Tata Infotech Education enters call center market with creme

Tata Infotech Education has decided to plunge into the call center market industry with the launch of crème-specialized program designed with Turing Point, a training and assessment systems company.

The Indian IT enabled services market is expected to generate revenues worth Rs 81,000 crore, creating more than 11,00,000 jobs by the end of the year 2008. According to NASSCOM reports, the call center market is one of the fastest growing markets, growing from Rs 400 crore in 1999-2000 (employing 8,600 people) to Rs 850 crore in 2000-01 (15,000 people). This industry is expected to generate Rs 20,000 crore by the year 2008.

Rahul Thapan, Head, Education Services Division, Tata Infotech, was pretty excited by the prospects in the call center industry. Pointing out the Indian call center industry currently lacked an organized player taking care of the necessary training, he believed that Tata Infotech would fill this gap.

Thapan denied that the company's foray into the call center industry training would dilute the focus on the education services division training and saw this as adding synergy to the business. The terrorist attack on the WTC twin towers has also forced the company to put on hold their plans to offer training for corporates in the US. Thapan believed that this was a temporary phenomenon and they would be in business in the next six months. "We are already in talks with the number of corporates in the US and hope for some breakthroughs in the next few months," he said.

Thanks to the prolonged US-Afghan conflict, the company has also put on hold their plans for expanding training centers in the Middle east. However, the company has gone ahead with its training centers in Vietnam and South Africa.

Commenting on crème, Thapan said that while training courses are currently being offered by the unorganized sector, there was no complete training program that meets the needs of these call centers. The 120 hour crème program is being offered at a cost of Rs 20,000. The company had opted for a soft launch in Mumbai in September this year and has trained around 100 people. Students who train with Tata Infotech will be awarded international certifications from Entretel and AAT (American Accent Training). Entretel equips participants with specialization in performance management and soft skills training for people in telephone based customer service and sales positions. AAT is an internationally acclaimed language training organization.

Crème is targeted at graduates from any discipline who have English speaking skills and corporates customers. The course contents include soft skills such as customer rapport, stress management, style flexibility, listening and questioning, speed writing, speed reading, customer relationship management, accent training and computer skills.

The course will be offered at Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai for corporates. In Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore, it will be targeted towards the corporate and public domain customers. In the first year, Tata Infotech will train 600 people.