By Faiza Hasan

It is eleven o’clock at night and while the streets of Islamabad are silent and empty, the Evacuee Trust building, which houses some of Pakistan’s biggest call centers is buzzing with life. Inside, young men and some women lounge around and chat in strong American accents, taking much needed breaks from answering phone calls originating thousands of miles away.

These young operators are working for businesses called call centers that have sprouted in major cities around Pakistan within the last year. Across the globe these centers are becoming a part of a business trend where US and European businesses cut costs by outsourcing a part of their business to countries where labor costs are cheaper.

Call centers are a part of what is called BPO or Business Process Outsource, where they get contracts to handle jobs that are usually considered to be the backend of businesses. This can range from filing insurance claims and data collection to airlines inquires and even banking.

So when people in the US dial a 0800 free phone number for a business, chances are that their call will be picked up by an operator speaking from a call center thousands of miles away. Most of the time the customers are oblivious to the fact that the operator is not sitting in the US.

Nejla Ali, a young woman in her early twenties, is one such call operator working for Touchstone Communications, a 75-person call center with main offices in the US.

“I found out about this job through a friend. I applied last year and started working after two weeks of training,” said Ali, whose American accent dates from when she used to live in the US. Studying for her BBA during the day, Ali says that she has no problems juggling her classes with her work schedule, which lasts from 11 p.m. till 8 a.m.

“You have to be willing to work the hours,” she said. “My parents have no issue with the late hours, in fact my mother came with me to check the office out and was happy with the atmosphere,” she said looking around the bright yellow walls and glass cubicles of Touchstone.

Touchstone, which boasts of six US-based customers since it opened its doors last year, sells mortgages for US banks and financial institutes to Americans. Phone operators like Ali are hired and trained by the company to do a variety of jobs from taking out loan applications on the phone and putting loan approvals together to providing customer service.

But the amount of business that Touchstone and the handful of other Pakistani call centers generate, is still light years behind India, which has turned into a Mecca for providing BPO services.

“Pakistan is missing out on a revolution that has turned around our neighbor,” said Farrukh Aslam, who is a Vice President at Touchstone. “India’s call center or BPO industry is three times larger than their software industry yet we think they are making money from software.”

According to US based Pacific News Service, the Indian BPO industry has been growing quickly with annual revenues reaching $2.4 billion in 2002-2003. And according to the Indian newspaper Economic Times, call centers in India account for about 65-70 percent of the Indian BPO industry in terms of revenues.

Pakistan by comparison is still far, far behind. It is estimated that there are only 25-35 international call centers in Pakistan, of which only 5 or so employ more than 50 people.

“That’s pathetic,” said Aslam, who is also the coordinator of the newly established Call Centers Association of Pakistan. “The Indian industry has employed close to 300,000 people, and so far in Pakistan, I doubt the number has exceeded 500.”

In an article in the US News, industry experts projected that by 2013, 3.5 million jobs will be outsourced from the US to other countries, a trend that has US lawmakers worried and proposing legislation that will curb at least government offices outsourcing jobs to countries like India. Even if that bill goes through, it still leaves the huge private industry free to offer lucrative contracts to countries like India with cheaper, trained labor.

“Is Pakistan prepared to get these jobs? My answer is no,” said Aslam.

Other businessmen like Shahid Azim, CEO of Call Central, which is a 52-person call center in Islamabad, has a similar answer. “There are holes in the system and the infrastructure needs to be upgraded,” said Azim. “The government can do more, which is not to say that they haven’t done a lot already. But their speed is not in sync with the speed with which this industry is growing.”

The Pakistani government says that it is trying to help by giving subsidies to call centers like providing rental space at Software Technology Parks, subsidizing international bandwidth, providing tax exemptions till 2018, establishing special tariffs and duty free import of IT equipment to name a few.

