Question 1. What are the options available with a company for sourcing the services?
Answer. A company may have the following options available:
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Domestic in house sourcing
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Example:
Company provides its services domestically
without any outside contracts
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Offshore in-house sourcing
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Example:
Company uses services supplied by its own foreign based affiliates (subsidiary)
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Domestic outsourcing
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Example:
Company uses services supplied by another domestically based company
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Offshore outsourcing
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Example:
Company uses services supplied by an unaffiliated foreign based company
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Question2. What is the difference between BPO and KPO?
Answer. The terms can be explained as follow:
BPO
Transaction Intensive Service
Clients expertise and service provider merely provides delivery. Example:
• Customer Contact Services
• Transaction Services
• HR Data Processing
• Medical Transcription
KPO
Knowledge Intensive Service
Clients expect company to be the domain expert. Example:
• Insurance Underwriting, Risk assessment, and Equity Research
• Intellectual Property Research
• Financial Analysis
• Legal-Business and Market Research
Question3. What is
India’s positioning vis a vis contemporary countries in the world pertinent to the BPO outsourcing?
Answer.
India’s positioning in BPO outsourcing is as specified below:
PHILLIPINES : (Capitalizing on a strong telecom service base)
JAMAICA : (Answering the call or low cost call centres)
CHINA : (Asian language skills and large labour pool)
MEXICO : (Technical labour base for
Latin America)
INDIA : (Best mix of breadth and depth of labour with strong English Language skills and 24X7 support)
Question4. What exactly KPO is all about?
Answer. According to Harvard Business Review:
KPO is another flavor of BPO where the work involved calls for some measure of expertise on the part of the company. It provides value to the client through domain expertise than process expertise.”
Question5. What are the broad areas covered in the KPO industry?
Answer. The following table elaborates the areas covered in KPO industry:
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Technology Research
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• IT Services
• Application development and maintenance
• Security Internet & E- commerce
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Business Research
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• Economics Research
• Company and Industry Research
• Documentation & Library Services
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Investment Research
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• Corporate Finance
• Financial Modeling and Analysis
• Investment Banking Support
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Market Research
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• Data Acquisition and Data Entry
• Data Processing
• Presentations
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Analytic Services
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• Data Warehousing
• Data Preparation, ETL services
• MIS & Reporting
• Business Intelligence
• Statistical and econometric Modeling
• Optimization modeling and OR solutions
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Information Management
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• Database Creation
• Quantitative/Financial Statement Analysis
• Data/Information Synthesis
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Intellectual Property Research
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• Patent Drafting and Filing, Patentability Assessment
• Overlap Analysis, Competitor IP Landscaping
• IP Portfolio Management, IP Licensing & Commercialization
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Sourcing Management
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• Spend Data Analysis & Supplier intelligence
• Low cost country sourcing
• Advisory Services
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Legal Research
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• Legal, Para-Legal Content and Services
• Drafting, Review of Documents and Contracts
• Legal Research (Case History)
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Question6. Where the business of legal process outsourcing emanate from?
Answer. The legal process emanates from the following entities:
· Several MNCs (in-house legal departments)
· Legal research firms
· International law firms
· Legal publishing companies
· Solo attorneys
· Attorneys at law
Question7. What are key compelling reasons for outsourcing by the law firms based in UK & US?
Answer. The following are the compelling reasons for outsourcing:
· To adapt themselves to meet changing opportunities
· To focus on broader business issues
· Cost effectiveness
· Increased external focus of the employees
· Access to world-class talent
· 24/7 working
Question8. What about the Market Size and Growth prospects?
Answer. The following table illustrates the market size:
Global spending on legal services is estimated to be at least over US$ 250 billion, with the US accounting for more than two-thirds of the market.
Market Size for Legal Services in 2003
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Country
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Amount (US $ Billion)
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Growth over the previous year (%)
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Australia
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6.9
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11.6
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China
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1.6
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7.0
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France
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18.4
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14.0
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Japan
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1.09
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8.0
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South Korea
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1.61
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-3.3
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UK
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34.2
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3.6
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USA
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166.8
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5.6
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Question9. What is the break-up of total spending by the top US based law firms?
Answer. The following table shows the annual spending break up:
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Category
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Annual spend (US$ billion)
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Share of total spend (%)
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Office operations
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6.2
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31.1
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Litigation support
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4.9
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24.6
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Word processing and secretarial
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2.9
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14.6
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Information systems
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2.5
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12.6
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Marketing
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0.85
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4.3
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Legal research
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0.62
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3.1
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Finance and accounting
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0.50
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2.5
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Library
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0.50
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2.5
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Legal recruiting
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0.35
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1.8
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Human resources
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0.20
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1.0
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Patent & trademark prosecution
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0.40
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2.0
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Total
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19.92
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100
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According to Forrester Inc., though there is little hard data available to quantify the legal offshoring segment of the Indian BPO industry, it is estimated that only about 2-3% (US$ 60-80 million) of the potential market has been tapped so far. Reports indicate that billing by Indian lawyers to
US firms for in-house work alone ranged from US$5 million to US$15 million in 2004. The total employee base engaged in providing legal BPO services from India (captive+pure-play third party) is estimated to be at least 600-700 employees.
