Easier labour laws will help expansion of BPOs in smaller towns: WNS chief

In a Q&A, Keshav Murugesh, Group CEO of the NYSE-listed firm, says his company will continue to hire, but at a slower pace

While business process management (BPM) firms have transformed seamlessly into the work-from-home environment, WNS Global Services, a major player in this space, is looking at following a 'Hub-Edge-Spoke' delivery model in which tier-II and tier-III cities will find prominence. Keshav Murugesh, Group CEO of the NYSE-listed firm, tells Sai Ishwar that the company, which has over 65 per cent of 43,000 odd employees globally based in India, will continue to hire, but at a slower pace. Edited excerpts …

What is it like, selling BPO services to clients in the time of pandemic?

Most of our clients are located across the globe including North America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Traditionally, the clients first identify a few partners or vendors, and travel across the pond to take a physical look and then sign outsourcing contracts. During the pandemic, we came up with a virtual model wherein the client interacts with the leadership team, understand the ethos and culture and also take a look at the solutions offered. We show them our physical locations in Chennai, Pune or Philippines. They finally interact with the seeding team of 30-40 people which gives them a lot of comforts. I think, this process will sustain even in post Covid-19 world when we will have initial discussions virtually which can accelerate the decision-making timelines.

Do you think smaller cities will now assume a lot more significance in IT/ITeS space given that a lot of reverse migration has happened during the pandemic?

We have been focusing on taking work to the people for quite some time now. We already have centres in cities like Nasik and Vizag. Post Covid-19, the ability for us to grow the business in these locations is going to increase dramatically. We now think, work from home is an acceptable model for the industry. But it will not replace our current model of having operations in central locations. But around 20-25 per cent of the works which are repeatable and routine tasks can be delivered from home. We call this as 'Hub-Edge-Spoke' mode wherein ‘hubs’ are the traditional old offices we had and ‘edge’ is the work-from-home model. ‘Spokes’ are satellite offices which are typically 50-100 seaters set up mostly in lower-rung cities and towns. 

A lot of Department of Telecom (DoT) and SEZs norms were relaxed to enable seamless transition of WFH. What more can be done? 

Yes. The DoT and SEZs relaxations have certainly helped us. The government is creating a special taskforce to ensure that these changes stay for a longer-term. But the industry is also seeking a change in Labour laws, both at the Centre and the states. It should facilitate (creation of) more part-time and gig-based jobs wherein a person can work for multiple companies, simultaneously. In the future, people may not want to take up five or six days-a-week jobs. Some smart changes can kick-start the gig economy and take the model further into tier-II, III and IV locations. This will help in bringing a part of the 110 million odd women in India who are having a secondary-education degree, to the workforce, and also the retired people. 

How does the business outlook look at this point?

Business volumes has to go back to normal in certain sectors. Especially in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) segment, things are slowly limping back to normalcy. Travel and Hotels have still not shown signs of full recovery. But if you look at overall bookings for FY 2021, they are on par with pre-Covid levels. We should see volumes coming back once the vaccine is out.

Some of IT firms who had stopped giving revenue growth guidance, have already resumed it. When are you resuming it?

It is very admirable that they could forecast that (revenue growth). Guidance is based on a set of facts at that point in time. But our industry is not into software and application development and maintenance (ADM). We are running critical operations here. For us, things change if cruises and ships don't sail. Lockdowns will impact insurance and aviation companies which directly impact us. But we may give revenue guidance in October for the second half of the year. 

What is your hiring plans for the year?

We don't disclose numbers usually but we are continuously hiring. But the pace may not be at the same level as it was in pre-Covid times. It will not increase until the demand goes back to those levels. 

Do you think the sudden surge in e-commerce, on-demand streaming businesses are temporary or won’t sustain?

The world has changed forever. These are not temporary blips. The way the next generation will attempt to live their lives will be very different from how the previous have lived. Businesses, including BPO players, will be driven by hyper-personalisation and technology-enabled models. Healthcare, for example, is one area where tele-consultations are the way of the future.