Dearth of skilled manpower we need to have awareness about BPO Tushar Patil CEO of BTP InfoServe

Tushar Patil is a young dynamic CEO of BTP InfoServe Pvt. Ltd. He did hisBachelor of Engineering in Industrial and Production Engineering from Gogte Institute of Technology and his Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from Wichita State University, Wichita, Kansas, USA.

As CEO, Tushar Patil is responsible for the vision, strategy and leadership that drive BTPI. After completing masters from Kansas University, he worked in the US for 3 years at Alpha Soft Services. During this tenure, he gained access to various service segments in the US including healthcare, insurance and finance. His experience also helped him identify the non-core business segments there and plan to outsource the same to BTPI. He has the task at BTPI to help business segments concentrate on their core strengths and to bridge the link that correlates clients’ expectations v/s BTPI deliverables.

Way back in 2002 Tushar started BTP InfoServe Pvt. Ltd. (BTPI) in Belgaum, which specializes in American medical insurance claims processing. This field is listed as one of the fastest job creators in USA. BTP InfoServe Pvt. Ltd is the only company in entire North Karnataka & Goa that specializes in this area.
BTPI from Belgaum manages the payment flow of medical claims efficiently from insurance companies to various service providers.

With an Approx 0.4 million dollars in turnover and over 50 employees BTPI aims higher turnover in the current year. Today all the sectors are reeling under recession like Automobile, banking, Industries but healthcare is one such sector which has NO Recession.

Tushar Patil speaks out to Team AAB:

1. My first question why Belgaum for your BPO?

Tushar Patil --> Belgaum is ideally located between Bangalore and Mumbai and has perfect blend of rural and urban population. The quality of education is excellent. Plus the lower costs of land/infrastructure/living/manpower and also for the abundant talent available in and around Belgaum. The weather is pretty much like Bangalore and is logistically located with 2 airports (Hubli and Kolhapur) within 90 kms distance.

2. Could we have your outlook on the IT & BPO industry in Belgaum?

Tushar Patil --> As I said the abundant manpower available in and around Belgaum is a major advantage we have. There is many Medical Transcription company’s based in Belgaum and there is enough scope to accommodate other sectors related to BPO. Bigger cities has had enough IT and BPO growth. The cost of doing business in bigger cities is horrendous compared to the cost of the same BPO job which can be done from Belgaum or Hubli. With a little push from the Government we can get things moving at a much faster pace.

3. What kind of shifts do you see coming from the recession? If any.

Tushar Patil --> Well customers are definitely guarded about the pricing and the service providers are looking for an innovative modernization strategy to achieve lower running costs. Companies whose leaders look ahead for opportunities that will follow post recession will have a competitive advantage when it’s over.

4. Is it going to be too different from what we are seeing now in terms of kind of outsourcing deals?

Tushar Patil --> Customers will be looking for more range of solutions from the same vendor. Also there is delay in signing new deals so it’s more of a WAIT and WATCH situation.

5. Are we also going to see any changes in the kind of skills you will seek in potential employees?

Tushar Patil --> Not much when it comes to ITeS industry.

6. What kind of order pipeline do you have for the coming few months?

Tushar Patil --> We have 2-3 large clients in pipeline.

7. What is your competitive edge in the industry in which you operate?

Tushar Patil --> 6 plus years experience in US healthcare industry

· One of the early entrants in this sector

· It’s an untapped industry in India

· Highly trained manpower

8. How do you see the healthcare segment growing?

Tushar Patil --> The US healthcare is a 2.5 trillion dollar industry and is expected to grow rapidly over the next decade. The Obama government might just present an exciting growth opportunity for the Indian IT service providers. The US spends 16% (one of the highest in the world) of its GDP on Healthcare and still 40 million individuals are uninsured. So the government plan aims for universal coverage for every US citizen. There will be significant influx of “the newly insured” into the health system as well as tremendous pressure on insurers and healthcare providers to reduce the costs. So the ITeS industry has something exciting coming all the way.

9. But has the healthcare vertical been fully immune to the slowdown?

Tushar Patil --> As far as our business is concerned, yes. We have been signing clients every quarter. But off course the US has been reeling under recession and has never seen this kind of unemployment. This leads to less consumption of healthcare products and hence less volume.

10. Is it easy to start up a BPO in Belgaum? Your experiences

Tushar Patil --> When we started in 2003 it was nightmare for us. The biggest problem we faced was internet. All our work is online so we need to be connected to the internet 24 hours. The downtime was almost 40% can you imagine that. We used to run to the DOT office at least 10 times a day. We lost couple of clients just for this reason. But now it is much easier to start a BPO shop in Belgaum. We have choice of multiple ISP which was not there in 2003.

11. What are your thoughts on the human resource talent in and around Belgaum?

Tushar Patil --> Frankly speaking there is still a dearth of skilled manpower in this belt. Schools and colleges must create awareness regarding BPO as a career and must introduce in its syllabus. Right now I don’t see anything happening and also computers must be mandatory in all institutions. We still get graduates who are computer illiterates. There is enough potential in Belgaum but we need to do more in raising the bar higher.

12. Your future plans?

Tushar Patil --> Right now our primary focus will continue to be Healthcare because that is our forte. We want to ramp up our capacity to at least 300 people from the present 70 in the next 4-5 years.

13. Your thoughts on the ITBelgaum initiative?

Tushar Patil --> It’s an excellent vehicle for the local entrepreneurs to build a platform which can be used to strengthen the image of Belgaum and to get Belgaum on the Global IT map. There are lots of interesting things coming up through this group which will help the future budding entrepreneurs. All the members are whole heartedly working towards a common goal.

14. How do you foresee Belgaum’s future for the IT and BPO?

Tushar Patil --> Infrastructure wise we are still lacking basic facilities and also air connectivity is a BIG issue which most of the clients look for. If these things are taken care then we can definitely see a bright future for Belgaum. Hopefully the ITBELGAUM group can make some difference!!!!!

15. Your thoughts on this website and its usability?

Tushar Patil --> It’s an excellent databank to get news about Belgaum. Hats off to you who single handedly took this initiative and also promoted the ITBelgaum group through this site. I wish you all the best for all your future endeavors.