Convergys eyes non-voice segment

The Cincinnati-based Convergys Corporation, which is primarily a player in the call center space (voice) and runs its biggest offshore center in India, is now looking to grow its revenues from the non voice segment as well. Besides focusing on the back-office component, the company is also looking to increase its presence in the country.

While declining to divulge specifics, Convergys International Operations senior vice president Jean-Marc Hauducoeur said the contributions from the non-voice sector is still very insignificant.

"In India, we service 20 clients and 30 per cent of these clients have some work on the backend side. A lot of other clients also have evinced interest in getting some of the backend work done from here. The economic incentive is the biggest factor in our thrust to increase this part of the business," he said.

He, however, stated that the key business will be driven by voice. He said, "In fact we never anticipated this kind of growth when we started off. We are a 10,000 strong employee organisation today and expect to increase the headcount to to 20,000 by 2007."

The company will set up its seventh center in Mumbai. The new unit will will house 1,000 professionals and is expected to be operational by year-end.

"Voice will continue to remain the focus for the company. However, we will try to utilise the infrastructure here and India time and increase the back-office component in our offshore centers."

The center will cater to Australia-based Optus, which is also Convergys first Australian client in India. The assignments undertaken by Convergys involves Optus domestic call center operations.

"India is a very significant part of our company's strategy. We already have six centers in the country, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune and one software development center in Hyderabad. The revenues today are fairly modest, but we see it growing," he added.

In addition to expanding its presence, the company aims to strengthen its operation in the country by focusing on the domestic market.

"While this may take some time to materialise, we do realise, that the domestic market is growing and it cannot be ignored. We have, therefore, already initiated dialogues with the telecom operators in the country for our billing solution."

The company's billing capabilities include-bill stream consolidation, switch management, service order and traffic processing, receivables management, interactive billing technology, electronic bill presentment and payment to name a few.