• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• BL Club
• Smartbuy
• Books
• Gallery

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Adith Charlie

Mumbai, May 14 Back office firm Firstsource Solutions has closed down a delivery centre in the US as part of its strategy to increase capacity utilisation in the current economic downturn.

From the Reno centre in the state of Nevada, Firstsource used to provide third party collection services for its customers, Mr Aashu Calapa, Executive Vice-President, Human Resources, told Business Line.

Around 25 employees in this centre were given the option of joining other delivery centres (of Firstsource) in the US, he added. Of this, several Reno residents choose not to relocate, it is learned.

Firstsource has about 15 centres in the US; several of these came into its fold through acquisitions over the past few years.

At a time when customers are spending less, the company’s strategy is to increase ‘seat fill factor’ across its delivery network globally.

“It is 70 per cent at present and the target is to reach 85 per cent,” said Mr Calapa. As he put it, it is “meaningless to sit on excessive capacity” (delivery centres, seats) in an economic downturn.

Will Firstsource then close down more centres in the US? Upping capacity utilisation can even be achieved by a judicious mix of winning new business and consolidating physical assets, believes Mr Calapa.

The collections business of Firstsource has been under pressure for several quarters now. Yet, Mr Calapa is optimistic about the future prospects. “There is a manifold increase in the number of people defaulting on their credit card bills. Hence, there is more money to collect. BPO firms have to decide where to draw the line,” he said.

More Stories on : Off-shore Development | Outsourcing

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line