When Pramod Bhasin stepped down as Genpact CEO on Monday and eased into a non-executive role, it was more than just a management change at one company. An entire generation of promoters, founders, and CEOs who birthed the BPO business have now quit, sold out, or have stepped back, leaving the $14.1-billion industry employing almost a million people, in the hands of a new crop of leaders.
CEOs of eight of the top ten BPO firms in 2006 have changed; five of this happened in the past three years.
Like Bhasin, Vikram Talwar of the $253-million EXL Services stepped into a non-executive role this April. Ananda Mukerji who helped start FirstSource (then known as ICICI One source) in 2001, and Neeraj Bhargava , a founding CEO of the $616-million WNS , quit last year. Amitabh Chaudhry , who was heading Infosys BPO , quit in 2009.
In their place, Keshav Murugesh has taken charge at WNS, Matt Vallance now runs Firstsource and 'Tiger' Tyagarajan will move into Bhasin's position.
The new leaders now have to change tack, shift gears and outdo their predecessors, if they want to scale the '$60 billion-revenues-by-2020' target set by Nasscom. Their approach has to be different from the earlier generation of founder CEOs.
"The earlier period saw autocratic CEOs, now collaborative CEOs are in demand. The game has shifted to teamwork," says Raman Roy, chairman and MD of Quatrro BPO and one of the earliest BPO entrepreneurs. "The first phase called for more entrepreneurial skills, this one calls for managerial skills," says Bhargava, who floated Zodius, a growth capital firm, after leaving WNS.
The earlier generation saw a great idea, chased a dream and eventually built scale. "The generation taking over now will work with the next set of drivers - consulting, domain expertise and quality," adds Sanjeev Agarwal, Managing Director, Helion Venture Partners.
Cloud-Based Tech to be Tapped More
He had founded Daksh, one of India's first BPO firms in 1999.
They also have to do work that help customers make more money, rather than simply focus on winning orders. "Earlier, deals were won based on whether you could set up a centre with the infrastructure in three months," recalls Mukherji, who is now group director (business development), at Bharti. "Now, the value proposition is about what difference you can make to the client's business."
Genpact's new CEO 'Tiger' Tyagarajan sees three distinct eras in the company's life. First was the enterpreneurial phase of 1997 to 2003, when GE was doing new things almost every day, from ERP, credit card collections, and analytics. The next, hyper-growth phase came between 2004 and 2009. The third phase started in 2010 and will go on for 3-4 years. "We will see business processes being delivered as a service and we will use new, cloud-based technologies to deliver services," he adds.
First in, last out
The exodus of founder CEOs began in 2005 when Raman Roy quit Wipro BPO. Roy, who had started off as CEO of GE's India unit in 1997, had quit to start Spectramind in 2000. He sold it to Wipro in 2002. Sanjeev Agarwal, another early bird who had floated Daksh eServices in 1999 and sold it to IBM in 2004, eventually quit IBM Daksh in 2006.
Bhasin was the last of the founder CEOs to check out. He was also the first to spot the BPO opportunity.
CEOs of eight of the top ten BPO firms in 2006 have changed; five of this happened in the past three years.
Like Bhasin, Vikram Talwar of the $253-million EXL Services stepped into a non-executive role this April. Ananda Mukerji who helped start FirstSource (then known as ICICI One source) in 2001, and Neeraj Bhargava , a founding CEO of the $616-million WNS , quit last year. Amitabh Chaudhry , who was heading Infosys BPO , quit in 2009.
In their place, Keshav Murugesh has taken charge at WNS, Matt Vallance now runs Firstsource and 'Tiger' Tyagarajan will move into Bhasin's position.
The new leaders now have to change tack, shift gears and outdo their predecessors, if they want to scale the '$60 billion-revenues-by-2020' target set by Nasscom. Their approach has to be different from the earlier generation of founder CEOs.
"The earlier period saw autocratic CEOs, now collaborative CEOs are in demand. The game has shifted to teamwork," says Raman Roy, chairman and MD of Quatrro BPO and one of the earliest BPO entrepreneurs. "The first phase called for more entrepreneurial skills, this one calls for managerial skills," says Bhargava, who floated Zodius, a growth capital firm, after leaving WNS.
The earlier generation saw a great idea, chased a dream and eventually built scale. "The generation taking over now will work with the next set of drivers - consulting, domain expertise and quality," adds Sanjeev Agarwal, Managing Director, Helion Venture Partners.
Cloud-Based Tech to be Tapped More
He had founded Daksh, one of India's first BPO firms in 1999.
They also have to do work that help customers make more money, rather than simply focus on winning orders. "Earlier, deals were won based on whether you could set up a centre with the infrastructure in three months," recalls Mukherji, who is now group director (business development), at Bharti. "Now, the value proposition is about what difference you can make to the client's business."
Genpact's new CEO 'Tiger' Tyagarajan sees three distinct eras in the company's life. First was the enterpreneurial phase of 1997 to 2003, when GE was doing new things almost every day, from ERP, credit card collections, and analytics. The next, hyper-growth phase came between 2004 and 2009. The third phase started in 2010 and will go on for 3-4 years. "We will see business processes being delivered as a service and we will use new, cloud-based technologies to deliver services," he adds.
First in, last out
The exodus of founder CEOs began in 2005 when Raman Roy quit Wipro BPO. Roy, who had started off as CEO of GE's India unit in 1997, had quit to start Spectramind in 2000. He sold it to Wipro in 2002. Sanjeev Agarwal, another early bird who had floated Daksh eServices in 1999 and sold it to IBM in 2004, eventually quit IBM Daksh in 2006.
Bhasin was the last of the founder CEOs to check out. He was also the first to spot the BPO opportunity.
Source : ET
Read more...
