which indicate plans for a powerful air operation.
The deployment of US forces at Lowari Mandi and Ghulman Khan checkpoints (both on the Afghan side of the border near North Waziristan) and the construction of a new military camp near Shawal (North Waziristan), on the Afghan side, indicate that the US is not planning on peace for very long.
The only real issue is which side will strike first, and where.
Asia Times/HK Online, February 9, 2008. Syed Saleem Shahzad is Asia Times Online's Pakistan bureau chief. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com
BTV: betrayed by both
angels and demons
‘The state-owned television channel BTV will become autonomous if we are voted to power’ — was one of the common election pledges of both the major political parties. But the corrupt politicians made promises only to break it.
Then after the so-called 1/11 we had a change that was supposed to be for the better. The dramatic emotional speech given to the state by the chief adviser included the issue of making BTV autonomous. After one year, BTV, servile than ever before, is doing its usual job of glorifying whatever or whoever in power and diminishing whoever or whatever opposes the government.
Saif
Dhaka
A parallel govt
The idea of formation of a National Security Council has been put forward again. It is a good idea to use military as a resource instead of keeping it idle during peace time. Giving them a role in domestic security seem to be ok but the QMG added too many things with and. Their proposed role in economy and policy making will definitely be undesirable.
Advising and reporting to the chief executive of the country will amount to formation of a parallel government by by-passing and undermining the elected government of the prime minister and his/her cabinet. This proposal has serious consequences and complications.
The military-controlled government should not be in hurry in taking a decision on this issue. This issue should be kept aside for a detailed and comprehensive debate and discussion in a democratically elect sovereign parliament.
MH Khan
On e-mail
The US election
Where else in the world is there a political system that concentrates for two years in four on choosing a leader, then for the following two years looks for ways to oust him?
Sabbir
On e-mail
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