SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2003
MS plans 9000-seat support centre
SATYA PRAKASH SINGH
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
BANGALORE: Microsoft is planning to build one of the largest BPO clusters in the country involving around 9,000 professionals.
The company, which commenced its pilot BPO project, called Microsoft Global Product Support Centre (GPSC) in May this year at Bangalore, in now embarking on full-fledged BPO operations .
The operations here have the mandate to support around 54 million users across Microsoft's product line , which includes Win Office, Win Server systems and .NET.
According to highly-placed industry sources, Microsoft's project would be a hybrid model involving both captive and outsourcing activities.
Under its captive operations, known as Microsoft GPSC, the company will employ around 3,000 professionals over the next 18 months.
Its partners such as Infosys, Wipro, Satyam and Msource are also expected to add another 6,000 professionals during the same period.
When contacted, Microsoft India MD Rajiv Kaul said, "It is premature now to talk about the expansion of GPSC. We will review this once the pilot is over. If the pilot is successful, the potential could be large."
In line with its expansion, Microsoft GPSC has acquired office space of 1 lakh sq ft at the Embassy Golf Links near KGA in Bangalore. As per estimates, the current office space can accommodate around 1,000 professionals.
Headed by Ed Benack, GPSC currently employs 150 professionals in addition to around 250 engineers working with its partner companies.
The Bangalore centre is part of the $400-million investment that Microsoft chief Bill Gates announced during his last visit to India in November 2002.
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