06/10/2013
It all started when Telenor was contemplating on taking an initiative to harmonize finance and accounting (F&A) operations across its all business units and considering a new production hub in addition to Norway and Pakistan Shared Service Centers. As an option, Dhaka, Bangladesh came into consideration. There were discussions around this option starting from early 2012 and subsequently a rigorous assessment followed. That is when Dhaka stood out as a very good potential option. It was then decided that GPIT partnering with a globally established Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company, could become the next production hub for Telenor.
GPIT then started its commitment towards being the first BPO center in the country to make it very global. GPIT team started its very important journey which included rigorous feasibility assessment, board approval, and connectivity establishment, business case analysis, contracting with GSS, and securing office & infrastructure. At the same time GPIT also ran a partner search program in parallel with Telenor to find the right partner for GPIT which eventually resulted in partnering with global BPO giant: Accenture. Together with Accenture, GPIT has reached its target to establish a world class BPO center in Dhaka and go-live with F&A operation for Grameenphone (GP) under the GERP platform from 1st October, 2013. All hard work was made possible because of everyone’s commitment and belief from both GPIT and Accenture.
1st October 2013 is the date which is a milestone for GPIT and for Bangladesh as well. BPO was officially launched in GPHOUSE in presence of major stakeholders from GERP Program and GSS of Telenor, GP Management, GPIT and Accenture Leadership. The event started with Raihan Shamsi, CEO of GPIT welcoming everyone and sharing the GPIT BPO dream and the journey to achieve this very dream. He also appreciated the people who put in their hard work to make this possible.
Among the guest speakers were Vivek Sood, CEO, Grameenphone; Kjersti Thoen, Head of F&A Services, Telenor Global Shared Services; Hari Bhardwaj, Global Delivery Lead for Telenor BPO, Accenture; Mainur Rahman Bhuiyan, Acting CFO, Grameenphone; George Turk, Program Director, Global ERP Project, Telenor; Gretel Vanseer, BPO Account Executive for Telenor, Accenture. They spoke about the future potential of BPO and wished GPIT greater success in the days to come. Vivek Sood commented “I am happy for this achievement and as GPIT has raised the bar of my expectation, I will be anticipating even better support in the future!” GPIT’s effort, dedication and skills were appreciated by our stakeholder representatives. This was definitely a proud moment for GPIT when the launching was formalized by logging into the BPO page.
The launching ceremony was followed by a floor visit by GPIT’s stakeholders from GP, Accenture and Telenor to Level 8 of GPHOUSE from where the F&A operation will run. A traditional ribbon was cut to commemorate the milestone. After which, a townhall was called where all GPIT employees were invited and Raihan Shamsi proudly announced to his team members about the great accomplishment of GPIT together with Telenor and Accenture. Other speakers were Abdul Bari, Head of Financial and Admin Solutions and Saiful Islam, Head of GPIT BPO F&A, who were leading the BPO project. Raihan Shamsi quoted “This is a great moment for Bangladesh where GPIT spearheaded the BPO industry and this was ONLY possible by our employees who worked day and night to make the BPO dream to become a reality”.
