PROJECT REPORT ON

TIME MANAGEMENT WITH RESPECT TO BPO’s

SUBMITTED BY

ZEESHAN ARSHAD USMANI

T.Y.B.M.S.

2012 - 13

PROJECT GUIDE

SUMBUL SAMREEN

TIME MANAGEMENT IN BPOS

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SUBMITTED TO

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

VIDYALANKAR SCHOOL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(AFFILIATED TO UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI)

VIDYALANKAR MARG, WADALA (E),

MUMBAI 400 037

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A Project Report on

TIME MANAGEMENT WITH RESPECT TO BPO’s

Submitted By

ZEESHAN ARSHAD USMANI

T.Y.B.M.S Semester V

2012 – 13

Submitted To

University of Mumbai

Vidyalankar School of Information Technology

(Affiliated to University of Mumbai)

VidyalankarMarg, Wadala (E),

Mumbai 400 037

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VIDYALANKAR SCHOOL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(Affiliated to Mumbai University)

Certificate

This is to certify that

Mr./Ms. _________________________________ of

B.M.S Semester _____ has undertaken &

completed the project work titled

______________________________ during the

academic year __________ under the guidance of

Mr./Ms. _______________ submitted on _________ to

this college in fulfillment of the curriculum of

Bachelor of Management Studies, University of

Mumbai.

This is a bonafide project work & the

information presented is True & original to the

best of our knowledge and belief.

 

DECLARATION

Vidyalankar School of Information Technology

(Affiliated to University of Mumbai)

VidyalankarMarg, Wadala (E),

Mumbai 400 037

I ZEESHAN USMANI of Vidyalankar School of Information

Technology, T.Y.B.M.S Semester V hereby declare that I have

completed the project on TIME MANAGEMENT WITH RESPECT TO

BPO’s in academic year 20012 - 13

The information submitted is true and original to the best of my

knowledge

Signature of the Student,

ZEESHAN USMANI

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

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I hereby acknowledge all those who directly or indirectly helped me to draft

the project report. It would not have been possible for me to complete the task

without their help and guidance

First of all I would like to thank the principal Dr. RohiniKelkar Madam and the

coordinator Prof. Vijay Gawde Sir who gave me the opportunity to do this project

work. They also conveyed the important instructions from the university from time

to time. Secondly, I am very much obliged of Prof. SUMBUL for giving guidance for

completing the project

Then I must mention the person who co-operated with me Rajesh Shah,

Manager of Call center. They not only rendered time out of their busy scheduled but

also answered my queries without hesitation. He gave me information on their

system of working in their organisation and told me how Promotional Strategies are

done in their organisation.

Last but not the least, I am thankful to the University of Mumbai for offering

the project in the syllabus. I must mention my hearty gratitude towards my family,

other faculties and friends who supported me to go ahead with the project.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially

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to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing. Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually the term broadened to include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods. Usually time management is a necessity in any project development as it determines the project completion time and scope.

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INDEXSR . NO TOPIC PG NO

1 INTRODUCTION 11

2 HISTORY 15

3 IMPORTANCE 19

4 INTRODUCTION 26

5 HOW TO MANAGE TIME 33

6 How to Manage Goals and Objectives in Real Time 42

7 Benefits of Business Process Outsourcing

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8 Customer Management Services 58

9 Business process outsourcing in India 63

10 METHODOLOGY OF DATA COLLECTION 70

11 QUESTIONNAIRE 71

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INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

Aim of doing the project:

Gain Knowledge about the working if a call center

Objective of doing the project:

Everyone knows that to be effective it is necessary to complete tasks on time and to be efficient those tasks should be accomplished in order of priority. If it’s so easy the question remains; why do so many people run out of time?

Because of the value placed on all resources we are forced to get more done, with fewer people, in less time. While time is limitless we only ever have access to sixty minutes in an hour, twenty-four hours in a day and seven days in a week etc. Therefore, like a precious consignment we have to use time to its best advantage, which means that we have to develop new strategies for the way we use time and alter the way in which we perceive it.

This project on Time Strategies will enable us to realize the importance of time and to determine how it should be invested to achieve the results they desire.

The ability to prioritize, determine dependencies and overcome procrastination gains value when the investment of time as a precious resource is understood.

Limitation of doing the project:

1. Less Co operation from call center employees

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WARMING UP TO THE CONCEPT OF TIME

“Now go on and enjoy yourself, dance to your heart’s content and win the Prince’s

heart. But remember, you have to be back before the clock strikes twelve at

midnight.”

We all are familiar with the words of the Fairy God Mother in the evergreen fairy tale

‘Cinderella’. It’s these words that probably made us aware-for the first time in our

lives-of the value of time. We all sympathized with Cinderella when all her splendid

gown and other finery turned to rags at the stroke of midnight. Our first acquaintance

with the villainous Time!

But then, is time such a villain, who should always be painted in black? We have

heard the proverb that says “there are no wounds that time cannot heal.” Here of

course we get the image of a wizened old woman who comes hobbling up to us with a

pitcher full of balm and gentle fingers that soothe away all our pains and sorrows.

But that’s enough! This project was not made to sing the praises of time. There is no

need of the romance of Cinderella or the soothing finger of an old lady when we are

talking about time. And do you know why? It’s because we do not have the time for it.

We are going to try and understand time in its many faces. No, I was not referring to

the faces of watches or clocks. I was referring to the many meanings that time has. Oh

yes it does! You thought that time meant the same to everyone. Well think again; or

maybe you could try to explain the logic behind the following cases.

Picture a farmer who plants a sapling of a tree that would probably take ten to twelve

years to reach the stage when it would start to bear fruit, by then the farmer would in

likelihood be under the soil himself.

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Picture a jailbird in bird counting on the bars of his cell waiting for the seconds,

minutes, and hours, days, weeks, months and years to go by before he can be free

again.

Now picture a young couple madly in love with each other cherishing the few minutes

they get to spend with each other every day, cursing time because it flies so fast when

they are together and never the other way round.

So what does time mean to you? When was the last time that you realized the value of

time?

The answer is probably the last time you watched one of those Bollywood thrillers in

which the hero is driving a car in which a time-bomb has been planted and the hero is

unaware of this. But we being the getting-to-see-it-all audience watch with bated

breath as the tiny needle of the timer ticks towards the point at which the explosion is

sure to occur.

But just before that, the hero hits the brakes screeches to a halt to avoid hitting that old

lady crossing the road. And when he jumps out to help her cross the road the needle

reaches the point and the bomb is exploded. And our hero is safe. It’s funny how the

hero always escapes without a scratch in these movies. But I expect that’s why they

call them heroes.

Now we are really transgressing aren’t we? So back to our subject that is Time

Management. Do you know what is interesting about the concept of Time? It is

absolutely uncontrollable.

Personally I believe that there is something very humbling about this concept. Just

imagine a man with all his power is just like a helpless babe before time. There it is

Time stands tall and strong before man and man remains vulnerable and weak before

it. Man, the big strong man who tamed rivers and seas, who reached out to the skies

and beyond, who harnessed wind and water and dug up the bowels of the earth is but a

worm before Time.

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The best he can do to win the battle against time is die his hair and use some anti-

wrinkle cream on his face. In fact, the closest that man has got towards conquering

time is those many history books that have been penned; they are of course chronicles

of events that happened long ago and that is certainly not much to boast about.

And so now we come to our subject that is time management because after all the

illustrations given above, I hope that I have made one point clear, that is that Time

cannot be controlled, it can only be managed. And that is what we are going to do. We

are going to learn the art of time management. I don’t want you to have an air of

helplessness. You might begin to feel that if the battle cannot be won, then what is

point in putting up a struggle? Ah, but there you are missing out on a very important

point. In all the illustrations that I used above, I was referring to man in general and

not to one particular Tom, Dick or Harry.

So you can see that this aspect of time is applicable to every human being and there is

no running away from it. Every person has only twenty four hours in a day and no

force on earth can alter that. So in order to get the cutting edge what you have to do is

to be able to manage your time in the most effective way possible. And that is what

Time management is all about. It’s about managing your time effectively and if I may

I would like to add the word efficiently too.

Now, when we talk about our resources, everyone knows that we are referring to the

resources like fossil fuels, forests, mineral wealth, and water bodies and so on. But

surprisingly time is never included in this list. When we talk about non-renewable

resources, fossil fuels like coal, petroleum and natural gas top the list. But what about

time? A point that most people tend to forget is that time is the most valuable resource

that we have, and time once lost, is lost forever. We can think about alternate sources

of energy for fossil fuels like electricity, fuel cells, solar energy and the research goes

on. But is there any alternative for time that is lost.

