Azure In News

Azure takes 49% stake in US co Citizens Financial Mortgage

Azure has been recognized to be among The 50 Best Places to work In India by the Great Place to Work Institute

Azure eyes $10 mn revenues in Mar '08

Azure picks up 49% in US co

Azure plans B’lore, Hyderabad centers

Azure Styx Infosoft is close to acquiring 49% stake in Philadelphia’s Citizen Financial Mortgage (CFM)

Homeopaths, tourist guides hit the BPO bang

Homeopaths, tourist guides hit the BPO bang

(Source : The Economic Times)

AHMEDABAD: Barely 12 months ago, Rohit used to escort German tourists around India, almost year-round. Up until a couple of months ago, Muku , a JNU grad, used to take Russians for sightseeing in Delhi. Now, those very skills have brought these two to a new site altogether — a call center.

Both Rohit and Mukul are now employed with a BPO in Ahmedabad, putting their excellent language skills to good use, earning better, and being called an `executive’ to boot. They say many of their classmates and friends, who trained in languages with them, are also getting offers from call centers in Gurgaon, Bangalore and Hyderabad, as the boom in the BPO sector throws up huge opportunities.

Indeed, many young people find their skills have unexpected uses. And it cuts across the board. Until January this year, Bhavin, a homeopath, concentrated full-time on his medical practice in Ahmedabad. Now, that part of his life takes up a mere two hours a day. That done, he scoots off to a call center to earn bigger bucks, doing market research that requires proficiency in German.

“I get the best of both the worlds,” he says.

India’s almost endless skill pool has many takers. Azure Technologies, an Ahmedabad-based outsourcing company, for instance, has hired half a dozen tourist guides, doctors and even dentists, for market research work. Says Jay Ruparel, the 30-something ED and COO of Azure, “We realised that getting quality people was extremely difficult. So, we got innovative.”

Azure is among a few companies which offer voice-based services in market research in nine languages — French, German, Croatian, Russian, Dutch, Slovak, Spanish, Italian and English. It has also tied up with language training institutes in India and hopes to offer services in Chinese, Japanese and Korean too.

Sarang says, who had to abandon his studies in dentistry in Russia, he has learned more about Russian culture working with a BPO sitting in Ahmedabad than during his stay there.

“Being a tourist guide helped me earn good money. But the prospects here are better. In addition, I enjoy a better status in society,” says Rohit, who heads the German team at Azure. “This is certainly more challenging, compared to a monotonous job as a tourist guide,” adds Rohit.

When an offer from a BPO arrived earlier this year, Manoj, who had left his Rajasthan government job for a medical course in Kazakhstan, decided to accept it. “I stayed in Russia for a decade and was not very well-versed with the IT boom across the globe. But when I realised the potential, I decided to go for it. And, I am enjoying this job,” he says.