CEO talks

A Q & A session with Jacob William, CEO of Flatworld Solutions, India, reveals the company's core strength and strategic growth plans worldwide.

Flatworld Solutions Corporate Video

• We are a 'value accelerator'
• Wide spectrum of services
• Technology-driven services
• We have over 22 years of experience in KPO and BPO
• 24x7x365 customer support
• High-end technology and infrastructure

How different is Flatworld Solutions in the global outsourcing space?

Flatworld has defined its operating principle in the outsourcing space. It chooses to be a 'value accelerator' through innovative business practices, committed delivery systems, and true-value enterprise solutions worldwide. All of our customers and stakeholders accelerate their value on contact with us! We have seen it happen over the years. It's truly possible!

What are your service offerings across industries?

At Flatworld, we provide a wide spectrum of services, across different verticals globally. Our services include Call Center Services, Data Entry Services, Finance and Accounting Services, Engineering Services, Knowledge Processing Services, Web Analytics, Creative Design, IT Services, Healthcare BPO, Logistics Services and Mortgage Services.

What is your experience in offering BPO/KPO solutions for global customers?

Flatworld Solutions has over 22 years of experience in offering BPO and KPO services to global customers. Our expertise lies in first identifying customer needs, then breaking them down into definite 'outsource-able' components, establishing proof of concept, transition, operational excellence and finally customer service. Welcome to a very simple and robust method of successful delivery offering. That's life @ Flatworld.

Can you give us some instances of how you built up a value chain for a specific service / process?

We have had instances across domains. Specifically let me tell you about a case in Data Entry services, where as a result of the FWS initiative the following changes occurred:

• The company was able to grow the business to new locations in the US
• They saw better productivity as error rates reduced to 1%
• There was better utilization of management time. They actually ended up managing the company rather than doing the hard 'back office' work
• Same-day completion of process (turnaround time for Bill of Lading was 15 minutes or less)
• Sudden scalability to 10,000 documents processed in a day - unimaginable in their setup, perfectly possible in ours!
• What we offer our customers goes beyond the value chain that's within the domain. While that's a given, it is increasingly common at Flatworld to see customers asking us for value add-ons for our other service offerings. 'Global Outsourcing MALL' today is making more sense in the value chain!!

Tell us about your evolving global delivery models

Over time, as technology evolved, education and knowledge levels started rising. Newer demographics were being added to the world economy. India was a rising star, soon Philippines, Bolivia were added. Each country came with strengths of its own. Each had a delivery solution capable of handling the worldwide phenomenon of Outsourcing.

Our delivery models primary consist of delivery centers across demographic centers that have specialist domain knowledge with focus on Business Continuity services. These centers benefit from technology, processes and training to ensure operational readiness and seamless transition within 48 hours to disaster recovery site. We ensure state-of-the-art infrastructure with 99.99% reliability. We strive for a partnership approach and optimize disaster recovery services enabled growth in the customer's offshore facility, saving management costs.

What are the advantages of your Offshore / Onshore / Nearshore locations (USA, Europe and Asia Pacific)? How do you leverage each location, from a customer perspective?

Since we realize that true value lies in utilizing competencies specific to local markets, worldwide, we have global delivery centers across, India, Philippines, Bolivia and Eastern Europe. Our unique global delivery model takes advantages of language, time zone, talent, expertise, cost and productivity efficiencies. While Bolivia offers Spanish-speaking call center services. Philippines on the other hand, has become highly proficient in providing animation, call center and finance & accounting services.

Our global delivery centers enable us to provide our customers with high-quality services, across varied business verticals. Most of our customers greatly benefit from our offshore, onshore and near shore delivery centers, as our specialized services 'accelerates' their business value. Many customers also benefit from amortization of costs that build up in a normal outsourcing venture. The cost of infrastructure, human resource mobilization, licensing, procurement, training, etc. all get covered by a business process that's already running and ready to deliver. A sustained saving of 'Indirect Costs' that's accrued to the customer in the first business cycle.

How does your team contribute to the growth @ Flatworld?

They say, "It takes a few good men and women to ease your journey to every mountain top." Flatworld and I have been lucky in having those select individuals proficient in this area of business and a rare combination of aggression and commitment to achieve what the world has to offer!

I am honored to have a management team that comprises of 3 highly experienced leaders in the form of - David Antony, COO & President, Business Solutions, who heads all Sales operations in Flatworld and is based out of the US. Then I have Seby Kallarakkal, Strategic Advisor, who is a technology whiz and heads all Software, Products and IT related domains at Flatworld. I also have Anand Mathews, CMO & Managing Director, Global Shared Services, who heads Marketing and Business strategy for the Flatworld 'roadmap' for the future.

