COMPANY BASED RESEARCH PROJECT ON MARKETING

MARKETING OVERVIEW

INTRODUCTION
Firstsource Solutions Limited is a business process management company. The Company
provides business process outsourcing (BPO)/business process management (BPM) services
to the healthcare, telecommunications and media, and banking, financial services and
insurance (BFSI) industries. The Company has two segments: Banking, Financial Services
and Insurance and Non-Banking, Financial Services and Insurance.

The Company's product portfolio includes First Customer Intelligence, First Chat, First
Smartomation, First Resolve and First WF Suite. The Company's flagship product First
Customer Intelligence is a customer interaction analytics solution. First Chat is an online
customer engagement product. First Smartomation is a process automation solution. First
Resolve is a complaints management solution. First WF Suite is a workforce management
solution, which consists of consulting services, managed services and WFM capability
development.

It also enables clients in contact/call center management by providing services, such as

voice-enabled customer care. Firstsource Solutions Limited Fundamental Company Report
Including Financial, SWOT, Competitors and Industry Analysis 2 desk services, back office
processing, and customer retention programs. In addition, the company offers healthcare
payers services, such as front-end office and mailroom solutions, data conversion, claims
processing/adjudication, claims auditing, member enrollment and eligibility, provider
management, contact center solution, and information technology support services; and
healthcare providers services comprising premier partnership program, receivables
management, medassist eligibility, collection services, member enrollment, staffing,
physician credentialing and enrollment, patient financing, and governmental services.
Firstsource Solutions provides its services in India, the United States, Canada, the United
Kingdom, the Philippines, and internationally. It was formerly known as ICICI OneSource
Limited and changed its name to Firstsource Solutions Limited in 2006. Firstsource Solutions
Limited was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.
SWOT ANALYSIS

This SWOT Analysis of Firstsource Solutions Ltd provides a strategic SWOT analysis of the
company's businesses and operations. This free SWOT analysis shows strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats. This SWOT analysis of Firstsource Solutions Ltd can provide a
competitive advantage.

STRENGTH

The main strength is high growth rate .

It has experienced business units.

WEAKNESSES

Productivity is low.

Manpower shortage.
Local infrastructure.
The cost of telecom and network infrastructure is much higher in India than in the US.

OPPORTUNITY

New markets is the main opportunity.

To work closely with associations like Nasscom to portray India as the most favoured
BPO/ITES destination in the world.

THREATS

Growing competition and Lower profitability.

Technological Problems.

Increase in Labor Cost.

Tax Changes.

Financial capacities

External Labour costs.

Rising cost of Raw materials.

The industry is growing rapidly and requires corresponding growth in infrastructure

as well, an area where India is lackingthis needs to be addressed.
 Due to the rise in labour costs in Indian metro cities, companies are moving towards
smaller cities.
Slowdown of demand.

Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis provides a comprehensive insight into the companies
history, corporate strategy, business and financial structure, management and operations. The
report contains a detailed SWOT analysis, information on the companies products and
services, key competitors, as well as detailed financial information.

7Ps of Marketing Mix

The service marketing mix is also known as an extended marketing mix and is an integral
part of a service blueprint design. The service marketing mix consists of 7 Ps as compared to
the 4 Ps of a product marketing mix. Simply said, the service marketing mix assumes the
service as a product itself. However it adds 3 more Ps which are required for optimum
service delivery.
The product marketing mix consists of the 4 Ps which are Product, Pricing, Promotions and
Placement. These are discussed in my article on product marketing mix the 4 Ps.
The extended service marketing mix places 3 further Ps which include People, Process and
Physical evidence. All of these factors are necessary for optimum service delivery.

1) Product The product in service marketing mix is intangible in nature. Like physical
products such as a soap or a detergent, service products cannot be measured. Tourism
industry or the Bpo industry can be an excellent example. At the same time service products
are heterogenous, perishable and cannot be owned. The service product thus has to be
designed with care. Generally service blue printing is done to define the service product. For
example a restaurant blue print will be prepared before establishing a restaurant business.
This service blue print defines exactly how the product (in this case the restaurant) is going to
be.

