August 13, 2008 at BPO Saffron was a momentous day.  The shop floor witnessed an unprecedented form of protest. Not one happy face among 250 agents working for Saffron at 113 Udyog Vihar, Phase 1, Gurgaon. This was the third month in a row when the company had failed to give salaries on time. And the agents had enough. They reported to work but something was wrong on the Shop floor and their Team Leaders could feel it. Everyone had decided that that the delayed salaries could not be ignored. More...

The net is one of the top technological advances to improve communications and our quality of life.  While some oldies still hesitate with laptops, the youngsters have taken to it like ducks to water. Like everything in life, there is a dark side to the net.  Perhaps the most evil are predators using the net to attack our children. More...

HCL BPO, Noida is in mourning after the deaths of two of their Agents and their cab driver in Delhi on the weekend.  The HCL teams had just finished their 3.30 am shift on Saturday and were in a convoy of 5 taxis to get back home, when a speeding truck with bad headlights crossed over to the wrong side of the road and smashed into the HCL Qualis taxi. The force of the smash left the taxi a mangled wreck. More...

India has umpteen commerce sites that we take for granted. I shop for books at one and look for bargains on clothes at another website.  And when come birthdays, even if you forget the occasion, you just need to go online and order a bouquet of flowers, no stammered apologies or hiding behind the newspaper anymore. Then there is eBay, where one can sell or buy ‘anything’ including your ex-boyfriend’s shoddy clothes. More...

There seems to be another ‘mother of all battles’ brewing between the Open Source Community and the software biggies like Microsoft over the question of software patents. Interestingly this time around we have Indian companies like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) supporting Microsoft’s demand to allow for software patents. The spark for this latest round was the Draft Manual released by the Indian Patent Office which provides for a certain class of software patents. More...

TeamLease Services is one of India’s leading staffing companies which sources temporary and permanent employees for its 500 clients which include some in the IT, BPO and KPO sectors. Teamlease, which started in 2002, states in its website that it has a core team of 700 employees who have placed 50,000 employees in over 450 locations. Apart from good HR skills, it knows how to get media attention. More...

When the clock struck 12pm on the night on July 31, 2008, the end was official. 24/7 Customer closed shop at Gurgaon and its offices at. 231, Udyog Vihar Phase -1 looked deserted.  The security guard was the only one busy on his shift. The shop-floor (as the operations floor is called) fell silent. Voices in this Call Center went silent, sadly forever. More...

Vertex India, based out of Gurgaon, is being accused by its own employees of having a bad record when it comes to doing business. An employee, on condition of anonymity says: “the company is working without a vision”.  It is noteworthy that Vertex has been losing clients consistently - they lost United Utilities 2 years ago, lost Orange last year. Now it is Trainline on 17th August. More...

Outsourcing is all about western companies using the quality and cost effectiveness of giants like India, China, Philippines and Russia.  English speaking countries like India and Philippines have a head start.  One certainty is that India will continue to get business for another decade.  What is sometimes surprising, even shocking, is how wide off the mark some research on this subject is. More...