Customer Relation in Knowledge Process Outsourcing

IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM)
e-ISSN: 2278-487X, p-ISSN: 2319-7668. Volume 11, Issue 1 (May. - Jun. 2013), PP 68-71
www.iosrjournals.org
www.iosrjournals.org 68 | Page
Customer Relation in Knowledge Process Outsourcing
Akansha Sen1
, Vivek Kumar2
, Chinnappa Reddy Avula3
, Vikas Kumar4
1
(Department of Management Studies, LGOI, RGTU, Bhopal, India)
2
(Department of E & C Engineering, LGOI, RGTU, Bhopal, India)
3
(Department of Management Studies, XLRI, Jamshedpur, India)
4
(Department of E & C Engineering, PIT, RGTU, Bhopal, India)
Abstract : In the present scenario KPO has made a great progress in terms of supporting role of leading firms
to newly established one. According to evalueserve, the share of the Indian KPO sector is expected to increase
to 71 percent with revenues of USD 12 billion, by 2013.Evalueserve estimates that the Indian KPO market is
expected to grow at a CAGR of 49.5 percent between 2003 and 2013, compared to a CAGR of 30.6 percent for
the Indian BPO market, and a CAGR of 44.5 percent for the global KPO market, over the same period. The
services sector accounted for about 51 percent of India’s GDP in 2003, a figure that was much higher than 28
percent in 1950, and also one of the highest among the developing economies.
Outsourcing of high-end jobs is a win-win situation for both the end client and the KPO vendor. This
paper presents basically a case study report on KPO. It includes the process of KPO, customer’s relation, study
and analysis of working of KPO. At the end it has been presented that how KPO maintains their customer
relation and finally customer’s satisfaction level is concluded.
Keywords - KPO, BPO, GDP, CAGR, Customer relation and satisfaction.
I. INTRODUCTION
The evolution and maturity of the Indian BPO sector has given birth to yet another wave in the global
outsourcing scene: KPO or Knowledge Process Outsourcing. The success in outsourcing business process
operations to India has encouraged many firms to start outsourcing their high-end knowledge work as well. Cost
savings, operational efficiencies, access to a highly talented workforce and improved quality are all underlying
expectations in off shoring high-end processes to India.
II. THE HISTORY OF KNOWLEDGE PROCESS OUTSOURCING
The KPO was started by McKinsey in India when it opened up a knowledge center back in 1987 which
was then closely followed by the opening of research centers of companies like GE, Gartner and Office Tiger.
However, it was not until 2006 to 2007 that KPO took off. KPO is considered as the third generation of the
outsourcing revolution. IT Outsourcing is known as the first generation while Business Process Outsourcing or
BPO represents the second wave which came in 2002 to 2003. During these years, outsourcing firms started to
offer more than just telemarketing and sales; they offered more complex transactions such as decision-making
and problem solving tasks. Four years later, firms began offering knowledge-intensive BPO services currently
regarded as KPO services. The workforce also changed when KPO firms started to provide KPO services to
different foreign and local businesses. The KPO workforce profile became more diverse as people with MBAs
and those with medical, engineering, design, medical and specialist business skills were being hired by KPO
companies.
KPO’s central theme is to create solutions for clients by providing business expertise as
opposed to BPO’s aim to provide process expertise to clients. BPOs work with standardized processes, but with
the shift to KPO, providers also shifted to offering processes that involve technical skills, analytical thinking and
decisive judgment based on experience. India is undoubtedly still the biggest player in the IT, BPO and KPO
fields, having had the advantage of being the first country to benefit from the IT outsourcing boom early on.
India is also reported to have the biggest talent pool with an advantage of 15 years’ experience over other
countries’ talent pool. India’s workforce increases in number as young students graduate annually from some
400-degree granting institutions in the country. However, many countries such as the Philippines and China
have appeared on the KPO map to provide KPO services to different foreign and local businesses. The lower
cost of labor in India, the size of the talent pool, and the number of knowledge professionals are not the only
bases of companies for choosing KPO firms that can provide them with the services they need. Businesses are
looking at the scale and quality of the workforce, infrastructure, financial and risk environment, as well as the
KPO firms’ inclination toward identifying skill sets and workforce-related metrics.

Fig 1:- KPO sector revenue by segment
III. OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH
 Designation Study of customer relation in Ardent Knowledge and Research Services (KPO)
 To study the process of knowledge process outsourcing (KPO)
 To understand the KPO services provided by ardent knowledge research and services.
 To underline the satisfaction level among the customer served by ardent knowledge research and
services.
IV. RESEARCH PLAN AND METHODOLOGY
Research plan refers to a conceptual structure within which research would be conducted. In our
research, the research methods used were “Descriptive Research and Analytical Research”. This work is based
on the training undergone in Ardent Knowledge Research and Services “Study of Knowledge Process
Outsourcing (KPO) and their customer relation”, for KPO Analytical research we used the facts which are
already available in the internet. The other research method was used is descriptive research as per the research
topic we have to study their customer relation for that we used the descriptive research in which questionnaire
method is used.
4.1 Research Design
Fig. 2:- Steps of Research Design