2) Place Place in case of services determine where is the service product going to be
located. The best place to open up a petrol pump is on the highway or in the city. A place
where there is minimum traffic is a wrong location to start a petrol pump. Similarly a
software company will be better placed in a business hub with a lot of companies nearby
rather than being placed in a town or rural area.

3) Promotion Promotions have become a critical factor in the service marketing mix.
Services are easy to be duplicated and hence it is generally the brand which sets a service
apart from its counterpart. You will find a lot of banks and telecom companies promoting
themselves rigorously. Why is that? It is because competition in this service sector is
generally high and promotions is necessary to survive. Thus bpo, banks , IT companies, and
dotcoms place themselves above the rest by advertising or promotions.

4) Pricing Pricing in case of services is rather more difficult than in case of products. If you
were a restaurant owner, you can price people only for the food you are serving. But then
who will pay for the nice ambience you have built up for your customers? Who will pay for
the band you have for music? Thus these elements have to be taken into consideration while
costing. Generally service pricing involves taking into consideration labor, material cost and
overhead costs. By adding a profit mark up you get your final service pricing. You can also
read about pricing strategies.

5) People People is one of the elements of service marketing mix. People define a service.
If you have an IT company, your software engineers define you. If you have a restaurant,
your chef and service staff defines you. If you are into banking, employees in your branch
and their behavior towards customers defines you. In case of service marketing, people can
make or break an organization. Thus many companies nowadays are involved into specially
getting their staff trained in interpersonal skills and customer servicewith a focus towards
customer satisfaction. In fact many companies have to undergo accreditation to show that
their staff is better than the rest. Definitely a USP in case of services.

6) Process Service process is the way in which a service is delivered to the end customer.
Lets take the example of two very good companies Mcdonalds and Fedex. Both the
companies thrive on their quick service and the reason they can do that is their confidence on
their processes. On top of it, the demand of these services is such that they have to deliver
optimally without a loss in quality. Thus the process of a service company in delivering its
product is of utmost importance. It is also a critical component in the service blueprint,
wherein before establishing the service, the company defines exactly what should be the
process of the service product reaching the end customer

7) Physical Evidence The last element in the service marketing mix is a very important
element. As said before, services are intangible in nature. However, to create a better
customer experience tangible elements are also delivered with the service. Take an example
of a restaurant which has only chairs and tables and good food, or a restaurant which has
ambient lighting, nice music along with good seating arrangement and this also serves good
food. Which one will you prefer? The one with the nice ambience. Thats physical evidence.
Several times, physical evidence is used as a differentiator in service marketing. Imagine a
private hospital and a government hospital. A private hospital will have plush offices and well
dressed staff. Same cannot be said for a government hospital. Thus physical evidence acts as
a differentiator.

MAJOR COMPETITORS

1. Vakrangee

2. eClerkx services

3. KPIT Tech

4. Take Solutions

5. Accelya Kale

6. Sonata

7. Majesco

8. OnMobile Global

9. Xchanging Sol

10. Cigniti Tech

11. R Systems Intl

12. Kellton Tech

13. Subex

14. Zen Tech

15. Nucleus Software

MARKET SHARE
Market share represents the percentage of an industry or market's total sales that is earned by
a particular company over a specified time period. Market share is calculated by taking the
company's sales over the period and dividing it by the total sales of the industry over the
same period. This metric is used to give a general idea of the size of a company in relation to
its market and its competitors.
Investors look at market share increases and decreases carefully, because they can be a sign
of the relative competitiveness of the company's products or services. As the total market for
a product or service grows, a company that is maintaining its market share is growing
revenues at the same rate as the total market. A company that is growing its market share will
be growing its revenues faster than its competitors

SALES TURNOVER MARKET SHARE

Name
(in Crores)
Vakrangee 3,168.61 41.49
eClerx Services 1105.71 14.47
Firstsource Sol 874.88 11.455
KPIT Tec 1261.86 16.523
Take Solutions 23.57 0.308
Accelya Kale 309.72 4.055
Sonata 504.80 6.60
OnMobile -Global 387.80 5.077

Sonata; 6.6 OnMobile -Global; 5.08

Accelya Kale; 4.06
Take Solutions; 0.31
Vakrangee ; 41.49
KPIT Tec; 16.52

Firstsource Sol; 11.46

eClerx Services; 14.47

MARKET SEGMENTATION
The process of defining and subdividing a large homogenous market into clearly identifiable
segments having similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics. Its objective is to design a
marketing mix that precisely matches the expectations of customers in the targeted segment.