Again I stress on the point that time once lost, is lost forever. And hence we have the

proverb, “time and tide waits for no man.”

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HISTORY OF TIME MANAGEMENT

The idea of time management has been in existence for more than 100 years.

Unfortunately, the term "time management" creates a false impression of what a

person is able to do. Time can neither be managed, nor controlled. We can only

manage ourselves and our use of time.

History of time management dates back to the 6th century AD with the St.

Benedictine Monks who "emphasized and encouraged scheduled activities at all

times." The concept of time efficiency was introduced by Scottish Economist Adam

Smith who developed an assembly line system for factory workers. Benjamin Franklin

is considered by many to be the father of modern time management. He mostly

emphasized on the effective use of time. Franklin carried around a "little black book"

wherever he went, and within it, he wrote about his thirteen virtues. Each night he

would reflect upon the day's activities to judge whether he had lived up to these core

values. These values were as follows:

• Temperance

• Silence

• Order

• Resolution

• Frugality

• Industry

• Sincerity

• Justice

• Moderation

• Cleanliness

• Tranquility

• Chastity

• Humility

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UNDERSTANDING TIME MANAGEMENT

“We all have time to either spend or waste and it is our decision what to do with it. But once

passed, it is gone forever.”

- Bruce Lee (“Zen in the Martial Arts” by Joe Hyams)

Every individual on earth has the same amount of time - 60 seconds in a minute; 60

minutes in an hour; 1,440 minutes in a day; and 525,600 minutes in a year. While a

vast majority of people confesses faltering to come to grips with it, extremely few can

claim to have made the most of it. How is it that they have got it all done? It’s because

they have managed a way to figure out how to manage their time effectively.

Time Management is more than just managing time. It is about controlling the use of

the most valuable - and undervalued - resource. It is managing oneself in relation to

time. It is setting priorities and taking charge of the situation and time utilization. It

means changing those habits or activities that cause waste of time. It is being willing

to adopt habits and methods to make maximum use of time.

With good time management skills one is in control of one’s time, stress and energy

levels. One can maintain balance between one’s work and personal life. One finds

enough flexibility to respond to surprises or new opportunities. It is not how much

time one has, but rather the way one uses it. The bottom line is how well one manages

time.

Internationally known authority on time management Dr. Alec Mackenzie in his book

The Time Trap argues that the very idea of time management is a misnomer because

one really cannot manage time in the way other resources can be managed: financial

capital, physical capital, human capital, information and time. While each of the first

four can be augmented, reduced, transferred or otherwise controlled, Time cannot be

manipulated.

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Dr. Mackenzie contends that when it comes to time, one can only manage oneself in

relation to it. One cannot control time as one can control other resources – one can

only control how one uses it. In the world in which we live, time cannot be replaced or

re-created. It is therefore not for us to choose whether we spend or save time but to

choose only how we spend it.

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MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT TIME

There are several misconceptions which we all have about time. They affect everyone

including those persons who may be considered quite successful and effective. Here

are some of the misconceptions identified by Dr. Mackenzie:

Time management is simple - all it requires is common sense. While it is true

that the concept is simple, the self-discipline required to practice effective time

management is not easy.

Work is best performed under pressure. Psychological studies show this to be

no more than an excuse for procrastination. One does not work well under pressure

- only does the best one can under the circumstances. Pressure and challenge must

not be confused. Lara’s performance when the West Indies Team is in trouble has

more to do with application and determination rather than pressure.

I use a diary, a to-do list and have a secretary to keep me organized. One has

to keep oneself organized - no one can do it for others. The trouble with the

disorganized person is that he hardly has time to listen to his secretary or look at

his diary.

I do not have the time. The effective worker or manager often gets more work

done in the earlier hours of the morning than most laggards get done in the whole

day. He then no longer has to work against tight deadlines and under stress which

contributes to heart problems and not unusually the ultimate reduction of time on

this earth.

Time management might be good for some kinds of work but my job is

creative. Time management is not about routine: it is about self-discipline. Lack of

discipline prevents one from being great instead of simply good.

Time management takes away the fun and freedom of spontaneity. Is working

under stress, forgetting appointments, making constant excuses and apologies to be

fun? Would it not be much more fun if by better organization one had one or two

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more hours every day to spend with the family, to play games, read a good book,

plan for tomorrow and the day and week after or just relax?

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WHY IS TIME MANAGEMENT SO IMPORTANT?

Time management is a common problem faced by most of us. Oftentimes, when you

are swarmed with multiple tasks at once, it becomes extremely difficult to identify

which ones you must complete first. Too often, people eat up what is supposed to be

their free time to be able to accomplish all pending tasks in time. It takes a considerate

amount of skill in order to manage your time properly. If you are one of these people,

you are usually able to control your time efficiently that you can even finish tasks

ahead of time. Let’s try to analyze the importance of Time Management in different

fields.

Time Management in School/College: Due to more freedom merited to college

students, it can become quite challenging for new (freshman) students to cope with

time management. The liberty to choose your own schedule readily creates a false

notion that they can do whatever they want. On the other hand, it reflects one's

priorities and how you are able to properly appropriate them into your schedule. With

lack of proper time management, a student will have trouble coping up with deadlines

set by professors. Most students would tend to slack off during vacant hours that they

end up accomplishing nothing. If a student has prepared his or her own list of work for

the day, he or she will be able to properly allocate the time spent for extracurricular

activities and assignments.

Time Management at Work: When it comes to your job, proper usage of your time is

more particular. This is because you are paid for the hours of service you render to the

firm. Hence, companies will try to ensure that each hour you spend at the office is

utilized effectively for work. Despite of this, employees still seek out ways to have a

break. If time is not properly managed, employees could easily eat up more time for

their “breaks” than what is actually spent on actual work. Hence, the company ends up

requiring the employee to do overtime work just to finish a project. If the overtime

rendered is reflected on your paycheck, then good for you. But if not, then you reap

the unpleasant effects of poor time management.

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SYMPTOMS OF POOR TIME MANAGEMENT

Poor time management shows up by way of one or a combination of typical

perceptible symptoms. Managers would do well to look for and reflect on whether

they are subject to any of those symptoms with a view to take necessary corrective

actions.

The following are some of the indicators of poor time management:

Constant rushing (e.g. between meetings or tasks)

Frequent delays (e.g. in attending meetings, meeting deadlines)

Low productivity, energy and motivation (e.g. ‘I can’t seem to get worked up

about anything’)

Frustration (e.g. ‘Oh, things just don’t move ahead)

Impatience (e.g. ‘where the hell is that information I’ve asked him for?’)

Chronic vacillation between alternatives (e.g. ‘whichever option I choose it is

going to put me at a big disadvantage. I don’t know which way to jump’)

Difficulty setting and achieving goals (e.g. ‘I’m not sure what is expected of

me’)

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WHERE DOES ALL THE TIME GO?

It is quite surprising when you sit and think about where all the time in one day goes.

Twenty four hours is really a lot of time. But on most days it scarcely seems enough.

But this is because of certain misconceptions about time. Let us proceed to carefully

examine where all that time goes and find out if twenty four hours really is. For that I

have listed out certain points which will help you to get a realistic view about how

much time you really have in a day.

Point 1

We do not really get twenty four hours in a day. Maybe it’s because we always talk

about the twenty four hours in a day, we get the feeling that we really do have twenty

four hours to finish our daily business and the fact is that we do not. Assuming that

you hit the sack at least by twelve in the night and taking for granted the fact that you

need at least seven hours of sleep; let me fix your waking time at seven in the

morning.

That means that you have already lost seven hours, which we can deduct from twenty

four, giving us only seventeen waking hours. Waking hours does not mean the hours

you take to wakeup but the hours that you are awake. So let us get that straight, we

have only 17 hours in a day. Now if you think that all those seventeen hours can be

used for productive work, you are wrong again. For this come to the next point.

Point 2

The seventeen waking hours cannot be used completely for productive work. There

are many things that a human being should do in order to continue to live like a

human being and some of these things do take up a lot of time. Now the following list

that I have drawn up is sure to vary from person to person. But I have taken the times

for each action on what I felt to e reasonable times as far as any normal human being

is concerned.

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Taking a shower.

Most of us take a shower at least once in a day and the time I think we can put down

for that is ten minutes. For those of you cleaner ones who shower twice a day put that

as twenty minutes.

Answering the call of nature

Oh yes, we are all very cultured people who have the best of manners and upbringing.

We dress ourselves properly and conduct ourselves with the utmost poise. But there

are several times in a day when we have to go back to nature and summing up all

those things we do in the bath room I think a good half hour should be enough.