SOURCE: Evalueserve
Question10. What are the major legal areas which U.S. law firm covers?
Answer. This chart shows the major areas:
• Banking laws
• Bankruptcy: business
• Bankruptcy: consumer
• General Corporate laws
• Commercial laws
• Civil rights and liberties
• Criminal defense
• IPR laws
• International Business laws
• Securities/financing laws
• Tax laws
Question11. What about the General Legal Market Trends specific to operations of law firms in US?
Answer. Despite the encouraging prediction regarding outsourcing, legal practices are subject to a number of external forces affecting all law firms, including the following:
· Changing Economics.
There are restraints on revenues driven by client fee resistance.
· Overheads are escalating, driven by support staff employment costs, IT expenditures, marketing costs, professional liability and health insurance premiums.
· Marketplace Maturation. There are shifts from the sellers’ market of the past to a buyers’ market in which clients increasingly determine pricing, staffing and strategy.
· Firms are earning Brand name recognition. The benefit of brand recognition is a 10% to 20% premium in fees and billing rates.
· Marketing Expenditures are increasing, now approaching and even exceeding two percent of revenues in some firms.
· Geographic Expansion. In order to access new markets and clients, law firms increasingly are expanding geographically. This is true for diversified, full-service firms. Local firms are becoming regional, regional becoming national, national becoming international, international going global.
· Offshore Outsourcing. Offshore outsourcing of patent prosecution is increasing. Patent applications and litigation support are the two areas of focus for offshore legal outsourcing to India, New Zealand,
South Africa and other English-speaking, low-labor cost locations around the world.
Question12. What is the business expected to come in India pertaining to legal outsourcing?
Answer. The Current addressable potential (demand) in US:
By 2015 it is expected to be $3 bn
And Indian share to be – 60%
Market tapped so far by existing LPO service providers till date – 3%
Question13. Why India is in the lead in the legal outsourcing industry?
Answer. The following advantages make India leader in the legal process outsourcing industry:
Demonstrated advantages:
• Vast resource of talented English speaking lawyers
• Pay rate between 10 to 15% of that of US lawyers
• Helping US law firms operate 24×7
• Friendly Govt. policies for IT and ITES exports
Country specific advantages:
• India, like the US, is a common-law jurisdiction rooted in the British legal tradition
• Appellate and Supreme Court proceedings in
India takes place exclusively in English
• Indian legal opinions are written exclusively in English
Question14. What type of government support is available for the LPO players in India?
Answer. Government has provided various tax sops which are as follows:
100%Income tax exemption for export of services:
According to CBDT, the exemption would embrace the following (few) services:
· Back-office Operations
· Content Development or Animation
· Engineering & Design services
· Human Resource Services
· Insurance Claim Processing
· Legal Databases
Other support
· Duty-free imports of capital goods (under the Export Promotion of Capital Goods scheme)
· Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for 100 percent of the equity in BPO companies
· Promotions of STPs which provide ready-to-.plug IT and telecom infrastructure
· National Venture Fund for the Software and IT Industry with a corpus of Rs. 100 crore
Question15. Which are the key players leading the India Legal BPO industry?
Answer. The major players are:
Question16. What are the primary services in the LPO business?
Answer. The following table illustrates the primary services in LPO business:
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Quantitative/low-skilled tasks
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Qualitative/skill-intensive tasks
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· Document management
· Database creation and maintenance
· Legal transcription
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· Due diligence reports
· Fifty-state surveys
· Patent and trademark work
· Review of transactional and litigation documents
· Drafting contracts, research memoranda
· Pleadings and briefs
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Question17. What are the industries / spheres of businesses which can be covered in the LPO business?
Answer. The industries which can be covered are:
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· Appeals
· Arbitration & Mediation
· Banking and Lending
· Corporate and Securities
· Broker/Dealer (Finance)
· Commercial Litigation
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· Mergers and Acquisitions
· Real Estate
· Taxation
· Insurance
· Intellectual Property
· Business Advisory Services
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Question18. What is the supply source of legal outsourcing services from India?
Answer. The followings are the supply source of legal outsourcing services from
India:
· Pilot offices of publishers
· Offshore centric service providers
· Units of large multinational law firms
· In-house legal departments
Question19. What are the billing charges?