The market here is segmented based upon the functions performed by various
organisations.The BPO services provided by the first source solutions span across industries
such as:
Banking

Insurance

Healthcare

Telecom and Media

Mortgages

Other sectors

BANKING

The banking services of the company are further categorised into two sections:

RETAIL BANKING
Helping banks transform their operations
The surge in digital banking represents a huge opportunity for banks to
get closer to their customers and to understand and anticipate their
needs. But, hindered by inefficient legacy systems, many are struggling to
adopt to the changing requirements of customers.
At the same time, tightened regulation and increased scrutiny mean that
banks are also being forced to overhaul processes, products and systems
to become compliant.
At Firstsource,a number of leading banks have transformed their business
operations to ensure they remain at the cutting edge of the industry,
whilst delivering great customer experiences.
End-to-end solutions that deliver results
Firstsource is a bank within a bank, offering an end-to-end solution for all main support
functions, and providing a range of services across the customer lifecycle, including
acquisition, account servicing, collections and retentions.
Their flexible and cost effective solutions can be scaled rapidly to meet merger & acquisition
mode, or downsized quickly on demand.

COMMERCIAL BANKING

A safe pair of hands for financial processes

A huge part of running a company involves the everyday commercial
finance operations that help keep in business. But undertaking the task of
keeping a companys books in order often requires expensive
technologies, complex processes and extensive resource.
By outsourcing their commercial finance operations to trusted experts,
companies can focus on growing their business and serving their
customers safe in the knowledge that their day-to-day financial
processes are in a safe pair of hands.
How first source helps to transform commercial finance operations
It has the experience and knowledge to help clients transform and manage their commercial
finance operations.
By working to simplify clients operating models and improve risk management, it enhances
the customer experience and help drive significant cost savings.
Using innovative rightshoring model and leading workforce management software, it has the
resources and expertise to support a wide range of commercial finance processes from cash
management and administration, sales ledger and collections through to payroll and taxation
services.
Services include
Sales ledger Administration & Collections
Cash Management & Administration
Payroll, VAT & Tax management

COLLECTIONS

Run by qualified, experienced and knowledgeable team of experts, it provides clients with a
targeted structured and consistent approach to collections.
Managing collections is often a time-consuming, costly and resource intensive process for
most businesses. Efficient and effective management of collections is crucial for delivering a
positive customer experience.
It is a global top 20 collections service provider. It is partner with leading global financial
institutions, healthcare providers, and universities, who rely on it because of its commitment
to service excellence and compliance.
Delivering results
The mission is to maximise financial recovery output and deliver great service for the clients
customers. The scalable, flexible delivery model offers clients a customised combination of
on-shore and off-shore staffing models to adapt to their requirements.

Financial Collections Healthcare Student Loans

Services include credit cards,

Serving a range of healthcare Proven record in collectio
bank cards, private label
providers hospitals, default management,
retail cards, automotive loans,
physician groups, large prevention services, and
personal loans, overdraft
national healthcare systems, recovery solutions to clien
accounts, and mortgage
small rural hospitals, and in the higher education
collections
government facilities. industry
They work with 8 of the top
They have been providing More than 1,600 collectio
ten leading US credit card
healthcare collection services professionals in 5 service
issuers and the UKs largest
since 1958. centres, throughout the U
financial institution.

TELECOM AND MEDIA

Providing great customer experience

As digital continues to transform the broadcasting and pay TV industry, it
helps clients provide effective technical support and exceptional customer
experiences and at the same time, drive efficiency and market
penetration to maximise revenues.
Delivering results for ISPs
With the global broadband operational delivery expertise, it helps clients
navigate the industrys increasingly competitive environment and provide
a range of contact centre and back-office processing services across the
customer lifecycle to help clients stay ahead of the competition.
Helping mobile operators grow
Mobile operators today have huge opportunities for growth, but this is
hindered by reducing customer retention rates and demand for instant
service. It helps turn these challenges into opportunities by consolidating
processes and managing the customer lifecycle effectively, using channels
that customers want, when they want. With more than 10,000 of our
people serving the mobile sector each day, we help our clients address
the industrys unique challenges.
Firstsource works with land/fixed line providers to help them attract new
customers and retain existing ones, while keeping pace with new
technology platforms.
They offer a range of services for global telecommunications companies in
both the B2B and B2C sectors, with a track record of increasing ARPU
through cross-selling and up-selling all the while ensuring consistent
customer experiences across multiple channels.