We also have an able team of a dozen Key Account managers, specialists who have access to the best in sales and marketing tools and have been primarily responsible for making Flatworld what it is today!

Who are some of your major customers in US, Europe and Asia Pacific?

Fame Fotogren, Stanford University, Crane Aerospace, CSC, to name a few.

Where do you feel your competitive strength is concentrated?

Our competitive strength is the width that we offer prospective customers - 10 services which cater to different business verticals, consolidated services under one roof, a global delivery network, with delivery centers in India, Philippines and Bolivia and our on-site presence. All these factors have given us a competitive advantage over our competitors and have enabled us to become a 'one of a kind' offering in the outsourcing industry.

How do you plan to position yourself in Asia Pacific over the next 5 years in BPO / KPO Solutions space?

As a leading provider of KPO and BPO solutions, we are currently opening delivery centers in advantageous locations all across Asia Pacific. By doing this, we will continue to remain competitive in the Asia Pacific market.

We have South America (Chile, Argentina) and Eastern Europe (Poland and Ukraine) on our sights as well, to add to our worldwide delivery capabilities.

At the end of it all, every business transaction is based on quality and affordability. We intend to be at the forefront of this by coupling geographic advantages with technological advancements. A dynamic combo in the coming decade!

How important are SLAs in your firm's relationship with your customers and how much are you engaged in a customer's outsourcing plan?

Before the outsourcing process begins, we sign a SLA (service level agreement) with the customer. The SLA defines the process of the outsourced service. It provides details on how the work will be performed and states the deadline when the work will be completed. At Flatworld, we give primary importance to the SLA, as the SLA can take away the customers' apprehensions about the outsourcing process. We work along with the customer in identifying the various outsource-able components. The SLA is then developed, based on customer objectives. Flatworld does not stop at this stage, but continues to track deviations and make corrections. These steps help in rendering a transparent process.

What are the advantages of being located in India?

India is slowly growing into an outsourcing hub, and having multiple delivery centers in India has proved to be very advantageous. We have presence in Bangalore, Coimbatore, Trichur, Mysore, and Hyderabad. The McKinsey-Nasscom report has shown that India will continue to stay on top, maintaining its 46% share of the global BPO market and its 65% share in the IT off-shoring and outsourcing market through 2010. India offers specialized knowledge and capabilities in a broad spectrum of verticals. When you outsource to India, you can have access to specialized services offered at a competitive price. Most of our customers make big savings on manpower, software and technology and infrastructure. A unique advantage of India is the time difference, which has enabled quicker turnaround times.

When India is leveraging its strength and location to become a global outsourcing hub, how does Flatworld Solutions plan to evolve itself in the new and globally competitive environment?

Currently, Flatworld Solutions has 5000+ people in multiple delivery centers spread across India, South East Asia and South America and Philippines. With 4 years of experience in the outsourcing industry, we see ourselves emerging as a global leader in the outsourcing industry. Through our global delivery network, we are currently providing 10 different services, five services being provided from India and the remaining services provided from our global locations. We are planning on setting up other global outsourcing destinations shortly. Flatworld Solutions is an organization which never stops growing as we are constantly evolving and changing as an organization to better meet the customer's business needs. Flatworld has remained competitive in the outsourcing market, because our width of services and depth of understanding provide our customers with improved quality, better economy, faster deliverables, improved scalability, long term sustainability, pure convenience and enhanced productivity.

Tell us about any product lines that add value to your company?

We have 2 websites. One is www.outsource2india.com, an industry leader in outsourcing information that offers a platform for potential customers worldwide to get their queries and orders placed on all outsourcing activities. We also have a web analytics portal called www.nabler.com for providing value added solutions in the cutting-edge world of Web Analytics. Both these product lines have helped our growth immensely and are constantly upgraded to be in tune with the worldwide outsourcing trends!

What sets Flatworld apart as an organization?

This is what we hold on to every day of our working lives...

• Excellence: Every service must set a benchmark

• Leadership: Understand the value of leading by example

• Innovation: Always exploring, never complacent

• Teamwork: Rubbing shoulders to achieve a single goal

• Philanthropy: There's life beyond business

This is what's up on our walls and in our hearts, the proverbial way forward for the company. I believe this sets Flatworld apart and a makes it a chosen place to work at, to do business with and to be part of.

Read more about Flatworld's Transition Process.

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