Answer. The billing charges are as follows:
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Area
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Amount (USD per hour)
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Telemarketing
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5-12
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Transaction Processing
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10-14
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Tech Support (inbound)
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11-12
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Printing Support Services
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15-25
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Basic Back Office
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15-25
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F&A
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15-35
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Document Management Services
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30-50
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Research & Analysis
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40-90
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Patent Drafting & Legal Research
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150
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LEGAL PROCESS OUTSOURCING INDUSTRY – ABOUT EXECUTION PART
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Question20. What types of services are covered in the legal research and information area?
Answer. The services covered are:
· Draft research memoranda, law surveys and comparisons of the laws of various jurisdictions with respect to
U.S. federal and state case laws, statutory laws and regulations
· Collection, organizing, reviewing data and preparation of the due diligence reports pursuant to a due diligence investigation, including M&A due diligence and due diligence related to SEC filings and financings
· Review documents for transactions and litigation and preparing appropriate reports
· Preparation of legal opinions for all practice areas
· Preparation of briefs and facts at all levels of courts
Question21. What about patent oriented services?
Answer. Following are the patent oriented services:
· Patent Portfolio Analysis
· End-To-End Patent Application Drafting and Filing
· Patent Mining and Administration
· Competitor Analysis
· Patentability Assessment
· Licensing Support
· IP Monitoring
· Patent Claims Mapping
· Patent and Technology Landscaping
Question22. What is the LPO business process in brief?
Answer. The step represents the LPO working process in brief:
- Scanning & uploading the document onto a secure intranet site
· Access the assigned documents
· Identify responsive and privileged documents
· Performing the assignment
- When complete, upload the findings back onto the intranet
Question23. What is the data extraction service in the LPO business?
Answer. The data extraction service is:
1. Searching the web portals and abstracting the data
2. Quality control measurements for better output
3. CONFIRMATION
4. Providing him with the best data in the required format
5. Whether it meets your requirements
Question24. What are the necessary requirements to target a U.K. based clients?
Answer. The vendors based in India must imperatively get well-versed with the lexis-nexis software workings (to target a UK based client) encompassing the following vital aspects:
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Legislation
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· UK Act Summaries
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UK Bill Summaries
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UK Parliament Acts
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UK Parliament Statutory Instruments
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All England & Case Search
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· All
England Annual Review
· All
England European Cases
· All
England Law Reports
· All
England Reporter
· Case Search
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Companies & Commercial Law
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· Buckley on the Companies Act
· Bulletins Index
· Companies House Forms
· Corporate Law Update
· General Case Digests
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Financial Regulations
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· Butterworths Banking Law Handbook
· Butterworths Company Law Handbook
· EU Materials
· UK Legal News Analysis
· UK Legal Newspaper Index
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Intellectual Property & Information Technology
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· Domain Name Decisions with Case Comment
· General Case Digests
· Intellectual Property & Technology Cases
· IP Decisions
· IP Newsletter
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Tax Reference
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· Simon’s Direct Tax Service
· Simon’s Tax Cases
· Simon’s Tax Intelligence
· Simon’s Tax Planning
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Source: LexisNexis
Question25. What are the few online resources available for research purposes?
Answer. The available online resources are:
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ASPECTS OF MANAGEMENT INTEREST
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Question26. What are the Astra, Shastra and Lakshya in the LPO business?
Answer. The step depicts the terms as elaborated below:
ASTRA
• Human Resource
• Financial Soundness
• Innovative & reliable service base
• Potent marketing strategies
SHASTRA
• IT based infrastructure
• Brand development resources
• Business Networking
• Strategic Alliances
LAKSHYA
· The Legal firms
· The Attorneys
· The Corporate legal department
Question27. What about quality related accreditations?
Answer. The accreditations are:
· International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000 series
· Six Sigma
· CMMi Model (Capability Maturity Model)
· SEI-CMM Model
· People Capability Maturity Model (People-CMM)
· e Services Capability Model (eSCM)
Question28. What are the Information Security aspects?
Answer. Security: It’s the process of avoiding misuse of information and protecting data from disclosing to an unauthorized person.
In this context the data security properties can be categorized as follow:
· Privacy
· Confidentiality
· Integrity
· Authentication
· Authorization
· Accountability
· Confidence
· Digital right management
· Link-ability
Question29. What type of business models are prevailing in the LPO industry?
Answer. The business models are:
· Sub Contracting Partner
· Exclusive development facility
· Co-market
· Project Based
· Business Relationship
Question30. What are the prime challenges in doing legal process outsourcing business?
Answer. The prime challenges are:
· Confidentiality issues
· Abdication of responsibility
· Risk management
· Quality assurances
Question31. How well are we equipped to do the LPO business sitting in India?
Answer. We are well equipped to do LPO business due to the following facts:
· Dexterous in legal activities (domestic / foreign)
· Versed with the English language skills
· Good at formulating legal opinions
· Research oriented mind-set
· Arrangement of the best possible talent
· Managing 24×7 working for US clients
· Giving services at only one-third costs
References:
www.acclivant.com
www.nasscom.in
www.ciionline.org
www.stpi.in
