For 30 year old Vadivakarasi, the Rural Shores BPO was her first job. She was hesitant, unsure of stepping into un-chartered waters, but very eager to learn more. Now, a year later, this former housewife has picked up enough confidence to start an undergraduate BBA correspondence course through the local university.
For Vaidivakarasi’s 40 year old colleague Brinda, Rural Shores was her first job in 20 years. Before stepping into the BPO’s office, she had never seen a computer. Now she is proficient enough to be a role model for her school-going son.
Brinda and Vadivakarasi are not your average BPO employees. But then neither is the company they work for – Rural Shores – your average BPO. This unusual BPO was conceptualised when Murali Vullaganti , who was then heading the Xansa BPO, realized that the existing BPO model was failing to retain people who had migrated from rural and small urban centres to the metros to look for work. “Most of their earnings would be sucked up by the cost of living in cities and there was little saving. So, the minute someone even offered them a little bit more salary, they would up and leave.”
The idea born of this realization was a BPO model that would deliver out of small towns in rural belts. Today, at Rural Shores’ seven operational centres, the capacity is 100 seats worked in two shifts a day. Employees come in from 10-12 villages around the centre. Many employees have completed their schooling (Grade 12) while a third are also graduates. The core idea was to offer sustained employment opportunities to avoid rural-urban migration.
How does the model work?
New employees are taken through a 3- 4 month training cycle that includes client-based process training as well as soft skill training. Rural Shores typically does rules-based transaction processing (new account opening for banks, insurance policy enrollments) as well as local language voice support (for example, they offer Kannada language customer support for Airtel) and customer correspondence. Clients include banks, insurance companies and even other large BPOs who farm out work to Rural Shores.
Strategic advantages of the model
Vullaganti points out that the model scores on all fronts:
- Costs –lower salaries, inexpensive office space rentals and elimination of free transport/food enables the BPO’s clients save 40-45% in costs
- Quality – due to the high commitment and dedication on the part of employees, Rural Shores’ clients get high quality throughput
- Very low attrition (1-2% per quarter) – There is less competition for resources. In fact, most quit due to reasons such as marriage and re-location.
But, does the model deliver a high quality of work? Vullaganti points out, “Quality is no issue, though project gestation may be longer – four months compared to three months at a city BPO.” But he is quick to add, “Post that period, quality is in fact, much better.” Rural Shores has also been careful about its mix of work. Nearly 70% of the work related to rules-based processing, while only 30% requires high-end analytical skills.
He also points out that the initial extra handholding required is totally worth it. “The commitment and dedication of our people is so high – it reflects in the quality of their work.”
This is echoed in what P Ravikant , who manages the Rural Shores centre at Rathinagiri in Tamil Nadu, says, “People working here are much better than those in cities. They are very committed and talented and can really elevate their work to the next level. The amount of supervision required is less, and people are proactive rather than reactive.” Ravikant should know – he joined Rural Shores after 10 years of working in the US and other countries with other BPO companies. His reason for the career switch – “After years of working purely for materialistic reasons, I wanted to contribute to society.”
Rural Shores has others like Ravikant who help to manage its centres across the country. They are usually deputed to delivery centres for a few years. The company has no trouble attracting people for these positions – it pays market salaries, plenty of which can be saved at quiet rural outposts!
Looking ahead: Scaling for success
Vullaganti says they have been able to scale to seven centres , while another two will be operational shortly. The vision is to set up 25 centres by March 2012 and eventually scale up to 500 centres nation-wide. With a headcount of an average of 200 people per centre, the company eventually hopes to offer employment to 100,000 people in rural areas. That’s 100,000 less people who won’t need to leave family and community behind in search of a job in the big city – certainly Rural Shores’ significant contribution to our otherwise urban skewed economy!
From Back: Ravikanth.P
Front From Left to Right : Elizabeth.Y, Bina.P, Revathy.D,Thilagavathy.N & Vadivukarasi.K
For Elizabeth, Revati and Tilagavathi, three young women who work at the Rathinagiri centre, Rural Shores was their first job. As Revati, who has recently finished her under graduate degree points out, had Rural Shores not been there, she would not have been able to find a suitable job so close to home. All also agree that the company has done tremendous things for their self confidence. As Tilagavathi points out, “We are very happy, we have learnt a lot and our families are very pleased.”
I wish all the very best to all at Rural Shores!
That’s a great initiative, Well done and All the Best!!
in their thirthahalli ruralshores center they didn’t paid salary till 4 months after exposing this matter from Vijaya karnataka paper ( a kannada news daily of times group)they started paying 2865 Rs till today from last year ,you can check their SBI Bank statements thats proves the true face of ruralshores