HEALTHCARE

Increasing competitive advantage for healthcare payers and providers

The US healthcare industry has seen significant regulatory overhaul in

recent years which have presented new challenges for provider and payer
organisations as they navigate changes in costs, care, patient experience
and coverage. The expansion of coverage has added an additional 30-40
million previously uninsured people to the market.
The healthcare segment is further categorized into two more sub
segments:

1. PAYER SOLUTIONS

Payer solutions to decrease risk and improve customer care

As a leading provider of process-based services to healthcare payers, providing excellent

customer management remains at the heart of our approach. They focus on creating cost-
effective staffing and business process management solutions that apply advanced technology
to core business functions. Their strategic approach means continuously achieve greater
return on investments while decreasing risk.
Claims Processing and Adjudication Services

With industry-leading technology, proprietary systems and processes, secure centralized data
management and highly trained and experienced staff, Firstsource offers the solutions to
establish end-to-end operations, optimise existing processes and provide our own assistance
and expertise for claims processing that help our clients thrive.

Document and Mailroom Services

Firstsources dedicated professionals, high-speed/high-volume technology and best-practice
automated processes allow us to manage more than 1.5million documents per month, all
within a comprehensive compliance framework for privacy and data protection. Through
proprietary systems and deep domain expertise, they are able to provide industry-leading
mailroom, workflow and document management solutions to our payer clients, so that you
can do what you do best: provide excellent service to your members.
Member Enrolment Billing and Eligibility Services
As healthcare payers navigate the changed industry landscape reflecting ACA-related
reforms, demand for member enrolment services has increased dramatically, as has demand
for solutions to manage increased billing and collections needs. Firstsource lightens those
burdens by providing leading-edge solutions for enrolling and assisting members, monitoring
and pursuing revenue, and managing interactions with government agencies regarding federal
benefits.
Omni-Channel Client Care Services
The post-ACA healthcare landscape isnt the only landscape that has been significantly
reformed in recent years. Technological advances have set a higher standard for client care,
requiring that your client care methods be reformed as well. Firstsources combination of
expert staff, technological resources and industry knowledge positions us to provide client
care when, and how, the client needs and wants it. Using their omni-channel client care
services, you can offer members and providers on-demand support and continuity of
experience from email communication through to web-enabled face time. With our deep and
broad understanding of the healthcare industry from the perspective of payer, provider and
member, you can be sure that questions will be answered accurately, paperwork will be
completed and filed correctly and clients at all levels will be treated in a manner that reflects
the highest industry standards.
Provider Data Management and Credentialing
Something as simple as improperly maintained provider data files can have devastating
effects all across the healthcare payer enterprise. In this demanding and highly regulated
environment, having inaccurate, incorrect or out-of-date provider data is simply not an
option. Firstsources provider data management solutions, reference multiple and
comprehensive data sources to access the most up-to-date information available, along with
hands-on research and resolution of discrepancies to ensure that the data you rely on is data
you can trust.
2.IMPROVING REVENUE
Imjproving revenue lifecycle management for Providers

Firstsources provider division, MedAssist, works to continuously improve revenue cycle

management for healthcare providers. MedAssist offers a complete revenue cycle product
suite to enhance the revenue for hospitals and improve patient experience.
They provide eligibility, enrolment and other recovery services that help hospitals maximise
reimbursement. As a result, they have helped millions of patients and their families gain
medical coverage and financial assistance through Federal, State and hospital-funded
programmes.

