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Teleservices for Export
An Introduction
The Internet and related
technologies are enabling the export of services around the world. The
service-export business is already a multi-billion dollar industry and
holds the promise of very rapid growth for years to come. Already, Service
Delivery Centers in various parts of the world are successfully performing
back-office information processing tasks and software development projects
for large customers in the West (primarily the U.S.). Extending these
services to smaller customers and to languages other than English is underway.
The next wave of export
services - Interactive Teleservices, where service agents are in direct
contact with the customer - has likewise already begun, with technical
support as the lead application and India as the leading host country.
The market potential for Interactive Teleservices is huge, as breakthroughs
in Information and Communications Technology can connect skilled, very
low-cost service workforces - largely in developing countries - directly
with customers in the West. These new services markets will create significant
opportunities in the developing world (and not just in India) for economic
growth and human development.
Teleservice Segments
The term "teleservices" refers broadly to information-based
work performed at a distance from the customer. The teleservices market
can be segmented into three categories:
- Tele-processing
- "back-office" functions performed in remote "information
processing factories". Tele-processing is a natural entry point
into teleservices as the tasks are well-defined and are performed "off-line"
(i.e., they do not require a continuous, real-time data link to the
customer), they often require little or no foreign language proficiency,
and the buyers of the services are highly consolidated (e.g., large
financial institutions, airlines). Example tasks include data entry,
medical transcription, and various routine document services. Successful
tele-processing centers are now operating around the world, with the
biggest concentration of providers in India .
- Software Export
- software development and maintenance performed on a contract basis.
Software development requires significantly higher skills than tele-processing
and tasks are somewhat harder to specify, but it is also performed off-line
and has also been initiated primarily by a relatively few, large investors.
Successful software export centers are already operating in many countries,
led by India and China.
- Interactive Teleservices
- people helping people directly via electronic media (telephones, e-mail,
chat sessions, etc.). Successful interactive Service Delivery Centers
to date are largely limited to technical support customer contact centers
in places such as Ireland, the Caribbean and, more recently, India.
The installation of high-bandwidth, reliable data connections into low-wage
countries like India, coupled with improvements in technologies such
as Voice Over IP have made interactive service delivery now feasible
on a large scale.
The Teleservices
Delivery Model
Successful Teleservices business systems normally include the following
components. In most cases, these components are actually provided by several
different players whose efforts come together at the point of delivery.
The nine components include:
- Customers
(defined here as people who consume services), who go to
- portals
(content and service aggregators, who normally own the customer profile
and determine the user interface format) to find and access services.
The services consist of a variety of
- applications
(content and presentation), performed or delivered by agents in
- Service Delivery
Centers (businesses that provide a trained and productive workforce,
a physical workplace for them, reliable connectivity, and the interface
to the local environment). The service delivery system runs on a
- services platform
(cross-application software and hosting services) which enables efficient,
friendly, robust applications development and delivery. Agents and customers
interact via
- connected
(using the full range of wired and wireless telecommunications media)
- devices
(including PC's, fixed and mobile telephones, smart phones/PDA's, thin
clients, kiosks, cameras, and other devices). The business relationships
required to form and operate these systems are designed, facilitated
and funded by
- architects,
brokers and investors. Finally, the ability of all participants
to operate efficiently and effectively depends significantly on
- public policies
in their respective geographies.
Interactive Teleservices
- Applications Categories
An "application" normally includes both content and presentation.
For example, technical support applications frequently include extensive
product-information databases and troubleshooting trees (the content)
which trained agents use to help customers diagnose and solve problems
(the presentation). The Interactive Teleservice applications customers
will access can be grouped into the following six categories:
- Customer
Assistance to help people select, purchase and use just about
every kind of product or service available, including many government
services. (e.g., technical support, shopping assistance, government
services, concierge services)
- Personal
Assistance to help people to stay organized and to help make
their communications more effective (e.g., keep calendars; make appointments;
plan events; transcribe, format, scan and summarize, translate, and
distribute documents)
- Virtual
Presence services to keep an eye on things people care about
(e.g., patient monitor, safety camera monitor, theft prevention, job
hazard monitor, customer interaction QA monitor)
- Personal
Coaching services to help people set and achieve life goals
(e.g., diet and exercise coach, homework assistant, job mentoring, standardized
test preparation)
- Professional
Guidance services to help people make important life choices
(e.g., health and fitness, legal, tax, travel, mental health, and spiritual
advice)
- Entertainment
services to enrich peoples' lives (e.g., game partner, astrologer,
senior citizen companion, matchmaker)
Within each category
are dozens of specific applications (e.g., "voice-mail based after-hours
urgent help center for small businesses"). The following twelve factors
are useful to compare and evaluate applications:
- Value proposition:
a succinct definition of the service
- Target customer:
a profile of the service consumer, including peak usage hours
- Potential partners:
companies that are in similar or adjacent service businesses that could
bring this ITS application to market
- Business model:
who might pay for the services provided
- Estimated size:
an estimate of the addressable market
- User Interface:
likely formats for the interaction (e.g., live voice, voicemail, on-line
chat, e-mail)
- Agent skill: likely
requirements for content mastery and language proficiency
- Connection: likely
requirements for bandwidth and uptime
- Market maturity:
is this an existing market or must it be developed? Has customer acceptance
and demand already been proven?
- Competition: are
there established competitors and brands?
- Personalization:
degree to which services must be adapted to a particular customer's
needs
- Regulatory: likely
level of government requirements for registration or certification of
agents or processes
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