4.2 Data Collection Method
Generally Primary data are those which are directly collected from the field of investigation. These are
collected by the researcher according to the plan way fixed up by him in the beginning of the project. They are
collected for the first time and are then kept in the various forms for analysis purposes. In this research the
following methods for the collection of primary data is used.
(A) Interaction Method- One to one interaction with customers of the company.
(B) Questionnaire Method- Questionnaires cost low and are free from the biasness of the interviewer.
Respondents have adequate time to answer the questions so the data is more reliable. The questionnaire contains
11 questions.
4.3 Data Interpretation
Following are data interpretation for each questionnaire.
Q1. From where did you get the information about the company?
As per the received data the 45% of customers get the information from internet, 25% from newspaper, 20%
from their friends and rest 10% get the information from local channel. From the above result it can be said that
the company must focus on their advertisement policy in local area for better result.
Q2. Did this organization meet your expectations?
As the data provided by the respondents the 69% of customers’ expectations are full fill by the company and
only 31% of customers are not satisfy with the company. From the above result the company should be more
focuses on the 31% of customer who are not satisfied with the company performance. By doing this they will
get better result in future.
Q3. According to the customer service provided rate the company?
As per the received data 67% of the customers said that the service provided by the company is average, 25%
said that it is great 5% said that it is outstanding and 3% said that it is poor. As per the above interpretation the
company should take their services seriously because the customers are not fully satisfied with their services.
Q4. Do you feel that there is a need of improvement in our customer services?
According to the analysis of data, 45% of customers said that the customer services provided by the company
must be improved, 25% said that it is O.K and the rest 30% don’t want to say anything regarding the services.
Q5. Rate our representative’s ability to resolve your issue.
As per the received data 35% of customers said that the representative good in solving their problem, 45% said
that they are average in solving the problem and 15% of customer said that they are very good and 5% says
there is a poor services of representatives. Form the above result the company must try to improve their
representatives’ skills.
Q6. Are you satisfied with company’s terms and conditions?
As per the received data 65% of the customers said that they are satisfy with terms and condition,35% said that
they were not satisfy with terms and conditions.
Q7. Is the data given by the company is relevant with your needs?
As per the provided data 65% of the customers said that the data given by the company is good and 35% said
that it was not good. From the above interpretation it is clear that the company should be more focused in the
data for their future business.
Q8. What are the suggestions you want to effectuate.
As per the received data 50% of the customers said that the COMPANY must disclose their data and policy
clearly, 45% says that the company must provide after sales services and 9% says that they don’t want to
comment.
Q9. Describe your overall experience with our company.
According to the analysis of data, 35% of the customers said that there overall experience is satisfactory, 45%
feels that it is average, 5% said that it is fantastic and 15% said that there must be some changes.
Q10. Would you recommend our services to other people?

As per the received data 35% of the customers said that there overall experience is satisfactory, 45% feels that it
is average, 5% said that it is fantastic and 15% said that there must be some changes.
Q11. Will you like to use our services in future?
As per the received data 33% of the customers said that they use their services in future, 53% said may be and
14% said no.
4.4 Outcomes
After the analysis of the data received from the customers, following findings were extracted:
 It is analyzed that the process is mostly based on the secondary data which may not be reliable.
 It was analyzed that the 45% customers said that the companies have a good relation with customers.
 67% of customers said that the services given by the company is average.
 Only 45% of customers think that the company’s representatives are able to solve their problems
efficiently.
 65% of customers said that data given by the company is relevant in nature.
 From the study it is analyzed that the process of the KPO is very time consuming.
V. CONCLUSION
KPO is the upcoming industry in India. The main purpose of any KPO is to provide good service to
their customer. KPO are coming in many sectors such as Banking, Securities, Industry Research Services,
Contract Research, Organizations and Bio-Pharmaceutical Services. A good KPO firm is likely to care more
about the depth of knowledge and experience and the judgment skills of its professionals. The process of the
KPO is difficult to understand, hence the KPO sectors are more focused to professional side. The client is
involved during the entire execution process, client plays an important role in the KPO process, so it is
necessary to understand the level of satisfaction they expect from the knowledge providers. To make growth in
their business they can take feedback from their customer, whether they are satisfied or not. The data provided
by the company under study is relevant in nature. The KPO is maintaining their customer relation very seriously
for the future growth.
5.1 Suggestions and Recommendations
 It is concluded by the research that KPO is upcoming organization in India; hence in it there are huge
career opportunities for both the entrepreneur and the job.
 It is suggested that the company must disclose their terms and condition properly and make it more
transparent.
 It is concluded from the report the company is not taking its advertising strategy seriously, hence it is
suggested that the company should be focus on their advertising policy.
 It is suggested that the company must take their representatives who are professionally skilled, as the
company is knowledge provider hence it’s imperative that representatives should be professionally
skilled.
 It is found that communication skills of the representatives are not that good; hence the proper
communication training must be given to all the representatives in order to have better understandings.
From the analysis it is found that the customers of the company are not that much satisfied with the
services, hence the company should conduct a program to take the suggestions from their customers.
REFERENCES
[1] Alok Aggarawal, “An Indispensible guide to investment in India facts and forecast”, Evaluserve Report, California, 2009.
[2] C.R. Kothari, “Research methodology methods and techniques” 2nd
edition. New age Publications, New Delhi, 2008
[3] Mukesh Chaturvedi, “Customer Relationship Management”, 1st
edition , New Delhi, 2008
[4] Bala Bhaskaran, “KPO;A Shifting Paradigm”, 1st
edition ,ICFAI Publications, 2007.
[5] Aberdeen Group, “Partnering for Performance: Knowledge Process Outsourcing”, January 2009.

Customer Relation in Knowledge Process Outsourcing

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