Getting ready and tidying ourselves

When we move about in society definitely we have to look our best and adding up all

the minutes that we spend in front of that mirror, we get another ten minutes. For

some people of course, this figure comes up to half an hour. But I think ten minutes is

good enough.

Eating

We need to eat to live and though I accept the fact that people have different eating

habits and times, I think that and I’m sure doctors will agree with me that a person

needs three meals a day and should take at least ten minutes to ingest a meal and not

just gobble it down. So that makes it 30 minutes for food.

Time to relax

Please do not raise an argument now. I promise to deal with this bit later on. But right

now I would like to put down one hour as the time to relax, and this includes the time

that you get to yourself for prayer or meditation or just to stare out of your window or

perhaps the few extra minutes that you spend in your bed after waking up, waiting for

the last traces of sleep to go away.

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Time with family and friends

Please we are human beings, aren’t we? And we certainly cannot get along with our

business of life without chatting a few minutes every now and then with our friends

and the family too. So with your permission, I would like to deduct another hour from

your waking time.

So now what do we have left?

We started off with 17 hours of waking time. And we proceed to add up all the time

that we accounted for in the above mentioned points; let us see how much time we

have left for productive work provided we still want to exist as human beings.

The activities mentioned above would take when put together a good three hours and

twenty minutes. That is 3 hours and 20 minutes. I put it down in both numerals and

words so that you can get a real taste of the figure. Now if we proceed to subtract this

figure from our 17 hours of waking time, what do we get? We are left with just

thirteen hours forty minutes. In figures that is 13 hours 40 minutes. And that is a fact.

That is all that we get. So from now on don’t you think that it would be more realistic

to say that we have just thirteen hours and forty minutes to accomplish a day’s work

and not twenty-four hours. For if we continue to believe that we have twenty four

hours, and then we are in effect deceiving ourselves. But wait there is more to this

story than meets the eye. These crucial hours that we have painstakingly added up are

not really put to constructive use. There are certain things called time waster which

you have to look out for and that is what we are going to deal within our next chapter.

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‘Time Killers’

Till now, we have been harping about how valuable time is and how time lost is time

lost forever and so on. But now we come to a strange concept and that is ‘Time

Killers’. The very word sound like sacrilege doesn’t it? How can one talk about killing

such a valuable resource. But that’s the way the story goes. There are a lots of time

killers in this world and what you have to do is that you have to identify these time

killers, look out for them and stay wary of tem. Only then can you put your available

time to the maximum possible use.

The time killers that I have listed below are more or less general. They are things that

most of us encounter. But apart from these, each one of us may have unique time

killers that are particular to our style of living and way of work. Be smart and identify

these killers. When I talk about killers, do not get the impression of masked men

lurking in shadows brandishing guns and knives. The killers that I am referring to are

quite ordinary every day things that we see and use in our lives but often do not

realize how much of our time they take away.

Seven terrible Time Killers

Telephone calls

Chatter boxes

Traffic jams

Finding parking spaces

Meetings

Bad machinery

Long queues

OBJECTIVES

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I Selected this project because i wanted shower some light upon the recent developments and the threats that are happening in the CALL CENTERS in WIPRO.

Time Management is essential for BPOs.

Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity.

Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date.

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INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY Time management is one of those skills no one teaches you in school but

you have to learn. It doesn’t matter how smart you are if you can’t organize information well enough to take it in. And it doesn’t matter how skilled you are if procrastination keeps you from getting your work done.

In today’s workplace, you can differentiate yourself by your ability to handle information and manage your time. “Careers are made or broken by the soft skills that make you able to hand a very large workload,

BPO saves precious management time and resources and allows focus while building upon core competencies. In other words BPO services can be defined as a strategic management tool that can help organizations to improve process level efficiency and effectiveness, as well as reduce costs.

Call centers are all about agents and taking calls. They are about scale, human resources, and productivity. They are about using the available resources in an optimal manner to get the maximum output. And for all that one needs to organize time and resources in the best possible manner. In organizations that run into thousands of agents and for managers leading teams comprising hundreds of agents, this can be a nightmare if it were to be done manually.

Workforce management (WFM) tools can play a significant role in helping managers to schedule and organize the workforce in an optimal manner.

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WHAT IS TIME MANAGEMENT??

Time management is the act or process of planning and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency or productivity. Time management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time when accomplishing specific tasks, projects and goals complying with a due date. This set encompasses a wide scope of activities, and these include planning, allocating, setting goals, delegation, analysis of time spent, monitoring, organizing, scheduling, and prioritizing. Initially, time management referred to just business or work activities, but eventually the term broadened to include personal activities as well. A time management system is a designed combination of processes, tools, techniques, and methods. Usually time management is a necessity in any project development as it determines the project completion time and scope.

Time management series

Developing time management skills is a journey

that may begin with this Guide, but needs practice and other guidance along the way.

One goal is to help yourself become aware of how you use your time

as one resource in organizing, prioritizing, and succeeding in your studies

in the context of competing activities of friends, work, family, etc.

First: try our exercise in time management:

How do you spend your time each day?

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Strategies on using time:

These applications of time management have proven to be effective as good study habits.

As we go through each strategy, jot down an idea of what each will look like for you:

Blocks of study time and breaks

As your school term begins and your course schedule is set, develop and plan for, blocks of study time in a typical week. Blocks ideally are around 50 minutes, but perhaps you become restless after only 30 minutes? Some difficult material may require more frequent breaks. Shorten your study blocks if necessary-but don't forget to return to the task at hand! What you do during your break should give you an opportunity to have a snack, relax, or otherwise refresh or re-energize yourself. For example, place blocks of time when you are most productive: are you a morning person or a night owl?

Jot down one best time block you can study. How long is it? What makes for a good break for you? Can you control the activity and return to your studies?

Dedicated study spaces

Determine a place free from distraction (no cell phone or text messaging!) where you can maximize your concentration and be free of the distractions that friends or hobbies can bring! You should also have a back-up space that you can escape to, like the library, departmental study center, even a coffee shop where you can be anonymous. A change of venue may also bring extra resources.

What is the best study space you can think of? What is another?

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Weekly reviews

Weekly reviews and updates are also an important strategy. Each week, like a Sunday night, review your assignments, your notes, your calendar. Be mindful that as deadlines and exams approach, your weekly routine must adapt to them!

What is the best time in a week you can review?

Prioritize your assignments

When studying, get in the habit of beginning with the most difficult subject or task. You'll be fresh, and have more energy to take them on when you are at your best. For more difficult courses of study, try to be flexible: for example, build in reaction time when you can get feedback on assignments before they are due.

What subject has always caused you problems?

Achieve "stage one"--get something done!

The Chinese adage of the longest journey starting with a single step has a couple of meanings: First, you launch the project! Second, by starting, you may realize that there are some things you have not planned for in your process. Details of an assignment are not always evident until you begin the assignment. Another adage is that "perfection is the enemy of good", especially when it prevents you from starting! Given that you build in review, roughly draft your idea and get going! You will have time to edit and develop later.

What is a first step you can identify for an assignment to get yourself started?

Postpone unnecessary activities until the work is done!

Postpone tasks or routines that can be put off until your school work is finished!

This can be the most difficult challenge of time management. As learners we

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always meet unexpected opportunities that look appealing, then result in poor performance on a test, on a paper, or in preparation for a task. Distracting activities will be more enjoyable later without the pressure of the test, assignment, etc. hanging over your head. Think in terms of pride of accomplishment. Instead of saying "no" learn to say "later".

What is one distraction that causes you to stop studying?

Identify resources to help you

Are there tutors? An expert friend? Have you tried a keyword search on the Internet to get better explanations? Are there specialists in the library that can point you to resources? What about professionals and professional organizations. Using outside resources can save you time and energy, and solve problems.

Write down three examples for that difficult subject above?

Be as specific as possible.

Use your free time wisely

Think of times when you can study "bits" as when walking, riding the bus, etc. Perhaps you've got music to listen to for your course in music appreciation, or drills in language learning? If you are walking or biking to school, when best to listen? Perhaps you are in a line waiting? Perfect for routine tasks like flash cards, or if you can concentrate, to read or review a chapter. The bottom line is to put your time to good use.

What is one example of applying free time to your studies?

Review notes and readings just before class

This may prompt a question or two about something you don't quite understand, to ask about in class, or after. It also demonstrates to your teacher that you are interested and have prepared.

How would you make time to review?

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Is there free time you can use?

Review lecture notes just after class

Then review lecture material immediately after class.

