The Hindu : Business : Lason takes BPO to the countryside

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 07, 2005

Business

Business

Lason takes BPO to the countryside

K. T. Jagannathan

Makes tremendous business sense, says MD

KIZHANUR (TAMIL NADU): Business process outsourcing (BPO) has gone rural. In a tiny step towards taking BPO to the masses, Chennai-based Lason India Ltd. has helped to set up a 14-member facility here at Kizhanur, some 9 km from Thiruvallur, about 35 km. from Chennai..

Supported entirely by Lason, the Kizhanur BPO unit, christened Chida Soft, has been functional since March this year. The nascent centre handles a portion of the legal publishing work that Lason has landed from an American client. Coding, keying and auditing are some of the work done at this facility. Chida Soft is headed by P.Sharmila, a local girl. There are 10 girls and four boys in the unit. It is a three-shift centre.

"We have always dreamt of leveraging technology to bridge the digital divide. The launch of the Kizhanur facility has helped us to realise the dream,'' Pradeep Nevatia, Managing Director of Lason India, said.

This is the first time that an IT (information technology) company has gone in for a rural centric model for its BPO business. The facility has come up in the first floor of a typical wood-carved rural home with a lot of ventilation. As cows greet visitors to the BPO house, the job area resembles a city IT centre with girls quietly immersed in their duty and work charts hanging from the walls.

Right now, the Kizhanur centre is given work that allows some time lag in delivery since the village does not have connectivity. "The scale is not enough to justify a dedicated line,'' Mr. Nevatia said. The employees of the BPO facility have under gone project-centric training by Lason. The "Lason Village'' model of BPO, he said, would promote entrepreneurship among rural folk. The company in this instance has provided Chida Soft the required hardware (five computers), furniture and basic training. Answering a question, he said "a school pass is enough to do this job.'' Ms. Sharmila said, "we are getting more than we expected.'' If her wards are able to earn an average of Rs. 2,000 a month, Ms. Sharmila is assured of a share in profits from the business by Lason.

Mr. Nevatia felt that BPO and India were made for each other. "Hence, any model has to be in line with the strength of the country (human resource),'' he said. The "Lason village'' concept is in line with the decentralised model adopted by the company. The emphasis on self-sustenance has seen Lason establish two near shore centres in `B' towns — one each in Pondicherry and Kancheepuram, employing around 400 people.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business

News Update

Stories in this Section