Eligibility and enrollment solution

Receivables management solutions
Business office outsourcing services and solutions
Patient access technology and services
MORTGAGES

Mortgage fulfilment services

Retail, consumer direct, wholesale, correspondent and home equity originators are optimizing
their business processes through customized Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/Business
Process Management (BPM) services. With cutting-edge technology, they focus on
improving the customer experience, simplifying business processes, increasing productivity
and creating a positive revenue impact.

Mortgage servicing & default services

Whether you are fast-growing servicer looking to scale or an industry veteran looking to
optimize the business you already have, we have BPO/BPM solutions for you. Their
solutions are designed to help to scale your operation, mitigate risk and reduce costs by
leveraging domain rich team and specialized capabilities.
Title and valuation services
They are a one-stop shop for title, closing and valuation services for mortgage, home equity
and servicing clients.
Professional services
Their Professional Services Group offers comprehensive process and consulting solutions
enabling mortgage lenders and servicers to optimize performance, reduce costs and execute
on strategic initiatives.

OTHER SECTORS

Firstsource also works with clients across the travel, publishing, retail, utilities and
automotive sectors. Each industry comes with its own distinct challenges, whether it is the
regulatory challenges of the utilities space, or the seasonal volume peaks of the travel sector.

Their work with clients to address these challenges. Intelligent, collaborative thinking allows
us to adapt our customer experience management processes to deliver transformational
solutions that improve the customer lifecycle and back office capabilities whatever the
sector, whatever the business challenge.

PEST ANALYSIS

The business environment of an industry consists of all the external influences that affect its
decisions and performance. Given the vast number and range of external influences, Political,
Economic, Social, and Technological or PEST analysis framework provides a system for
organizing information regarding external forces that affect the business.

Political Analysis

Political Stability-- Indian political system is very stable. India is the world's largest
democratic nation, where elections are held democratically every five years. All
political parties strongly believe in democracy.

Relations with major powers- Indian government maintain good relations with all
major powers and power blocs of the world. This leads to Indian firms not getting
excluded in the tendering process.

Government Policy- The Indian government as well as the government owned

companies have decided to award more IT Projects to Indian IT companies.

Terrorism- As for terrorism, no terrorist outfit is strong enough to disturb the state.
Except for Kashmir in the north and parts of north-east India, terrorist activity is
either non-existent or too weak to be of any significance.

Economical Analysis

Global IT Spending- The recent financial crisis and ensuing recession has led to
major firms and banks cut down their IT spending affecting Industry growth.

Domestic IT Spending- - Indian domestic market grew by 20 % to reach USD 20

billion in 2008 and is poised to maintain this growth rate owing to most government
and governmental agencies going in for digitization.

Currency Fluctuation- As most of software services are exported, strengthening of

Indian Rupee, major currencies such as US Dollar, UK Pound leads to a decrease in
profits and vice-versa for companies.

Attrition- Owing to recession, layoffs and job-cuts have resulted in low attrition rate.

Labour Cost-- Indian Programming costs are among the lowest in the world,
giving a cost advantage.

Social Analysis

Language Spoken- Indian software staff is comfortable in English language and in

doing business in English.

Education- Large number of technical institutes, colleges and universities all

 over the country provide IT education.

Working age- Working age population also affects the industry because everyone has
different value, lifestyle, attitude, and also the satisfaction level.

Technological Analysis

Telephony- India has among the world's lowest telephone call rates. Telephone
subscribers base expected to cross 500 million by end 2013.Enterprise telephone
services such as 3G, Wi-max, VPN poised to grow. India is the second largest
telephone network after China.

Internet- The number of Internet users in India is expected to rise 18.53 percent in
the coming eight months to reach 24.3 crore by June 2014, on the back of higher
adoption of mobiles as a means to access the Internet. India is also expected to
overtake the US as the second largest Internet base in the world by the same time.

"The report estimates that by June 2014, India will have 243 million Internet users, at
which point of time, it is expected to overtake the US as the second largest Internet
base in the world," the I-Cube 2013 report, released by the Internet and Mobile
Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International.

New Technologies- Business process outsourcing (BPO) has been providing

businesses with a way to cut costs for years, but current IT trends are shaking up the
sector. Technologies such as cloud computing, business analytics software, social
media platforms and process automation software are being used within BPO to
enable businesses to lower costs and be more effective.