We are entering an era where regulatory boundaries will be redefined, others will come within its scope, but there will be distinctions globally in how this is approached. A few industries, namely FinTech and Telecom, will see quite a bit of change, also driven by supporting ecosystems such as artificial intelligence. And all of this will trickle down to the consumer experience, which Rajiv Malhotra, head of European affairs at RP-Sanjiv Goenka group company Firstsource, is wary of.
From his post, overlooking the company’s operations in the European region with what he claims is a significant focus on the Nordics, Malhotra talks about the changing contours of data privacy, cybersecurity as well as regulations, and its impact on the demands of the companies they work with. with. Edited excerpts:
Q. A lot of data is generated in the banking and telecommunications sector. What do you think would be the best practices to prevent data breaches and to manage user data?
Rajiv Malhotra: I think everyone is doing their part. The whole aspect of cybersecurity governance and best practices is very important. I think it’s important to take it to the next level, which we do as an organization, but at the same time, ensuring that our customers are also following the same practice. If there is something else they are undertaking, how can they better collaborate?
I think it’s missing somehow, and that’s where the problems arise. This is where every client organization now becomes stronger, and say “here is my set of governance guidelines”, “what are your sets of governance guidelines” and “is there a way to collaborate better?” How do you then mitigate the overall risk? This is where we see a significant amount of unlocking.
Q. From your point of view, how do you see the Indian economy and the Indian regulatory space? Is there room for more along the lines of FinTech and communication regulation?
Malhotra: I think India is doing enough, but the challenge we’re facing very specifically is that there’s been a lot of noise around all the digital acceleration and with the NPS trend (editor’s note: this is short for Net Promoter Score, a metric used by businesses to measure customer experience). Customer experience is becoming an issue in some industries, enough to say that India is ready to serve this kind of aspect. If you compare customer experience, regional customer experience is better in certain industries and sectors. So that creates a question mark.
Then if you look at the risk of data leakage, it’s even higher in this market. There is also a lot of movement on the aspect of cybersecurity. In the past, we’ve seen customers who went there and then pulled the business because NPS was a big deal.
This is another segment that needs improvisation, to say “yes, this is a market that can actually do all digital acceleration differently”. He can also actually do the voice differently. If you see the communication media industry, they are already there. And you see it’s all over India, but the financial services market in particular, and the non-financial services market, which is a diverse market, is still very resilient. This is where regulations massively impact the customer experience, holding them back. This prevents them from creating jobs in that particular market.
Q. As a base, the UK focuses on vertical technology regulations. Do they help in practice, also in other geographical areas?
Malhotra: No actually. We have been quite well in the United States. I think the regulatory complexity comes more after the UK is pretty much Europe, but again, Europe is Switzerland. At present, we do not operate in this market, and we have particularly steered clear. If we try to develop in Europe, our strategy is very clear to go to the Nordic countries which are English-speaking and less regulated.
