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Before you get absorbed into a BPO firm today you might already have had a detective check out your precedents. They have little choice.
With the Indian software and information technology enabled services (ITES) exports heading towards $60 billion by 2010, it is becoming necessary for BPO firms to secure sensitive data and conduct background checks of potential employees.
Almost all the top BPO firms today rely on the services of forensic and fraud experts to conduct investigations and background checks on potential recruits.
Experts say since the BPO industry is gradually attaining maturity due to growth of business and transition of critical processes that demand utmost security for client-sensitive data, it has become very important to appease the client and help the industry attain the desired output.
'Security awareness was always there but now that the industry is maturing, one needs to be more cautious,' Kiran Karnik, president, National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), told IANS.
The BPO industry in India has received tremendous interest in the past several years due to its strategic socio-economic impact.
'There was a case where an employee was electronically transferring data out of the company. We had to check his e-mails and interrogate his colleagues and after many such investigative procedures we finally managed to crack the case,' said Sumit Makhija, associate director, dispute analysis and investigation services, PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PwC).
India's considerable rise in the BPO space has been due to its skilled and low-cost manpower coupled with its English-speaking ability.
Last year, Britain's popular Channel 4 carried out a sting operation that showed Indian call-centre employees selling client-confidential data for cash. This created a tremendous furore among the industry, making Nasscom send out reassuring statements in the media.
In another case, in July 2005, a reporter of one of Britain's leading dailies, 'The Sun', managed to secure sensitive information from an employee of EDS (formerly Mphasis), a Delhi-based BPO.
The IT industry, despite its exponential growth, is also witnessing increasing cases of data theft, money laundering and leakage of confidential information about customers among others. The IT industry is growing at a rate of 31 percent in exports and employs over 1.6 million people annually.
But the firms are gradually realising the disastrous impact of data theft and taking the required steps by hiring experts.
'The whole issue of data security has heightened now. Today more and more IT/BPO companies are assigning us to investigate matters concerning fraudulent activities,' said Deepankar Sanwalka, executive director, KPMG India.
'With processes such as equity research gradually coming into India, this will require a level of preparedness on the part of the BPOs,' Milan Sheth, associate director (outsourcing advisory centre), Ernst and Young, told IANS.
The specialised investigative teams, which consist of former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBJ) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) officials, are equipped with the most sophisticated technology and assigned by companies for a specific period to solve cases.
They carry out background checks on new recruits to prevent those with fake educational certificates from getting in. In some cases, they have even found the institutions named on the certificates to be non-existent.
'There have been cases where people have produced fake certificates or scanned copies of false mark-sheets, etc.,' said Yash Maroli, vice-president recruitment, EXL Service, one of the leading Noida-based BPO firms.
In order to conduct a background check, these experts contact the universities or colleges to verify the credentials of the applicants and in some cases even do referral check of their schools.
However, these are all done with the consent of the candidate concerned.
'The volume of hiring in this sector is higher than in any other industry. And I believe these procedures make recruitment more organised, considering the quantum of business that comes in,' Maroli said.
'This is all about being ahead of the curve,' said Karnik of Nasscom.
According to industry experts, the companies are gradually waking up to the need of compliance and security.
And, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh setting a target of reaching $80 billion in exports by 2010 during a recent Nasscom summit, the industry is all geared up to face the challenge.
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