Outsourcing: PV Kannan, CEO Of 24/7 (Part 7)

Sramana Mitra: Now, switching to the topic of entrepreneurship, you know this industry quite well. You have not just been 11 years with 24/7. You have also been in contact center technology for a much longer time.

PV Kannan: Yes.

SM: Would you point out some entrepreneurial opportunities for our audience? Around the world, entrepreneurship is booming right now. Assuming that you are speaking audiences in Malaysia, Spain, India, the U.S., Latin America, and so on, point them toward some opportunities. If you were a starting entrepreneur today, what kind of things would you look at?

PVK: I will give you a specific one in developing countries, which are India and China. The economics there are fairly different. Take a company like Airtel as an example, at last count Airtel had 300 million or 400 million and subscribers, and one of the Chinese teleco companies, I believe has 500 million. Unlike in the U.S., where the average monthly revenue for subscribers is $50 or $60, these guys survive on $4 to $5 a month. But interestingly, they get the same number of contacts  as any of the subscribers here. In fact, they get more. So, human beings are not going to solve the problem in which case if I have a check from you for $100 a month every month, I am happy to answer a couple of calls a month to help you out so that you are retained as a customer. If I am getting $2 a month, I can answer a couple of phone calls each week. I think the interesting opportunity there is about solving the language issue and then creating natural language support. Using the side medium – and I don’t think anyone has cracked that – could be an interesting opportunity in countries like India, China, Indonesia, and Thailand and all of those places, because cell phone penetration is soon going to be one device for each human being in this planet.

SM: So, business in the developing countries is extremely unprofitable.

PVK: That is right. That is why it is an interesting problem to solve.  They don’t have the kind of budget here that they can spend on customer service.

SM: Very good. What are some other ideas that you have?

PVK: No, that seems like enough. The rest of the ideas I will keep to myself so I can solve them!

SM: OK, very good.  Anything else you want to explore?

PVK: No, it was nice chatting with you and nice to understand what you are doing in this space. It is very interesting.

SM: Great, thank you.

This segment is part 7 in the series : Outsourcing: PV Kannan, CEO Of 24/7
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