The first 24 hours are critical. Forgetting is greatest within 24 hours without review!

How would you do this?

Is there free time you can use?

Select one of the ten applications above.

and develop a new study habit!

Try something you have a good chance of following through and accomplishing.

Nothing succeeds like a first successful try!

Try the University of Minnesota's Assignment Calculator

Develop criteria for adjusting your schedule

to meet both your academic and non-academic needs

Effective aids:

Create a simple "To Do" list

This simple program will help you identify a few items, the reason for doing them, a timeline for getting them done, and then printing this simple list and posting it for reminders.

Daily/weekly planner

Write down appointments, classes, and meetings on a chronological log book or chart.

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If you are more visual, sketch out your schedule

First thing in the morning, check what's ahead for the day

always go to sleep knowing you're prepared for tomorrow

Long term planner

Use a monthly chart so that you can plan ahead.

Long term planners will also serve as a reminder to constructively plan time for yourself

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HOW TO MANAGE YOUR TIME

Why use time management skills?

It's important that you develop effective strategies for managing your time to balance the conflicting demands of time for study, leisure, earning money and jobhunting. Time management skills are valuable in jobhunting, but also in many other aspects of life: from revising for examinations to working in a vacation job.

Sometimes it may seem that there isn't enough time to do everything that you need to. This can lead to a build up of stress. When revising for examinations, or during your final year when you have to combine the pressures of intensive study with finding time to apply for jobs good management of your time can be particularly important. Once we have identified ways in which we can improve the management of our time, we can begin to adjust our routines and patterns of behaviour to reduce any time-related stress in our lives.

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What skills are required for effective time management?

Some of these skills including setting clear goals, breaking your goals down into discreet steps, and reviewing your progress towards your goals are covered in Action Planning.

Other skills involved include prioritising - focusing on urgent and important tasks rather than those that are not important or don't move you towards your goals; organising your work schedule; list making to remind you of what you need to do when; persevering when things are not working out and avoiding procrastination.

TIME MANAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

Here is an exercise which will help you to identify areas in which you might be able to improve your time management and action planning and give you strategies to help you to do this.Try to answer the 40 questions as honestly as you can.

Main themes of time managementThe major themes arising from the literature on time management include the following:

Creating an environment conducive to effectiveness

Setting of priorities

Carrying out activity around those priorities

The related process of reduction of time spent on non-priorities

Time management has been considered to be a subset of different concepts such as:

Project management. Time Management can be considered to be a project management subset and is more commonly known as project planning and project scheduling. Time Management has also been identified as one of the

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core functions identified in project management.[1]

Attention management: Attention Management relates to the management of cognitive resources, and in particular the time that humans allocate their mind (and organizations the minds of their employees) to conduct some activities.

Personal knowledge management: see below (Personal time management).

Professor Stephen Smith, of BYUI, is among recent sociologists that have shown that the way workers view time is connected to social issues such as the institution of family, gender roles, and the amount of labor by the individual.[2]

In recent years, several authors have discussed time management as applied to the issue of digital information overload, in particular, Tim Ferriss with "The 4 hour workweek",[3] and StefaniaLucchetti with "The Principle of Relevance"[4]

Stephen R. Covey has offered a categorization scheme for the time management approaches that he reviewed:

First generation: reminders based on clocks and watches, but with computer implementation possible; can be used to alert a person when a task is to be done.

Second generation: planning and preparation based on calendar and appointment books; includes setting goals.

Third generation: planning, prioritizing, controlling (using a personal organizer, other paper-based objects, or computer or PDA-based systems) activities on a daily basis. This approach implies spending some time in clarifying values and priorities.

Fourth generation: being efficient and proactive using any of the above tools; places goals and roles as the controlling element of the system and favors importance over urgency.

For Creating an effective environment

Some time management literature stresses tasks related to the creation of an environment conducive to real effectiveness. These strategies include principles such as -

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"Get Organized" - paperwork and task triage

"Protect Your Time" - insulate, isolate, delegate

"Achieve through Goal management Goal Focus" - motivational emphasis

"Recover from Bad Time Habits" - recovery from underlying psychological problems, e.g. procrastination

Writers on creating an environment for effectiveness refer to issues such as the benefit of a tidy office or home to unleashing creativity, and the need to protect "prime time". Literature also focuses on overcoming chronic psychological issues such as procrastination.

Excessive and chronic inability to manage time effectively may be a result of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Diagnostic criteria include a sense of underachievement, difficulty getting organized, trouble getting started, many projects going simultaneously and trouble with follow-through.[7] Some authors focus on the prefrontal cortex which is the most recently evolved part of the brain. It controls the functions of attention span, impulse control, organization, learning from experience and self-monitoring, among others. Some authors argue that changing the way the prefrontal cortex works is possible and offers a solution.[8]

Implementing goalsTime management literature in relation to implementation of goals

frequently centres on the creation and management of task lists.

There are also time management approaches that emphasise the need for more focused and simple implementation including the approach of "Going with the Flow" - natural rhythms, Eastern philosophy. More unconventional time usage techniques, such as those discussed in "Where Did Time Fly,"[11] include concepts that can be paraphrased as "Less is More," which de-emphasizes the importance of squeezing every minute of one's time, as

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suggested in traditional time management schemes.

A task list (also to-do list or things-to-do) is a list of tasks to be completed, such as chores or steps toward completing a project. It is an inventory tool which serves as an alternative or supplement to memory.

Task lists are used in self-management, grocery lists, business management, project management, and software development. It may involve more than one list.

When one of the items on a task list is accomplished, the task is checked or crossed off. The traditional method is to write these on a piece of paper with a pen or pencil, usually on a note pad or clip-board.

Writer Julie Morgenstern suggests "do's and don'ts" of time management that include:

Map out everything that is important, by making a task list

Create "an oasis of time" for one to control

Say "No"

Set priorities

Don't drop everything

Don't think a critical task will get done in one's spare time.[12]

Numerous digital equivalents are now available, including PIM (Personal information management) applications and most PDAs. There are also several web-based task list applications, many of which are free.

Time Management SystemsTime management systems often include a time clock or web based

application used to track an employee’s work hours. Time management systems give employers insights into their workforce, allowing them to see, plan and manage employees time. Doing so allows employers to control labor costs and increase productivity. A time management system automates processes, which eliminates paper work and tedious tasks.

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Elimination of non-prioritiesTime management also covers how to eliminate tasks that do not provide the

individual or organization value.

According to Sandberg,[22] task lists "aren't the key to productivity [that] they're cracked up to be". He reports an estimated "30% of listers spend more time managing their lists than [they do] completing what's on them".

Hendrickson asserts[23] that rigid adherence to task lists can create a "tyranny of the to-do list" that forces one to "waste time on unimportant activities".

Setting GoalsSet yourself specific and clearly defined goals, and make sure that these are

realistic and achievable. To do this, you first need to examine your present situation and assess what goals are important to you and what action you need to take to achieve your target. Have a contingency plan or alternative route to your goal in case you have to change your plans, for example, taking a relevant postgraduate course if you can't get a job. See Action Planning.

Career Planning Timeline

What to do and when to do it.Don’t leave it until your final year to start thinking about your future career!

There are many things that you can be doing throughout your time at university to improve your chances of successfully entering the career or postgraduate study of your choice, and some important deadlines.

The timings noted relate to opportunities in a variety of career areas which are normally open to graduates in any subject. This list does not include

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deadlines which are specific to students in a particular subject, such as deadlines for clinical psychology or vocational law courses: check the “What Can I Do With My Degree In … ?” pages for this information, or see the careers adviser for your subject. This is especially important if you will be spending a year away from the University as part of your course, studying abroad or on placement.

Any dates given are approximate and may vary: you should always check the current situation. The Careers and Employability Service makes every effort to ensure that the information on our site is accurate but it is your responsibility to verify the information given before taking any action.

For a simpler view of what you have to do, see our

Importance of Time ManagementTime management is important for your personal life and career success. It

teaches you how to manage your time effectively and make the most of it.

Here are a few of the reasons why it is so important, and how it can help you use and manage your time more advantageously:

1. Time is a special resource that you cannot store or save for later use. Everyone has the exact same amount of time each day. Time not well used cannot be retrieved.

2. Most people feel like they have too much to do and not enough time. They blame lack of time for their poor finances, unachieved goals, stress, bad relationships and not exercising their body. Wise time management can help you find the time for what you desire to do or need to do.

3. You need time to get what you want out of life. If you wait for extra time to appear, you might lose the game of life. Through right time management, you can “create” the time you need, and not just wait for it to come. By planning your time wisely, you will have more time to do more things.

