I-OneSource plans to pursue acquisitions

ICICI OneSource (I-OneSource), while betting on a global delivery model, is itching to get back into the acquisition mode for additional mindshare in the crowded BPO space.

"We are looking at the service offerings we want to be in and will accordingly acquire companies in the near future to grow our business," says Ananda Mukerji, the company's MD & CEO. It acquired FirstRing in June 2003 to get into the outbound processes market in the US.

That September, it acquired Account Solutions Group (ASG) to enter the collections processes market in the US. Later in 2004 April, it acquired Rev IT Systems, a Chennai-based BPO company and its US subsidiary Sherpa Business Solutions, since "we always wanted to be in the healthcare business". Its partnerships reflect the same synergistic strategy.

In April this year, the company announced a strategic partnership with Metavante Corporation "" one of the top three bank technology and payment processors in the US.

Mukerji claims this to be "a unique edge" for the company. But having acquired five companies in a span of three years since 2001 "" it started with CustomerAsset India "" it has been relatively quiet on this front for the last 18 months. "We have been concentrating on integration till now," explains Mukerji. The company has around 50 customers with 15-18 large accounts. Its top five clients contribute 44 per cent to the total revenue (ended 2005-06 with revenues of $124 million "" around Rs 570 crore). The revenue is equally distributed across the US and UK geographies which the company terms as its "derisking" strategy.

I-OneSource's call centre (customer acquisition and care) business includes out-bound and in-bound telesales, cross-sell and up-sell programmes and comprises around 45 per cent of the revenue. Competitors like Genpact and Infosys BPO have just around 20 per cent presence in the voice business and Wipro BPO has exited the out-bound voice business. "A major part of the out-bound calls is to our clients' customer base itself, hence there's not much of an issue," reasons Mukerji, when asked about the "do-not-call" policy affecting the voice business.

Its collection and receivables management business segment accounts for 22-25 per cent of its revenue while transaction-processing makes up for 30 per cent. Its subsidiary, Pipal Research, is into high-end business research and analytics services but is "yet to significantly add to the revenue".

I-OneSource already has 10 delivery centers (part of its global delivery platform with around 8,000 seats) across India, the US and UK and plans to open one more centre in the Asia-Pacific region in the next six months.

This October, the company announced the commencement of operations at its 400-seat facility in Buenos Aires, Argentina (for an existing Indian client). Its fourth global delivery center outside of India, the current operation is expected to strengthen the company's offering to its telecom clients. Currently, 30 per cent of its revenue comes from the telecom vertical and its growth is high on Mukerji's agenda.

For 2005-06, Nasscom ranked the company fifth after Genpact, WNS, Wipro BPO and HCL BPO services. Mukerji wants to better the score.