SourcePilani - A Mission with Passion for taking medical transcription to rural hinterlands

April 4, 2008 - PRLog -- Urmila Maan, a 25 year old housewife from a village close to Pilani, Rajasthan begins her day at 5 am and attends to her household chores. By 8 am however, she is in pursuit of bigger dreams and works for SourcePilani – a rural business process outsourcing unit in Pilani. The Urmila Maans and the 40 other rural folk who work at SourcePilani are now the new faces of the Indian BPO industry.

“SourcePilani has added a whole new dimension to my otherwise routine life”, says Urmila. “It has not only taught me specific skills related to my job but also enhanced my self-confidence. Today I enjoy a better social status in society and it feels very nice.” At SourcePilani, Urmila services US doctors and hospitals by delivering medical transcription (conversion of medical prescriptions from audio to text format) work.

This Pilani based firm was established in September 2007 with the support and encouragement from Birla Institute of Technology and Science  Pilani – one of India’s premier universities. Funded by the Goenkas (The Laxmi Organic Industries Group), this venture is built specifically to tackle the problem of ‘unemployability’ at the grass root level.

Spearheaded by Manoj Vasudevan, the venture strives to impact hundreds of lives in rural India by providing employment to rural folks, thus giving them a livelihood and providing them an opportunity to pursue their goals and interests. The recruited village folk are given process specific training free of cost for some months and then inducted as full-time employees. Apart from this, everyone who enrolls undergoes a foundational training that includes basic computer skills, Basic English proficiency with a strong emphasis on soft skills.

“The idea largely revolves around empowerment of the rural community. What we are doing is trying to build a sound and robust business model around it. The social case and business case go hand in hand as far as SourcePilani is concerned and according to me this is the only way we can envision sustainable grass root development”, says Manoj, an ex-employee of IBM Corporation.

SourcePilani has tied up with Truworth Infotech Pvt. Ltd., Rajasthan’s largest transcription house. The execution of medical transcription work at SourcePilani is carried out in partnership with Truworth. SourcePilani currently has 20 of its employees on this vertical and aims to scale up the medical transcription unit to 100 people soon.
“SourcePilani is the first rural BPO in the country to be carrying out medical transcription work from a rural set up and the goal is to make Pilani a medical transcription hub of sorts in Rajasthan”, says Manoj.

The medical transcription training modules designed for the village folk were quite elaborate and customized keeping in mind the rural audience. The training that included development of listening skills, knowledge of medical terminologies, quick typing skills, and quality assurance was imparted by Truworth.

“The path to this stage was definitely not easy, but we have broken all myth and shown that such a thing can be achieved. This is true empowerment of the rural folks and I’d like to thank Mr. Vasudev Goenka and BITS Pilani without whom none of this would have been possible. In particular, I want to extend my thanks to the Jhunjhunu district collector, Mr. Dinesh Kumar and Truworth Infotech for all the support and encouragement given to us throughout”, added Manoj.

Medical transcription is a unique occupation that forms a very critical process in the US heath care revenue cycle management and this milestone has integrated rural India into the main stream knowledge economy of the country. Each employee of SourcePilani can earn Rs 3000-5000 a month – a sizable income to take back home considering the low cost of living in villages. This is indeed empowered outsourcing.

Apart from this, SourcePilani also offers its services in the area of data entry/digitization, back end administrative support, form processing, lead generation and e-governance activities. It recently bagged a government project to carry out all data entry of forms pertaining to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) being implemented in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan.  

SourcePilani comes at a time when the Indian BPO industry is being faced with problems relating to higher operational costs and attrition. The recent survey carried out by NASSCOM, the apex body of the Indian IT industry suggests that the average pay scale of the employees in the Indian BPO industry has increased between 16 and 18% and that the attrition rate is anywhere between 50 and 60%. Thus by tapping into the rural talent available, SourcePilani not only plans to position itself as a low cost player but also plans to develop the most stable and nurtured workforce over time.

“This is isn’t philanthropy nor is it any form of charity. It’s pure and simple development”, says Manoj. Each SourcePilani job generates as much revenue as 5 acres of agricultural land. With 40 people employed at Pilani through this venture, he adds, “It’s analogous to adding 200 acres of good land in Rajasthan”.

With a smile Manoj says that he has miles to go before he can sleep.

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SourcePilani  mission is to tap the untapped potential of rural India and in the process facilitate the upliftment of rural society by providing a livelihood and opportunity to pursue their goals and interests. The vision is to impact hundreds of lives in rural India by providing employment to the rural masses, thus providing them with a livelihood and empowering them through wealth creation.

Website: sourcepilani.com/