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4. Time management will help you set up your priorities.

5. Time is limited to 24 hours a day, so plan your life wisely.

6. Time management helps you make conscious choices, so you can spend more of your time doing things that are important and valuable to you.

7. You can learn to find the time for the things that are important to you. Even a small amount of time once a day, or even once a week, will take you closer to your goals, and you will be surprised at the progress you make.

8. You become more productive using improved time management skills and tools, and can accomplish more with less effort and time. Time management can help you reduce wasted time and energy, help you become more creative and productive, and enable you to do the right thing at the right time. This will of course lead to more balance and fulfillment in your life.

9. Life today presents so many distractions, and therefore, it is very easy to lose time on unimportant activities. Ask yourself, is watching this or that TV program, reading this or that gossip or participating in a certain activity is going to add anything to your life. Is the time spent on a particular activity well spent, or is just a waste of time and energy?

10. Life puts in front of everyone so many choices each day, and the question is, do you follow what appears on your way, or do you consciously choose what you want to do? Do you allow external distractions deter you from your goal, or do you use willpower and self discipline to walk toward your goal in a straight line, without wasting time and energy?

11. Some inner detachment and inner peace are of great help in managing your time effectively. If you avoid expending too much emotional and mental energy on what people say and think about you, and if you stay calm in spite of distractions or difficulties, you can save a lot of time and energy, which you can spend on better and more rewarding activities.

There are many things you can do and tools to use to manage your time effectively. There is a lot of time wasted each day, which can be put to better uses. There are changes you can make, which will effectively increase the time you have at your disposal every day.

Thinking, planning, finding out how others manage their time, and reading

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books and articles on time management, will develop these skills and give you good ideas.

Among the many changes that you can make to manage your time, there is one that is important and easily available, and that is getting up early in the morning. Give up watching TV late at night and go to sleep a little earlier than usual. It will then be easier to wake up earlier. Even waking up 15 minutes earlier would be great. It is a time of quietude, before everyone else wakes up, which you can devote to doing things, for which you have no time during the day, such as reading, meditating, exercising or planning your day.

To get rid of the feeling that you have much to do and not enough time, feel and think as if you have all the time in the world. This will help you feel calm and enable you to focus on what you are doing, without stress and strain. This is not being indifferent and lazy. You should at the same time plan your time well, not waste it on useless matters, do everything you can at the best of your ability, never procrastinate, act with discipline and focus on what you are doing.

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How to Manage Goals and Objectives in Real Time

Align Company Goals With ObjectivesVolatile and changing times requires regularly monitored and altered goals

and objectives throughout the business year. By managing goals and objectives in real-time, management is given the opportunity to change goals and priorities immediately to stay aligned with company objectives.

Get A Visual MapHaving a visual map of your goals and objectives increases focus, motivation

and productivity. Real-time systems contain maps that supply a centralized picture of where a firm stands at any point in time in the goal-setting process. Maps play a key role in driving outcomes by giving users a chance to study how tasks are progressing, and what needs changing to point the firm on the productive path.

Align Employees With Company Goals To Increase Productivity

To achieve optimum productivity, employee goals and objectives must be aligned with company goals. In this vein, every employee must have specific goals that help the firm work towards its desired outcome. Real-time systems will highlight which employees are productively working towards company goals and which ones are not working up to potential. With this, management can then make changes to correct any employees that are off course.

Increase FocusManaging and tracking goals and objectives in real-time increases focus.

Since information is continuously changing during real-time feedback, it gives management a chance to immediately focus in on what is working and what is not.

One crucial way to increase focus is using lists as a visual representation of tasks. It’s important to keep track of tasks, as they are crucial for driving

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outcomes. According to Peter Drucker, task management and task study are central to any goals and objectives process. Real-time systems allow us to analyze the work, tasks and steps needed to achieve desired outcomes. After analyzing data, management can decide what course of action is required.

Real-time systems also provide us with an updated “to do” task list that helps decision makers concentrate on exactly what needs to be done to better manage the goal and objectives process.

Develop Time OptimizationAs any effective manager understands, time is money. By managing

objectives in real-time, time optimization skills will be enhanced. Less time is spent on useless activities and on distractions. With proper time optimization, employees can increase their overall focus, organization, productivity and motivation.

Change Nonproductive GoalsReal-time systems allow management the opportunity to set, change and re-

prioritize goals as soon as inefficient ones are noted. This in turn also allows management the opportunity to quickly change company goals to better reflect and align itself with the goals of management.

Real-time systems , like those offered by Objectiveli, offer so many benefits for managing goals and objectives, firms will flounder and fall behind the competition unless effective ones are implemented. Objectiveli concentrates on driving outcomes by using a simple and intuitive interface that shows users how to replace traditional tools, such as emails, post-its and spreadsheets with empowering applications that fulfill goals, aspirations and visions.

Boost Your Time Management Skills

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With These 9 Techniques

TIME MANAGEMENT skills are one of the essential skills for us.

The one who pro in managing his time effectively, he will be the highest achiever in all wallks of his life.

The heart of time management

"Concentrate on results, not on being busy"

An effective time management will hwlps you to choose what to work on & when. Besides, when you know how to manage your time, you gain control.

SCHEDULING, the process by which we look at the time available & plan how will use it to achieve the goals you have identified. .

By scheduling effectively, you can reduce stress & maximize your effectiveness.

It is one of the most vital time management skills you can use.

5 processes:i. Identify the time you have available.

ii. Block in the essential tasks you must carry out to succeed in your job.

iii. Schedule in high priority urgent tasks & vital "house-keeping" activities.

iv. Block in appropriate contingency time to handle unpredictable

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interruptionsies that address your priorities & personal goals.

v. In the time that remains, schedule the activites

Introduction to Business process outsourcing (BPO's)

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a subset of outsourcing that involves the contracting of the operations and responsibilities of specific business functions (or processes) to a third-party service provider. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain.[1]

BPO is typically categorized into back office outsourcing - which includes internal business functions such as human resources or finance and accounting, and front office outsourcing - which includes customer-related services such as contact centre services.

BPO that is contracted outside a company's country is called offshore outsourcing. BPO that is contracted to a company's neighboring (or nearby) country is called nearshore outsourcing.

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Often the business processes are information technology-based, and are referred to as ITES-BPO, where ITES stands for Information Technology Enabled Service.[2] Knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and legal process outsourcing (LPO) are some of the sub-segments of business process outsourcing industry.

The Evolution of BPO in IndiaWith the BPO industry of India entering into a phase of maturity, a

significant change in the nature of opportunities and challenges is being witnessed. Concerns and solutions are no longer the same as they used to be. This survey is aimed at highlighting the finer nuances of the evolution of the BPO service provider in India; the shift in complexity of processes and the strategic and operational risks involved. The objective of the report is to illustrate the emerging issues of the sector from structural changes in the industry to the human resource challenge, from migration strategies to governance and monitoring.

History of outsourcingThe modern languages deal with an increasing number of new concepts and

ideas. To cope with an ever-evolving vocabulary, languages use abstraction to help create the new concepts and ideas. Yet an unpleasant consequence of abstraction is that it tends to obscure the historical context of these ideas and concepts, erasing the potential for a better understanding of their true legacy and nature.

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Outsourcing is one such abstracted term that has, over time, amassed considerable positive momentum as well as negative baggage. Outsourcing has been around since the time of the hunters and gatherers. Those who were strong hunters hunted and those who were strong gatherers gathered. Simply put, the primitive society perhaps subconsciously recognised the importance of specialisation and outsourced certain functions to those who excelled at them or, in economic terms, performed them more efficiently.

Over a period of time, many started equating outsourcing with specialisation (or division of labour). Outsourcing is a utilitarian concept used in business and accounting. From the accounting point of view, it is defined as the transfer of an internal service function to an outside vendor.

Outsourcing was not formally identified as a business strategy until 1989. However, most organizations were not totally self-sufficient; they outsourced those functions for which they had no competency internally. Outsourcing support services is the next stage. In the 1990s, as organizations began to focus more on cost-saving measures, they started to outsource those functions necessary to run a company but not related specifically to the core business. Managers contracted with emerging service companies to deliver accounting, human resources, data processing, internal mail distribution, security, plant maintenance, and the like as a matter of "good housekeeping" (Alexander &Young, 1996). Outsourcing components to effect cost savings in key functions is yet another stage as managers seeks to improve their finances.

Why is it advantageous to buy services from the outside rather than conduct them from within the company?

