In global economic and financial meltdown, no industry is spared, and that includes the BPO industry of India. There were times when BPO organisations were sprouting all over the nation in the so called tier 2,3 4 etc cities. But what many did not realize is that along with a fantastic business model, there was also a need for good business and risk management practices. Today, as losses mount across the globe, the absence of good risk management systems at these smaller organizations can be felt. Let’s take a look at what is missing in these organisations. 1. People risk or human capital risk As business was of top concerns, background checks, good recruitment practices, KYC checks, employment history verification etc were ignored. Walk in interviews literally meant “Walk in to your assigned desk and start working today”. Such was the state of recruitment that it was possible to triple the staff strength in a night. Obviously, the result of this is that such BPO organisations may be staffed with unethical, fraudsters etc. And these guys may not do the damage alone. They may be modifying the business environment, the way things are done and influencing others. The end result is that output is not top quality, there is a greater chance of data leakage, theft of confidential information and unauthorised system access. 2. Theft of confidential data Data confidentiality is something that all companies promise to deliver. But how do they actually go about controlling that client’s confidential data is secure. It does not become secure by having a corporate policy that punishes someone for data leakage. Because, the damage has been done. What is required is an elaborate risk management system and policy to oversee the processes that use client data. A lot needs to be done in this area if BPO companies are to succeed and maintain high standards of Indian BPO industry. 3. Lack of knowledge of task at hand. Often, the BPO staff is little aware of the underlying transaction, process or technology. The staff simply follows a set of work instructions and mundanely carries out these tasks. But if the instructions are poorly written, there is a very high chance of a gross error due to process lapse or process execution error. And these errors may be too big to be fixed. Training and awareness needs to be continuous so that staff are aware of the client’s business, its processes, the top risks of the business and how the BPO role can impact the client. Having read the above, if you are part of the BPO industry and would like to talk to us to tackle similar issues, please contact us and we can do a high level gap analysis and benchmark you to the industry.