Covid -19 and its impact on the Workforce in BPO industry

Global lockdowns have severely disrupted the life of the traditional BPO industry. However, at the same time, it has also been opening new avenues. Will the changes in the Digital workforce management play out the escalating challenges faced by the traditional BPO industry during the COVID-19 global lockdown?

Some of the following notions will be challenged severely over the coming months:

·      A wide belief that one simply can’t move thousands of agents into a work-at-home model without a massive disruption

·      Remote work may not be productive enough

·      Security is a major challenge

·      GIG may not stand as a serious option for the BPO industry.

It was widely believed that one simply can’t move thousands of agents into a work-at-home model without massive disruption. Especially when call volumes in some industries are going through the roof. When COVID hit India, the scramble was on to move workers out of densely packed contact centers to their homes. Stretched managers had even more loaded on their shoulders to make it happen, and quickly. To use a metaphor; BPOs had to deliver an oil and filter change to an engine whilst they were still running... during mid-flight.

Also, prior to 2020, there was a lot of skepticism in some circles about the value of digitization and digital transformation; the rapidness of this change is the key highlight. Pandemic changed things overnight. For example, a certain organization went from 500 odd VPN users to over 9000 in a matter of a couple of weeks. COVID-19 pandemic has made us learn, the hard way, that technology will aide us in fighting any future disasters.

How will these changes play out in the Covid-19 world?

A critical step for BPOs is to develop clear workforce strategies to help determine the digital skills and capabilities that they currently have—and will need—to meet their future goals

Digital driven re-skilling of the Workforce is necessary along with an opportunity for BPOs to conduct an organizational transformation & re-framing of their pre-COVID business model, behaviors & practices. As it turns out, in coming months we will see that to manage and mitigate the impact on their workforces, businesses must see that:

•       Digital technology will improve people’s ability to work from home or anywhere. New Geographies will open for BPOs to source talent from.

•       At many companies’ employees may not commute all the time. It’s widely expected that many will have at least a hybrid virtual component, even when the industry goes back to in-person or “in-office”.

•       Digital has created seismic shifts in the mix of skills required to succeed in the labour market. It has also changed the terms of work, giving rise to work from anywhere, short-term assignments, aiding the rise of GIG economy and its foray into BPO space.

•       Automation and related technologies will help the organization become resilient to future pandemics. Optimizing the processes helps make the operations flexible

We believe that digital transformation, pervasive connectivity, and openness to “try” GIG will be a game-changer for BPO in the coming months and years