What are the types of bpo?BPO are 5 types they are:

a. Administrative Department

b. Purchase Department

c. Selling Department

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d. Call Centre

e. Back Office

Benefits of Business Process Outsourcing

Substantial cost savings, in terms of both labour& capital

The concept of fully loaded cost is central to BPO. In many cases clients will only think of the cost of labour when attempting to establish the cost to the business of having Person X performing tasks A, B & C in-house. However, it is critical to factor in the costs associated with hardware, software, furniture, stationary, salary contributions, management, training and so forth in order to accurately understand the true cost of this person to the organization – i.e. the fully loaded cost. By partnering with a specialist BPO provider you eliminate the need to recruit & train new employees as well as cutting down on administration & HR management costs.

Acquiring 3rd party expertise by partnering with specialist service providers:

As we head into what has become known as the 3rd Generation of Outsourcing, the emphasis has long shifted from pure cost reduction to performance improvement. BPO providers are specialists at the services they provide and, as such, can deliver improved service quality to our clients’ customers.

Ability to focus on core competencies:

By allowing your BPO partner to handle some or all of your non-core activities, your own in-house team can refocus all time, energy and resources on activities directly linked to your top line. In the current climate this is particularly important as the need to have all team members focused on sales & revenue has never been greater.

Culture of continual improvement:

The idea of continual improvement is central to BPO. BPO providers ought to practice what they preach and by constantly seeking to refine & improve

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business processes for existing clients leading to continuous and increased gains for client partners.

Increased market flexibility & reduced time-to-market:

By partnering with a BPO provider, firms enable themselves to become leaner, more dynamic and more agile. BPO providers allow client firms to scale quickly in response to increased demand and/or new services/products or promotional campaigns. This is imperative in today’s economic climate.

Evolving Outsourcing provides high-performance business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions to companies of all sizes across a broad range of industry sectors from our state-of-the-art delivery centre in Europe’s number one Outsourcing location, Krakow, Poland.

Looking to cut costs, drive revenue, enhance customer service and eliminate non-core activities? If so, we would love to speak with you.

Benefits and limitationsAn advantage of BPO is the way in which it helps to increase a

company’s flexibility. However, several sources[which?] have different ways in which they perceive organizational flexibility. Therefore business process outsourcing enhances the flexibility of an organization in different ways.

Most services provided by BPO vendors are offered on a fee-for-service basis[citation needed]. This can help a company to become more flexible by transforming fixed into variable costs.[3] A variable cost structure helps a company responding to changes in required capacity and does not require a company to invest in assets, thereby making the company more flexible.[4] Outsourcing may provide a firm with increased flexibility in its resource management and may reduce response times to major environmental changes[citation needed].

Another way in which BPO contributes to a company’s flexibility is that a company is able to focus on its core competencies, without being burdened by the demands of bureaucratic restraints.[5] Key employees are herewith released from performing non-core or administrative processes and can invest more time and energy in building the firm’s core businesses.[6] The key lies in knowing which of the main value drivers to focus on – customer

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intimacy, product leadership, or operational excellence. Focusing more on one of these drivers may help a company create a competitive edge.[7]

A third way in which BPO increases organizational flexibility is by increasing the speed of business processes. Supply chain management with the effective use of supply chain partners and business process outsourcing increases the speed of several business processes, such as the throughput in the case of a manufacturing company.[8]

Finally, flexibility is seen as a stage in the organizational life cycle: A company can maintain growth goals while avoiding standard business bottlenecks.[9] BPO therefore allows firms to retain their entrepreneurial speed and agility, which they would otherwise sacrifice in order to become efficient as they expanded. It avoids a premature internal transition from its informal entrepreneurial phase to a more bureaucratic mode of operation.[10]

A company may be able to grow at a faster pace as it will be less constrained by large capital expenditures for people or equipment that may take years to amortize, may become outdated or turn out to be a poor match for the company over time.

Although the above-mentioned arguments favor the view that BPO increases the flexibility of organizations, management needs to be careful with the implementation of it as there are issues, which work against these advantages. Among problems, which arise in practice are: A failure to meet service levels, unclear contractual issues,(since when BPO started it has happened that employees don't had the chance on making regular to their job), changing requirements and unforeseen charges, and a dependence on the BPO which reduces flexibility. Consequently, these challenges need to be considered before a company decides to engage in business process outsourcing[11]

A further issue is that in many cases there is little that differentiates the BPO providers other than size. They often provide similar services, have similar geographic footprints, leverage similar technology stacks, and have similar Quality Improvement approaches.

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Threats to BPORisk is the major drawback with Business Process Outsourcing.

Outsourcing of an Information System, for example, can cause security risks both from a communication and from a privacy perspective. For example, security of North American or European company data is more difficult to maintain when accessed or controlled in the Sub-Continent. From a knowledge perspective, a changing attitude in employees, underestimation of running costs and the major risk of losing independence, outsourcing leads to a different relationship between an organization and its contractor.[13][14]

Risks and threats of outsourcing must therefore be managed, to achieve any benefits. In order to manage outsourcing in a structured way, maximizing positive outcome, minimizing risks and avoiding any threats, a Business continuity management (BCM) model is set up. BCM consists of a set of steps, to successfully identify, manage and control the business processes that are, or can be outsourced.[15]

Another framework, more focused on the identification process of potential outsourceable Information Systems, identified as AHP, is explained.[16]

L. Willcocks, M. Lacity and G. Fitzgerald identify several contracting problems companies face, ranging from unclear contract formatting, to a lack of understanding of technical IT- processes.[17] BPO is a sector which is processed business from outsources.

Industry sizeIndia has revenues of US$10.9 billion[18] from offshore BPO and

US$30 billion from IT and total BPO (expected in FY 2008). India thus has some 5-6% share of the total BPO Industry, but a commanding 63% share of the offshore component. This 63% is a drop from the 70% offshore share that India enjoyed last year: despite the industry growing 38% in India last year, other locations like Philippines, and South Africa have emerged to take a share of the

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market[citation needed]. The South African call center industry has grown by approximately 8% per year since 2003 and it directly employs about 54 000 people, contributing 0.92% to South Africa's gross domestic product(GDP).[19] China is also trying to grow from a very small base in this industry. However, while the BPO industry is expected to continue to grow in India, its market share of the offshore piece is expected to decline. Important centers in India are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Patna, Trivandrum, Bhubaneswar and New Delhi. In fact, the Philippines has overtaken India as the largest call center industry in the world in 2010.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) countries, along with the People's Republic of China and India—known collectively as ACI countries—are likely to see services like BPO figure strongly in their economies over the medium term. Services trade among ACI countries has been growing at a very rapid rate over recent years, despite starting from a relatively low baseline. Although data are scarce and must be interpreted with caution, an analysis of applied services sector policies in the region suggests there is much policymakers can do to intensify this process, and increase the pace at which the transformation to a service economy is taking place.

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Telecommunications OverviewChange is the natural corollary of growth with rapid innovations in

technology and increasingly changing consumer behavior. The telecom industry has witnessed exponential and radical changes in the last decade than in any other decade in history. Telecom companies have to constantly reinvent their product and service offerings aligned to consumer trends notwithstanding intrinsic challenges of operational costs, customer service, productivity enhancement and sustained profits.

With over a decade of rich-industry experience having partnered with some of the leading telecom companies globally including UK, US, India and Australia, Firstsource specializing in telecommunications outsourcing services that enables telecom companies to take advantage of services offered in various segments such as - wire-line, wireless, cable and broadband services – so as to improve overall customer experience. Firstsource’s clients have leveraged the company’s competence and domain knowledge to drive transformational initiatives enabling profitable business outcomes.Our Telecom BPO services:

Benefits to customer from BPO's

Customer Acquisition

Sales and Marketing

Manage prospect

Qualify and educate the customer

Sales negotiations

Add-on sales

Customer data

Provisioning

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Order Fulfillment

Account administration and management

Order management and Provisioning

Porting support

Account Servicing

Sales & Support

Customer Service and

Escalation management

Multi-level technical support

Billing & Revenue Assurance

Billing inquiries

Account updates and consolidation

Fraud Management

Receivables & Collections Management

Credit limit / expiration

Inbound internal handoff calls

High usage management

Early stage

Late stage

Retention

Saves and Retention

Dispute resolution

Increasing customer awareness for chosen plan

Increase tolling

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Contract renewal

Data capture / data mining

Loyalty / retention programs

Customer profiling and plan analysis

Customer profitability analysis cost to save

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Segments of BPO'sBroadband / Internet Service Provider

Broadband/ High-Speed Internet is a dynamic and fiercely competitive market. As the internet becomes ubiquitous and consumers increasingly use high-bandwidth applications such as online video and VoIP, internet service providers of all kinds - fixed/ wireline operators, cable MSOs and satellite TV operators, mobile/ wireless carriers, and specialist Wi-Fi and Wi-Max companies, are forced to offer faster speed, more reliable networks, 24/7 technical support with fast and efficient customer service.