But that, says Aslam, is not enough. Even with the subsidy, he pointed out that the cost of broadband comes to more than the salary he pays to his employees. In 2003, PTCL, which provides connectivity to these centers, charged $5,400 for every 2 megabits (Mbps) of bandwidth connectivity.

“For every 70-80 agents you need a 2 megabits of bandwidth to get the customer data across, but when the raw material cost is so high and you divide (the cost) over agents, you are not competitive with your neighbours,” said Aslam.

As for the government’s claim that it ensures duty free import, Aslam was quick to cite his own experience.

“I recently got a UPS for the computers for which I paid Rs 3 lakh 70 thousand on duty. Then I got 60 headsets from the US for which customs charged Rs 1 lakh 28 thousand. These costs are not built into our business models, so I had to pay out of my pocket because my American partners will simply say let’s get out of Pakistan and go somewhere else.”

The Pakistan Software Export Board says that such examples are the exception not the norm. “Most of the call centers have imported their equipment without paying extra duties,” it said in a statement. “The items which are being manufactured locally are not exempt from the import duties. UPS is also such an example.”

Both Aslam and Azim believe that the call centers have the potential of becoming the number one industry in Pakistan, that is, if the fledgling industry is helped out adequately by the government.

“All you need are the right conditions, plus luck and stability within the country,” said Azim. “We can give the Indians a run for their money but we need to focus on our core strategies.” Azim also added that his company is currently servicing a client that used to send its business to India.

To improve communications between the government and call centers, about 22 centers got together to form the Call Centre Association early this year. “We needed a forum that would be able to talk to the government, that would be a powerful tool for the industry to make its presence felt nationally and internationally and that would make Pakistan an option for foreign businesses,” said Azim, who is also a member of the Association.

The Association has also been trying to educate the public about this industry and for this purpose has been going to schools and colleges trying to raise awareness. It also has plans to team up with the Pakistan Software Export Board to hold training programs, especially accent training programs, for potential employees in major cities in Pakistan.

Such training programs, says Aslam, are necessary because companies like Touchstone are having trouble finding the right people. “We get tons of resumes but less than 2 percent of people who apply are actually qualified to work here,” said Aslam. “We need people with excellent English communication and listening skills who are able to talk confidently with foreign customers.”

That, he added, was a problem because most applicants were unable to speak much less hold a conversation in English -- which isn’t the case in India because it has a strong English-speaking middle class.

Also, despite the excellent starting pay -- a fresh entry can make about Rs 15,000 as a starting salary -- the work hours, which are late night due to the time lag, put off a lot of people.

“With unemployment in Pakistan so high I think we provide an excellent work environment for men and women despite the night hours,” said Aslam. “Like any large company there is a career path with advancement prospects and training opportunities to go abroad.”

Jawad Rehman, who now works for Touchstone, was looking around for work when his friends suggested that he apply at Touchstone. “People should look into such jobs, especially considering the limited job opportunities in Pakistan,” said Rehman.

Like Nejla Ali, Rehman is also juggling his studies with the work but is finding that slightly difficult. “It is a tough job because I have to manage studying and working, but I intend to stick with the company.”

Talking about the work hours, Rehman added, “By the time you get home and go to bed everyone is getting up. But it is a good way to make money,” he said.

Despite the potential for call centers in Pakistan, the infant industry is facing problems in being taken seriously internationally. “Selling Pakistan was the biggest challenge of my career and if I hadn’t had the support of our executives I would have been thrown out of many board rooms in the US,” said Aslam of Touchstone, talking about his efforts to convince investors to invest in a Pakistani business.

Aslam was lucky for he had a strong US partnership willing to take a risk in Pakistan. But other businesses that have no contacts in the US, face major obstacles in getting customers interested in Pakistan. Still, both he and Azim plan on sticking with their businesses, banking on what they see as Pakistan’s amazing potential.

“I am convinced that this country has a lot of potential. It might be a tough job to extract the potential but I’m going to put my 100 percent to make this industry succeed,” said Aslam.