Bangalore: "We are in the middle of inflection point. This is the worst situation in terms of macro-economic perspective. During this slowdown, we should use our resources optimally," said V S Gopi Gopinath, CEO and Chairman AT&T. He was speaking at NASSCOM's BPO Strategy Summit held in Bangalore where all big names from the BPO industry had come together to discuss about and come out with a solution to fight the economic slowdown.

Gopinath also added that this is the time for BPO to stop, look around and re-think their strategies like what technology a BPO can use to their advantage. There is a need of transformation of architecture to whether down the recession heat. Cloud computing has emerged as most promising technology to use resources optimally. Virtualization of infrastructure using cloud computing can help BPO save money.

Unified communication has become the need of the hour. Companies can no longer afford to send people to other countries for important meetings and conferences. But there is still a need of face to face communication. Gopinath recommends that all BPO companies use Web conference as a medium for unified communication. "We can use High Definition Cameras to replicate the real conferences. We don't have to necessarily put people on plane anymore. With the help of Telecom we have saved thousands of dollars," said Siddharth Pai, Partner and Managing Director, TPI Advisory Services.

NASSCOM, the Software Industry body for India, plays a very important role. "We have to play two roles. One is to help companies go to other destination and the other side we have to work with government to get tax incentives and all those things," said Pramod Bhasin, Nasscom Chairman and Genpact President and CEO. In India companies carry the burden of power, transportation, infrastructure but many other countries like Philippines are emerging with a more helpful government. India still has an edge with cheap labor and good infrastructure but this might not remain for long. Indian companies will have to think about globalization. "It is easier to hire Americans nowadays. They bring in big expertise and market. Mid to senior level salary demands have become much higher in India," said Bhasin.

Other major problem faced by BPO's in India is its bad image. People don't hold the BPO's in India in high regard as compared to other countries. "Media in India is very irresponsible. They do sensationalism. But other than media we created a bad impression too. We created an impression that we hire youths and this is the place where they come and get spoiled," said Ganesh Laxminarayanan, Managing Director, Dell.