Pakistan Link - Letter & Opinion -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 2/11/2005
Last Visited: 2/11/2005
,Pakistan is missing out on a revolution that has turned around our neighbor,, said Farrukh Aslam, who is a Vice President at Touchstone. ,India,s call center or BPO industry is three times larger than their software industry yet we think they are making money from software.,
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,That,s pathetic,, said Aslam, who is also the coordinator of the newly established Call Centers Association of Pakistan. ,The Indian industry has employed close to 300,000 people, and so far in Pakistan, I doubt the number has exceeded 500.,
In an article in the US News, industry experts projected that by 2013, 3.5 million jobs will be outsourced from the US to other countries, a trend that has US lawmakers worried and proposing legislation that will curb at least government offices outsourcing jobs to countries like India.Even if that bill goes through, it still leaves the huge private industry free to offer lucrative contracts to countries like India with cheaper, trained labor.
,Is Pakistan prepared to get these jobs?My answer is no,, said Aslam.
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But that, says Aslam, is not enough.Even with the subsidy, he pointed out that the cost of broadband comes to more than the salary he pays to his employees.In 2003, PTCL, which provides connectivity to these centers, charged $5,400 for every 2 megabits (Mbps) of bandwidth connectivity.
,For every 70-80 agents you need a 2 megabits of bandwidth to get the customer data across, but when the raw material cost is so high and you divide (the cost) over agents, you are not competitive with your neighbours,, said Aslam.
As for the government,s claim that it ensures duty free import, Aslam was quick to cite his own experience.
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Such training programs, says Aslam, are necessary because companies like Touchstone are having trouble finding the right people. ,We get tons of resumes but less than 2 percent of people who apply are actually qualified to work here,, said Aslam. ,We need people with excellent English communication and listening skills who are able to talk confidently with foreign customers.,
That, he added, was a problem because most applicants were unable to speak much less hold a conversation in English -- which isn,t the case in India because it has a strong English-speaking middle class.
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Despite the potential for call centers in Pakistan, the infant industry is facing problems in being taken seriously internationally. ,Selling Pakistan was the biggest challenge of my career and if I hadn,t had the support of our executives I would have been thrown out of many board rooms in the US,, said Aslam of Touchstone, talking about his efforts to convince investors to invest in a Pakistani business.
Aslam was lucky for he had a strong US partnership willing to take a risk in Pakistan.But other businesses that have no contacts in the US, face major obstacles in getting customers interested in Pakistan.Still, both he and Azim plan on sticking with their businesses, banking on what they see as Pakistan,s amazing potential.
,I am convinced that this country has a lot of potential.It might be a tough job to extract the potential but I,m going to put my 100 percent to make this industry succeed,, said Aslam.
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