BPO Hype Cycle – 2/?

Last week my friend M from Bangalore called up and told me that a certain UK investor was looking to invest and would I be interested in meeting with him. I said sure since it helps to meet external folks for industry level perspepctive. He replied that his friend A from Bombay would call me up. A called up and put his friend S in touch with me. S was all of 30 and had done two stints in two BPOs in Bombay. I considered him a BPO guru  I was reminded of the Java Guru’s we saw some time back. S then talked about a Bombay Stock Exchange member and an Ambassador of a small country wanting to see our facilities etc.

At this point I lost my shirt. There was not clue of the UK investor and now some folks who had no previous background in the Industry thought they could just saunter into our floor. We deal with confidential client data and we therefore have strict data security norms and do not normally permit anyone who shows up at the door into the floor without a strong reason.

And here was someone whom I had hardly met suggesting that they be permitted to access our facilities.

Data Security concerns aside, when folks who know nothing about the business start getting interested, to my simple mind, it means we are in the thick of the Hype Cycle.