The companies have to do these at competitive prices in a difficult economic and regulatory environment. Be it in the UK, which has seen increased competition from LLU (Local Loop Unbundling,) aggressive bundling strategies of Cable & Satellite TV operators and now mobile operators, alongside the roll-out of BT’s next generation network and the government’s Digital Britain initiative. Or the US, where cable MSOs have had to contend with aggressive fiber roll-out by wireline carriers, while everybody tries to capitalize on the opportunities that will arise from the FCC’s National Broadband Plan.

Whatever the broadband challenge, Firstsource is uniquely positioned to support the success of its customers by drawing on the broadband operational expertise from its Telecom centers of excellence in the UK, Philippines and India, which provide a range of outsourced contact center and back-office processing services across the subscriber life-cycle.

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Customer Management ServicesWith customers demanding greater personal attention, it is evident that companies need to invest more in channels to enhance customer-centric services across their operations. However, when agility is the name of the game, companies prefer to focus on their core competence – introducing new products and services in the market – leaving customer relationship management to specialists.

As a specialist, Firstsource has demonstrated success in delivering innovative and value added business process management services across the customer lifecycle. The company offers a comprehensive suite of customer relationship management services through a combination of deep domain knowledge, strategic alliances and internal competencies backed by the right technology.

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Customer Acquisition

A key factor for the growth of any business is the acquisition of new customers and the retention of existing clients. While customer acquisition is a key goal, it poses challenges, including potentially high marketing costs and efforts needed to close a sale. Companies, regardless of size and geography are looking to:

Expand their customer base

Minimize costs and customer acquisition lead times

Improve customer relationships by creating effective loyalty programs

Firstsource offers customized end to end customer acquisition solutions that address the Banking Financial Services and Insurance, Telecommunications and Healthcare industries.

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Data Processing ServicesImproving operational effectiveness in order to increase customer satisfaction levels is high on the agenda of all global corporations. Therefore, streamlining and managing business processes cost effectively is an important priority. To achieve this, organizations must:

Automate work-flows and make them more flexible

Re-engineer processes

Manage data sensitivity and security

Improve throughput times

Firstsource assists clients in meeting these goals by offering a range of data processing services including transaction processing outsourcing, back office outsourcing, document management, mailroom services and transaction processing services. Our team offers customized end to end back office outsourcing solutions to the Banking Financial Services and Insurance, Telecommunications and Healthcare industries. Banking Financial Services and Insurance, Telecommunications and Healthcare industries.

Our Expertise covers offshore data processing, outsourcing data entry work, data processing solutions services.

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Firstsource enables clients to meet their objectives by:

Digitizing data to facilitate archiving

Ensuring accurate and authentic data

Ensuring data compatibility across geographically dispersed locations

Automated quality control through a proprietary transaction processing engine - Discovery

Delivering timely research to meet client-driven deadlines and constraints

Consistency in back office processing services through daily audits using Q Trekker, a proprietary quality monitoring tool

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BPO securityInformation security has emerged as a significant concern for banks, mobile phone companies and other businesses that use call centers or business process outsourcing, or BPO. There have been instances of theft of personal data reported from call centers.

Britain's Financial Service Authority examined standards in India in April 2005 and the Banking Code Standards Board audited eight Indian call centres in 2006, handling more than a million calls per month from the UK. The BCSB report stated that "Customer data is subject to the same level of security as in the UK. High risk and more complex processes are subject to higher levels of scrutiny than similar activities onshore." [1]

India's NASSCOM has said that they take breach in security extremely seriously and will assist the police in their probe.

Common countermeasures

There are three identifiable types of illicit activities concerning fraud emanating from call centers:

1. Crooks who pretend to be legitimate call centres.

2. Hackers who gain access to call centre information through illegal means

3. Call centre agents who illegally misuse the information they have access to in call centres.

While items 1 and 2 are mostly subject to police action, call centres can use internal procedures to minimise risk. Such mitigation measures include but are not limited to:

1. Creating a paperless environment, preventing employees from writing down and removing information by ensuring that all work processes are done on the computer, without having to record anything on forms or notes.

2. Prohibiting the use of cellphones and cameras on the floor.

3. Prohibiting paper, pens and digital recording devices from being brought onto the floor.

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4. Preventing internet access for employees on the floor.

5. Limiting functionality and access of personal computers or terminals used by call center agents (for example, disabling USB ports). Companies may also use data loss prevention software to block attempts to download, copy, or transmit sensitive electronic data.

Business process outsourcing in IndiaThe business process outsourcing industry in India refers to the business process outsourcing services in the outsourcing industry in India, catering mainly to Western operations of multinational corporations (MNCs).

As of 2012, around 2.8 million people work in outsourcing sector[1]. Annual revenues are around $11 billion,[1] around 1% of GDP. Around 2.5 million people graduate in India every year. Wages are rising by 10-15 percent as a result of skill shortage.

History

AirlinesIn the early 1980s several European airlines started using Delhi as a base for back office operations, British Airways being one among them. The BA captive was finally spun off as a separate organization called WNS Global Services in 2002.

AmexIn the second half of the 1980s, American Express consolidated its JAPAC (Japan and Asia Pacific) back office operations into New Delhi and NCR region.[2] This center was headed by Raman Roy, and has been a source of several leading names in the Indian BPO Industry.

General ElectricIn the 1990s Jack Welch was influenced by K.P. Singh, (a Delhi based realtor) to look at Gurgaon in the NCR region as a base for back office operations. PramodBhasin, the India head of G.E. hired Raman Roy and several of his management from American Express to start this enterprise called GECIS (GE Capital International Services). Raman for the first time tried out voice operations out of India, the India operations also was the Beta site for GE Six sigma enterprise. The results made GE ramp up their Indian presence and look

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at other locations. In 2004 GECIS was spun off as a separate legal entity by GE, called Genpact. GE has retained a 40% stake and sold a 60% stake for $500 million to two equity companies, Oak Hill Capital Partners and General Atlantic Partners.

Third party BPOsUntil G.E most of the work was being done by "captives"- a term used for in house work being done for the parent organisation. In 2000 Raman Roy and some team members from GECIS quit, and with VC funding from Chrysalis Capital started Spectramind. At the same time an organisation called Efunds started in Mumbai and Gurgaon, and Daksh in Gurgaon. However, recently most of the Indian BPO's even smaller and mid-sized ones are actually setting-up their onshore presence. Most of the serious players are actually improving the outsourced business processes by leveraging on years of experience and now some of them are directly competing with their own older clientbase by marking this transition to KPO's.

Entry of IT majorsIn 2002 Spectramind was bought by software major Wipro, and BPO by then had become mainstream like the IT Industry in India. The team that had set up Spectramind went on to start Quatrro in 2006, a BPO specialising in high end BPO/KPO services. By 2002 all major Indian software organizations were into BPO, including Infosys (Progeon), Inforlinx, HCL, Satyam (Nipuna) and Patni. By 2003 Daksh was bought out by IBM, and later in 2006 MphasiS was acquired by EDS. Even international 3rd party BPO players like Convergys and Sitel had set up shop in India, swelling the BPO movement to India. Then service arms of organizations like Accenture, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Dell also set up shop in India.

Emergence of Rural BPOsBooming India Inc has led to skyrocketing real estate and infrastructure costs in Tier-1 cities. BPO industry has thrived all these years because of its ability to deliver services at a low cost. Increasing infrastructure costs, real estate costs, and salaries have raised BPO costs significantly and as a result Indian BPOs in Tier-1 cities are looking at Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities for operation.

Few entrepreneurs who had a vision of bringing the rural India into the mainstream of knowledge economy have found an opportunity here - setting Rural BPOs. The transformation of rural India started with the emergence of these Rural BPOs.

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Future of outsourcing services to IndiaAnalysts believe that India remains a vital destination for outsourcing and expect its annual GDP to grow at 8-10% for the next decade.[3] In addition, outsourcing efforts to India are held up as an effective remedy for concerns about both Chinese government policy and labor force issues, such as increasing costs and shortages.[4]

Size of industryThe industry has been growing rapidly. It grew at a rate of 38% over 2005. For the FY06 financial year the projections is of US$7.2 billion worth of services provided by this industry. The base in terms of headcount being roughly 400,000 people directly employed in this Industry. The global BPO Industry is estimated to be worth 120-150 billion dollars, of this the offshore BPO is estimated to be some US$11.4 billion. India thus has some 5-6% share of the total Industry, but a commanding 63% share of the offshore component. The U.S $7.2 billion also represents some 20% of the IT and BPO Industry which is in total expected to have revenues worth US$36 billion for 2006. The headcount at 400,000 is some 40% of the approximate one million workers estimated to be directly employed in the IT and BPO Sector.

