The Valley globalises with a click, with a BPO

Sajjad Ahmad Kanth, the CEO of the company, says: ‘‘We have a lot of hurdles to cross. But we have a lot of hope as well. Our dream is to introduce a culture of BPOs in Kashmir.’’

The company converts medical files, journals and research work from one format to another. Atif Hussain, a director of the company, gives the reason for not going on-line and not trying secure ‘‘mainstream’’ outsourcing projects. ‘‘We are going a bit slow. We need to overcome a lot of infrastructural problems. We still don’t have uninterrupted power supply or broadband connectivity. We burn CDs and ship them to our clients,’’ he says. The shadows of conflict, too, are a real problem. ‘‘Before us, another company had started a BPO firm here. They were dealing with medical transcriptions. It was a real-time project.

Then Kargil war happened and the Internet connections were snipped for security reasons. They flopped overnight. They are now running at a very small scale with 20 people.’’

Hussain says that the State government is extremely helpful. ‘‘We get help but procedural delays have become a headache,’’ he says. ‘‘We desperately want to expand. We have employed around 300 youngsters, have enhanced their skills and are ready to take bigger projects.’’

The company is planning projects like e-accounting, legal transcription (converting dictaphone data to document files) and extended health services. ‘‘Skilled manpower is not a problem, we conducted a survey and found 2,500 unemployed Commerce graduates in Srinagar and Budgam districts alone. There are jobless youth with computer skills. We just need to train them to enhance their skills,’’ says Hussain, a post-graduate.

Security clearances are also a hassle. ‘‘Ideally, we should have our own international gateway, which would have provided us broadband connectivity, but unlike other cities we have to go through rigmarole of security clearances,’’ says Naseer Ahmad, who heads the company’s technical team.

The company’s workforce is spread in the two big halls sitting in front of rows of computers. And hardly anybody including the directors is above 30. ‘‘I enjoy it. It is a great learning process,’’ says Rubeena Bashir, 25, an engineering graduate from Jammu university.

Shazia Bashir, 23, who was jobless after finishing her Bachelors in Information Technology, says ‘‘this work has opened new avenues of career.’’

The company wants to spread their outsourcing business and has set up a strategic alliance with a Delhi-based firm, Datacomm Union. ‘‘We are doing their strategic counseling,’’ said Vishal Markandey, director, strategic initiatives. He says the company specialises in financial transaction processes and hopes that ‘‘if everything goes well, we will be doing US taxation, US payroll management and US accounts.’’