Progeon to go global with Czech centre

Progeon, the BPO subsidiary of Infosys, will achieve two major objectives with the opening of its centre in the Brno in the Czech Republic early next year.

It will brand itself as "an international company, rooted in India" and will be in place to gain an entry into Europe with the integration of the Czech Republic into the European Union next June, according to Akshaya Bhargava, managing director and CEO.

There is a need to go global as global companies like Accenture and EDS have set up shop in India and are ramping up rapidly.

But whereas global companies are having to crash their prices while seeking to crash their costs by coming to India, Progeon feels its global business model will be quite viable.

The economics of operating out of Brno (not capital Prague where costs are higher) are not that different from operating out of India, Bhargava revealed.

"Billing rates in the Czech republic are not much higher than in India and blended costs (Indian and Czech) will remain attractive."

Going international with BPO is a must in a different way as Progeon has to have sites outside of India to provide for redundancies.

The Czech centre, which will offer non-voice support for business from France and Germany, will be able to meet the multilingual requirements of customers who are looking for a one-stop service.

At a time when offshoring or exporting jobs to India is becoming a politically sensitive issue, it may help Progeon to seek work through its Czech centre.

Progeon, says Bhargava, is seeking to build a somewhat distinctive business model, geared to the future.