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Meet Manoj Madhu–sudanan. Manoj is a mechanical engineer from IIT-Madras. After a brief stint of one year at Infosys, he joined XLRI, Jamshedpur in 1998. In 2001, he joined Accenture and worked in strategy and process consulting for four years. Now, that's quite a career graph. Manoj is currently a Team Manager at Evalueserve. Come again. Did I read that correct? Evalueserve, what?

The outsourcing story has unfolded over several episodes, each of which has been riveting. After mundane and routine jobs, outsourcing has now moved to high-end jobs, as knowledge process outsourcing becomes its latest face. Evalueserve, a knowledge process outsourcing company or a KPO, that's how the company likes to be identified, is the largest in India to identify and capture the opportunity in the high-end outsourcing space. The ambit of knowledge services typically spans areas like Business Research, Market Research, Investment Research, Data Analytics and intellectual Property.

Matching aspirations

Manoj Madhusudanan is not a standalone example in knowledge services industry. Players, both large and small, employ MBAs, engineers, doctors, lawyers and top-notch professionals. So what's drawing highly qualified professionals to the industry? Let's understand Madhusudan's work profile to find the answer. Madhusudanan leads a team of 15-20 people (the number varies from project to project) in Business Research, deals with 78 clients on the delivery side, takes recruitment decisions and handles PR activities for Evalueserve. Says Ashish Gupta, country manager of the Gurgaon-based Evalueserve, "Young people like challenges and excitement." Seconds Amit Bhatia, CEO, WNS Knowledge Services, "Career growth is about speed today." That's exactly the catch here. It's no longer enough to be working for the most reputed company that's going to pay you some big bucks. Motivators in the form of challenges that go far beyond your area of expertise and the ease and flexibility of climbing the corporate ladder really fast are key differentiators.

More The Merrier
Designations in the knowledge services industry are superfluous. The nature of work defies strict hierarchies. Career graphs are well defined. Team management skills also become critical here as team leaders are required to manage teams they lead and that's a responsibility that traditional jobs are not likely to offer so early in one's career. Says Evalueserve's Gupta, "It is possible for a team manager to rise to the level of the assistant vice president in just four years."

Most knowledge services companies encourage cross-functional shifts in overlapping domains. For example, a professional in analytics services can move to market research; a professional in legal research can move to intellectual property research; a business research professional can move to business consulting.

An XLRI-graduate and Accenture-veteran, he leads a team of 15-20 depending on the project he handles. He takes recruitment decisions and handles PR activities in addition to Business Research.  Manoj Madhusudanan, 31, Team Manager, Evalueserve An IIM Calcutta graduate with stints at J&J and Godrej Tea. She opines that traditional marketing jobs are completely male-dominated and too intimidating. B Vijayalakshmi, 29, Team Manager, Evalueserve This doctor and MTech in Bio-medical engineering from IIT is convinced that Evalueserve would help him realize his dream of filing his own patent. Rahul Verma, 29, Senior Research Associate, Evalueserve This management graduate moved from business research to market research, an opportunity that may not be easily available in conservative sectors. Pankaj Bhatija, 27, Associate, WNS Knowledge Services After stints at CNBC and AT Kearney, this Journalism graduate is now in business research, and also handle sales & marketing. She opines traditional consulting is too structured. Sharmila Sengupta, 25, Associate, WNS Knowledge Services

Most KPO professionals get to handle multiple responsibilities. Sharmila Sengupta of WNS, who quit AT Kearney to join WNS, opines that traditional consulting is too structured. At WNS, Sengupta is an analyst who also handles sales and marketing. Says Bhatia of WNS, "Knowledge services are a nascent domain and most organizations are not rigidly structured." Says Gupta of Evalueserve, "We try to synthesize individual skills and give our employees a great work profile."

People issues, no doubt, are critical to these companies. WNS' Bhatia opines, "Knowledge services professionals need to be treated differently. We try to put a personal touch to employee management." The industry especially bears well with women who come from traditionally male-dominated sectors.

B Vijayalakshmi, a team manager at Evalueserve, did not find her stints at Johnson & Johnson and Godrej Tea particularly overwhelming, post an MBA from IIM-Calcutta.

Compensation and perks in knowledge services are comparable to traditional industries. Says Dilip Srivastava, VP, HR of Office Tiger, that specializes in offshore equity research, "Compensation has to be competitive enough to draw people with the right skill sets." Warns Bhatia of WNS, "Knowledge services companies do not deal with starry-eyed graduates, who are looking to make some quick pocket money." Entry-level salaries for someone who can statistically analyze data are around Rs 3 lakh per annum. At the middle level, salaries depend on the volume of work, the size of the team and the level of analysis. Someone responsible for the results of an analysis could draw in the region of Rs 9 lakh. Says Ashish Gupta of Evalueserve, "Average salaries is in the range of Rs 3-8 lakh."

On The Learning Curve
WNS runs a Knowledge Services University in Pune where every recruit has to undergo training. Says Amit Bhatia of WNS, "Investment bankers in India are at most merchant bankers." Questions Gupta of Evalueserve, "How many CAs in India are conversant with US GAAP?" Says Srivastava of Office Tiger, "Knowledge services professionals get to interact with international clients and get exposure to global practices."

For specific client projects, knowledge services firms conduct both onshore and offshore trainings. Onshore training requires training team leaders at overseas client locations, which works as a great incentive. Companies also encourage employees to go on sabbaticals to pursue higher studies which are sometimes sponsored by the company.

Attrition remains a challenge, but is lower-in the range of 10-15%- than BPOs. Says Gupta of Evalueserve, "A significant proportion of employees quit because of personal problems." Adds Srivastava of Office Tiger, "We are often unable to relocate an employee as most firms operate out of single locations." Nevertheless, maintaining the demand-supply equation is not an issue with most knowledge services companies. Asserts Bhatia of WNS, "People attract people. Our existing employees act as reference points for the company."

The knowledge services industry is gradually emerging as a platform for some of the best brains that dare to dream, take up challenges that go beyond traditional cushy jobs and are always hungry for more. Way to go!

Bhaswati Chakravorty in New Delhi

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