Nasscom Lists Best Practices for ITeS-BPO industry

Source: economictimes.com

Nasscom, the industry body for the Indian software and services sector, Tuesday announced a framework for the IT enabled services and business process outsourcing services firms to adopt ethical practices and corporate governance.

The framework has a set of principles to be adhered to by member firms voluntarily. It includes employee-friendly policies, safety and security standards, a code of ethics in hiring, corporate social responsibility and industry initiatives.

"The objective is to maintain our leadership position in the global ITeS-BPO industry and consolidate "Brand India" worldwide by focusing on the specific needs of the burgeoning sector," Nasscom President Kiran Karnik said.

Recognizing the need for manpower development as the key to growth, Nasscom will draw HR management guidelines to attract and retain talent and address the attrition issue.

The organisation has introduced an industry standard assessment and certification program to ensure the transformation of a trainable workforce into an employable workforce. The Nasscom Assessment of Competence (NAC) will ensure a robust and continuous supply of talent for the industry.

The NAC standard will be applied in tier-two and tier-three cities and towns, to develop them as BPO hubs and nurture job ready professionals. This is on the lines of a pilot project implemented in Rajasthan recently, where 2500 people took the test and appeared at the job fair, organized by the State Government and The Union Department of Technology and Communication.

"By the year-end, NAC will be rolled out in other states, including Gujrat this month, Chandigarh and Andhra Pradesh in September and the north east from Oct. to Jan., Karnik said.

Going forward, Nasscom plans to align NAC in the curriculum of universities and colleges to meet the needs of the sector. The initiative will ITeS-BPO players reduce hiring costs, improve efficiencies, enlarge the candidate pool and stem the esclation in entry level wages.

Nasscom has also launched a similar testing and accredition offering, NAC-Tech, for the for the IT services sector from this academic year. NAC-Tech will be an industry standard to assess students aspiring for jobs in technology/engineering industries.

The industry body has also set up a National Skills Registry(NSR), a centralised database of employees of the IT services and BPO firms, to verify their credentials and background checks.

The initiative has received an excellent response.