The related Industry dependent on this are Catering, BPO training and recruitment, transport vendors, (home pick up and drops for night shifts being the norm in the industry). Security agencies, Facilities management companies.

From a Price waterhouseCoopers survey

Table 1: Global BPO Market by Industry

Industry Percentage (%)

Information Technology 43

Financial Services 17

Communication (Telecom) 16

Consumer Goods/ Services 15

Manufacturing 9

Table 2: Global BPO Market by Geography[5]

Country Percentage (%)

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United States 59

Europe 27

Asia-Pacific 9

Rest of the World 5

Table 3: Size of Global Outsourcing Market[5]

Year Size (USD Bn)

2000 119

2005 234

2008 (est.) 310

Table 4: Size and Growth of BPO in India[5]

Year Size (US$ Bn) Growth Rate (%)

2003 2.8 59

2004 3.9 45.3

2005 5.7 44.4

Currently the Indian BPO Industry employs over 245,100 people and another 94,500 jobs are expected to be added during the current financial year (2005–2006)

Table 5: Call Center Employee cost[5]

Country Cost (USD/yr)

United States 19,000

Australia 17,000

India <7,500

Nearly 75% of US and European multinational companies now use outsourcing or shared services to support their financial functions. 72% of European multinational companies have outsourced financial functions over the past two years.

Additionally, 71% of European companies and 78% US companies plan to use these services in the next 12–24 months. Overall, 29% of US and European

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companies expect to increase their use of outsourcing of financial functions, with spending expected to be nearly 16% higher than current levels.

Growth in this sector will get a further impetus as Indian BPO companies have robust security practices and emphasis is laid in developing trust with clients on this score. While earlier there were varying quality standards on this aspect, today there is focus on standardization of security, such as data and IP security.

Mandatory registration of 'BPO' under the other service provider(OSP) catergory in IndiaBPO/KPO/Domestic & International Call Centres/NOC etc. are covered under the ‘Other Service Provider’ (OSP) Category by the Department of Telecommunications.

The companies who are providing the 'Applications Services’ means providing services like tele-banking, tele-medicine,tele-education, tele-trading, e-commerce, call centre, network operation centre and other IT Enabled Services, by using Telecom Resources provided by Authorised Telecom Service Providers. The ‘Telecom Resource’ means Telecom facilities used by the OSP including, but not limited to Public Switched Telecom Network (PSTN), Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and /or the telecom bandwidth provided by authorized telecom service provider having valid licence under Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. The ‘Company’ means a company registered under Indian Companies Act including foreign companies permitted by RBI under Foreign Exchange Management Regulations and registered under Part-XI(Section 591 to 608) of the Companies Act, 1956 for setting up a place of business in India. 'Domestic OSP’ are the OSP providing the Application Services within national boundaries. ‘International OSP’ are the OSP providing the Application Services beyond national boundaries.

Leading BPO-ITes cities in India because of time managementBangalore, Chennai,Hyderabad,Kolkata, Surat,S NCR, Mumbai and Pune are Tier I cities that are leading IT cities in India.

With rising infrastructure costs in these cities, many BPO's are shifting operations to Tier II cities like Nashik, Sangli, Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Kochi, Trivandrum, Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Ahmedabad,

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Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur, Vishakapatnam, Raipur and Lucknow

Tier II cities offer lower business process overhead compared to Tier I cities, but have a less reliable infrastructure system which may hamper dedicated operations. The Government of India in partnership with private infrastructure corporations is working on bringing all around development and providing robust infrastructure all over the nation.

CriticismsThe BPO industry in India faces two key criticisms.

The first criticism concerns the damaging psychological effects on Indian call-center employees who are expected to ape the Western employees they have replaced in terms of accents, slang and even names.

The second criticism focuses on the wider ramifications of the industry's political influence. It has been claimed that this influence, which far exceeds the industry's economic contribution, has allowed the industry to secure the support and resources of the Indian state ahead of other sectors of the national economy where the developmental returns would be far greater.

AzimHashimPremjiAzimHashimPremji (born 24 July 1945) is an Indian business tycoon and philanthropist who is the chairman of Wipro Limited, guiding the company through four decades of diversification and growth to emerge as one of the Indian leaders in the software industry. According to Forbes, he is currently the third wealthiest Indian, and the 41st richest in the world, with a personal wealth of $12.2 billion in 2012.[3][6] In 2000, he was voted among the 20 most powerful men in the world by Asiaweek. He has twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by TIME Magazine, once in 2004 and more

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recently in 2011.[7] Premji owns 79 percent of Wipro and also owns a private equity fund, PremjiInvest, which manages his $1 billion personal portfolio.

Wipro Equity Reward TrustIn 1984, AzimPremji established the Wipro Equity Reward Trust[13] to allow employees to acquire stake in Wipro's success and growth. The WERT, which is administered by a Board of Trustees is designed to give eligible employees the right to receive restricted shares and other compensation benefits at the stipulated times and conditions. Such compensation benefits include voluntary contributions, loans, interest and dividends on investments in the WERT and other similar benefits. Shares from the WERT are issued in the joint names of the WERT and the employee until such restrictions and obligations are fulfilled by the employee. After a four-year period, complete ownership of the shares is transferred to the employee.

If employment is terminated by death, disability or retirement, his or her restricted shares are transferred to the employee’s legal heirs or continue to be held by the employee, as the case may be, and such individuals may exercise any rights to those shares for up to 90 days after employment has ceased.

List of call centre companiesAccenture

Access Worldwide Communications Inc.

Aditya Birla Minacs

Aegis Peoplesupport

Affiliated Computer Services

AKR Global Group

APAC Customer Services

Convergys Corporation

Headstrong (company)

InfoCision Management Corporation

Inktel Direct

IQor

NCO Group

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Sitel

StarTek

Stream Global Services

Sykes Enterprises

Teleperformance

TeleTech

Telus

TranscomWorldWide

VADS (IT company)

METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION

PRIMARY DATA :-

Visit to Wipro call center in Powai , MUMBAI

2nd, 3rd & 4th floor High Street,Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai - 400 076Phone - : +91-22-30924747

Talks with employees1:- Varsha Thakur (Technical Support Associates)2:- Chirag Shukla (Customer Care Associate )3:- Shubham Mehta (Back Office Associate)

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TIME MANAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE

1. I keep my work space tidy so that I can work efficiently. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 2. I take a positive attitude towards frustration and failure. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 3. I use a highlighter pen or underlining to emphasise key facts in my

lecture notes. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 4. I do tasks in order of their importance. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 5. I try to complete one task before going on to the next. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 6. I write things down rather than trying to remember everything in my

head. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 7. I set myself specific and clearly defined goals. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 8. I keep to schedule so that I achieve my objectives on time. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes

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9. I plan out a revision timetable for examinations. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 10. I use my diary to write down appointments, deadlines and things to

do. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 11. I realise that efficiency and effectiveness are not the same. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 12. I say "no" to others when I am short of time. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 13. I don't put off making decisions. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 14. I have a daily "to do" list that I update regularly. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 15. I persevere when things are not working out A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 16. I review my progress towards goals and revise my plans as

appropriate. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 17. When revising, I take a few minutes break every hour to refresh my

mind.

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A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 18. I agree with the principle that the best time to do something is

usually now. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 19. I organise my work to meet deadlines in good time. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 20. I prioritise tasks so that I do the most important and urgent first. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 21. I write down specific objectives in order to work towards my

ultimate goal. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 22. I share tasks or problems with others if possible. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 23. I know the times of day when I am most productive and schedule my

most demanding work for these times. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 24. I have a reminder system to remind me of when to do things. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 25. I set myself realistic and achievable goals. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes

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26. I don't allow constant interruptions to my work. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 27. I am able to analyse my present position and assess what action I

need to take to achieve my goals. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 28. I use lists to remind me of what I need to do and when. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 30. I have developed effective strategies to help deal with pressure - such

as taking exercise, or going to the cinema. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes 31. I map out several routes towards my goals in case my first course of

action fails. A Always B Rarely C Frequently D Sometimes 32. I break difficult tasks down into their components, so that I can

accomplish them one step at a time. A Frequently B Always C Rarely D Sometimes

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