I-Flex US Project:   Major Problems Persist

By Raman Verma

I-Flex is one of India’s most successful companies with a large number of very happy clients.But a few projects have been hard work while breaking new ground for the Indian tech industry.  One such team iflex-Equinox, Gurgaon is facing many challenges.   Management is facing client heat to fix the BAT (Borrower's assistance team)  process for US-based OOMC (Option One Mortgage Corp).

The major issue is the Abandon ratio (Number of calls dropped /no of calls offered = Abandon Ratio). Put simply,  this means number of calls answered divided by number of calls dropped. The client OOMC  has allowed a maximum  3 percent abandon ratio, but these days the call flow is very high and in comparison the availability is too less,  and this is resulting in 6-7 percent abandon ratio which is a  ‘red alert’ for the process. OOMC has already warned Iflex (Equinox) that if this situation persists the same process can be taken back from i-flex.

This high abandon ratio can be solved  by increasing the numbers of  Indian associates  to answer the calls.  But this is easier said than done,  as attrition in the process is extremely high due to the job pressures of  the process. I-Flex Human Resources in India  is doing everything by hiring as many staff as possible in the tight labour market.   By any standards of the industry,  I-Flex is paying the team very well. But money does not seem the issue here.

It is a vicious cycle.  Due to the heavy work load,  the associates are not getting leave,  breaks are not given on time, and  Team leads are pressurizing them to place one call on hold and pick up the other call.  All this is only increasing disappointment among the agents and this could be considered as another reason for attrition.  Some months as many as 2 out of 3 Team leaders have put in their resignation due to the stress.  New team leaders are hired through internal job posting. They will take some time to get the hang of how the process works.

OOMC has only two vendors for this process I-flex and I-gate. I-flex is handling inbound process (major chunk of  work) and I-gate has Outbound (only 15 agents) for the same process - BAT (Borrowers assistance team). 

I-gate is lobbying hard to get this entire process from OOMC.   According to sources in USA,  the  client is considering  all options.  Something has to change or give.

(Techgoss ran the following story on the same project on June 7, 2006)

I-flex:  Many Staff Exit US Project

By Call Centre Guy

Six months ago, I-flex solution (Equinox Global services, Gurgaon) bagged a prestigious critical customer service project from Option One Mortgage Corporation,USA.  The first batch of 20 Associates ‘piloted’ the process after receiving special training by OOMC (Option One Mortgage Corp) trainers at Gurgaon, India.

This project was another feather in the cap of I-flex and involved their Associates learning the subtleties of legal proceedings of Foreclosure (when people are unable to pay their mortgages, and so their Loan company can take possession and sell the property to recoup the loan).  This involved learning the state laws of USA.  This process requires lots of patience as the legal work can drag on for months.
 
The main responsibility of the Indian Associates is to get the due amount from the borrower,  or at least to minimise the loss for the company.  Indian Associates will analyse the situation and offer options to the  borrower to  pay due amount before sale date,  or to counsel borrower to go ahead and sell the property to payoff the loan amount.

This is hard work at best of times.  The average call in this process takes as much as 45 minutes and involved lots of arguments, tears and other emotions as the family home was involved.  The Indians also have to co-ordinate with lawyers representing the borrowers.  In many ways, this is the kind of Knowledge Processing that will grow exponentially in India.

This process is named as BAT (Borrower's assistance team).  The Indian team delivered big time.  OOMC's loss % is now reduced down to 46% from 76%.  There are at least 200 employees working on this project.  And so it is a big win for I-flex as well.
 
Now the twist in the story.  The Associates require a number of skills – ranging from the ability to argue like lawyers to the patience of a counsellor.  And endless legal updates.
 
Something had to give.  Attrition has become the toughest problem for I-flex.  Their employees are being given very high salaries and incentives.  And lots of  parties in the best pubs of Delhi and NCR.   And unlike other BPO/KPO counterparts, they only work Monday-Friday.

But despite this I-flex have only been able to retain a team of 150.  Due to the stress of the job, Associates are resigning in large numbers with attrition rate of as much as 60 percent last month.  June will not be any better.