The Next Level

The local movers and shakers of our BPO industry have been trying to keep a stiff upper lip about the dangers posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI) to their survival.

- BOO CHANCO

Now and then, they will slip and express concern on their ability to move the local industry to the next level. The principal problem is the increasing difficulty of recruiting qualified staff to handle more demanding requirements beyond answering a phone call.

The morning briefing email I received from The New York Times last Wednesday made it clear how fast the industry is moving to the next level.

The report written by Alex Travelli, who covers economics and business for the NYT in India, talks of a feverish hiring spree by US companies for Indian professionals to perform advanced tasks in about 1,800 overseas office parks in India. Soon they expect to employ two million Indians.

No longer are "sweaty youngsters piling into rooms in the middle of the night to help American customers rebook their flights or learn whether warranties had expired... Now the roles are more advanced, and the people holding them often have graduate degrees. Workers are analyzing medical scans, writing marketing pitches, balancing budgets and designing state-of-the-art microchips—the kind of work that used to put Americans in the top tax brackets.

"It's not just happening here (India). Japanese and British firms have set up offices in places like Mexico and Poland. But most of the multinationals are American, and most of these new centers are in India... Indian workers are doing the kind of jobs that American workers envy—for American companies...