Dr. Alok Aggarwal

Human Resource Challenges: Reducing India’s Competitive Edge in ITES Offshoring?

1.1 Executive Summary

The erosion of salary differential, rising attrition and deficiency of certain important skill sets such as managerial experience and domain expertise are some emerging human resource challenges that are likely to reduce India’s competitive advantage in the ITES sector over the next five years.

The demand of professionals in the ITES industry will outpace supply by 2009. Number of graduates available for every job in the ITES sector will reduce from 4.7 in 2003 to less than 1 by FY 2009. This will limit the pool of talent available for recruitment in ITES industry. Rising salaries and the cost of attrition will further aggravate the problem by adding to the costs. According to industry experts, the cost of attrition is about 150 percent of the annual salary of
an employee. These problems faced by the ITES industry could result in Indian’s inability to provide quality services efficiently.

In order to overcome these challenges, Indian ITES industry needs to take some necessary steps such as educational programmes catering specifically to the ITES industry. This would help build the required talent base for ITES industry. Companies in the ITES sector can also contribute their share to this by offering in-house certifications and liaising with educational institutions such as schools and undergraduate colleges for specialized training programmes. Attrition should be dealt with by having ‘loyalty scorecards’, and non-poaching agreements.

Indian ITES industry needs to employ effective policies to execute above suggestions. Otherwise, new offshore destinations are not lagging far behind and catching up fast in the offshoring

1.2 India: The Preferred Offshore ITES Destination

India has enjoyed the status of being the most preferred destinations for offshoring of IT enabled services (ITES). ITES industry comprises business process outsourcing (BPO) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) sectors.

Indian companies have received ITES work from some of the major US and UK based companies such as GE, American Express, Citicorp, Microsoft, Standard Chartered, Convergys and HSBC. Increasing Indian exports in this sector prove that India has created a brand for itself among its US and UK based clients. The total number of jobs in the Indian ITES industry is expected to increase from 180,000 in FY 2003 to approximately 1.8 million in FY 2010. Indian offshore service providers offer a variety of services to their clients. Figure 1 provides the break-up of Indian ITES exports by major service lines for the past few years.

1.2.1 Role of India’s Human Capital in Providing Competitive Advantage

The competitive advantage of an offshore services delivery location can be assessed on four dimensions, namely ability, efficiency, scalability and sustainability. India’s human capital has helped it prove itself across all these
dimensions:

1. Ability: India has emerged as a source of highly skilled human resources for ITES industry. India, with its large pool of trained, English-speaking personnel, offers huge cost benefits to clients of these companies. Today, India stands second in the world, in terms of the availability of scientists and engineers; the first being US1. According to NASSCOM, India produces 2.4 million graduates every year, out of which, approximately 330,000 are from the engineering stream. In addition to that, India also produces 40,000 graduates from various fields of business management. According to statistics given by UGC, 12,000 doctorate degrees are awarded each year in various fields.

2. Efficiency: India derives its efficiency from low cost, improved quality and round the clock services. Offshore service providers in India are cheaper by 30-40 percent, compared to their US and European counterparts. Offshore Indian companies deploy best practices in process re-engineering, leveraging technology and process capability certifications such as Customer Operations Performance Centre (COPC) and Six Sigma. The world’s first and all five of the world’s PCMM (People-CMM) Level 5 organisations are based in India2. In business process management, India has the largest number of COPC-certified contact centres outside the US and Canada. Moreover, India’s geographical location gives a 10-13 hour time difference from various time zones in the US. This, coupled with the use of high-speed telecom infrastructure, has enabled India to offer virtually 24×7 services at a fraction of western costs.

3. Scalability: Indian offshore service providers have attained the capability to scale up or scale down their operations based on the requirement of the client. With the increase in offshoring business, Indian companies are ramping up the number of professionals on bench. Most of the companies in the BPO sector in India are hiring at an aggressive rate. According to news reports, Wipro Spectramind, the BPO arm of the IT major Wipro Limited, was adding 1,800 employees to its existing headcount every month3 in 2004. This trend is expected to continue in 2005. Secondly, infrastructure is not a major constraint in scaling the operations as most BPO companies are operating in multiple shifts and, as a result, are able to ramp up their capacity at relatively low capital costs. Many BPO companies set up offices with a buffer in seating capacity. This helps them increase or decrease the workforce without any negative effect on productivity.

4. Sustainability: The presence of a skilled, young and large workforce, coupled with other macroeconomic factors such as high rate of unemployment, makes India a lucrative destination. Favourable government, physical environment, the “India” brand, etc. are some of the macroeconomic factors that have helped India retain the competitive edge in offshoring.

1.3 Human Resource Challenges in India’s ITES Industry

Despite the phenomenal growth of the Indian ITES offshoring industry, it is facing some significant problems, which would result in India losing business to other countries. Some of the problems faced by the Indian offshoring industry
are:

  • Decreasing supply-demand ratio
  • Reducing cost arbitrage
  • Rising attrition
  • Gaps in skill-sets

1.3.1 Decreasing Supply-demand Ratio

1.3.1.1 Impact on ITES Industry

As shown in Figure 2, the demand will outpace supply in future and affect the scalability of the industry. This will also reduce the quality levels as less number of graduates will be available for employment, thereby reducing the level of competition. Moreover, as ITES companies extend offers to only 5-10 percent of applicants, thus selecting the right candidate will become a massive challenge in the years to come. Secondly, a reduction in the supply-demand ratio will also result in an increase in wages, affecting the ability to deliver at lower costs.

1.3.2 Reducing Cost Arbitrage

India’s edge, as a cost effective destination, will also dilute in future. Rapid growth in offshoring is creating a shortage of qualified labour force and may result in retarding India’s potential, in terms of cost competitiveness. Cost arbitrage is expected to reduce due to the following reasons:

  • Rise in salary levels
  • Rupee appreciation

1.3.2.1 Rise in Salary Levels

Higher salaries are constantly reducing the potential cost savings of the companies and in turn, their efficiency. They are also depleting the scalability of the organisations because it is becoming more and more difficult for smaller players to scale up or to maintain large bench strength. With the rise in salaries, companies are forced to keep their average utilisation to near 100 percent. Such a situation places both scalability and sustenance under question.

Most industry experts are of the opinion that salaries will continue to rise in the next few years with the industry growing at a fast pace. It has been observed that while salaries are stabilising in the US and Europe, Indian employees are enjoying considerable salary hikes. According to Hewitt Associates, India reported the maximum percentage hike in salaries in service sector in 2003 (Figure 3). Within the service sector in the country, it is the employees of the ITES sector who boast of the steepest salary hikes of 15.4 percent, which was almost 20 percent in
2002.

1.3.2.2 Rupee Appreciation

The recent appreciation of the Indian rupee is making things quite difficult for the export industry. This is more so for ITES industry where the import intensity is low and firms earn in dollars and incur costs in rupees. Such a trend will have an adverse effect on India’s ability to sustain itself as an offshoring destination. Historically, the Indian rupee has mostly depreciated against the dollar. However, in the last few years, this trend is reversing, as depicted in
Figure 4. The rupee appreciated to 43.5 against the USD in April 2004 and, at present, its value is fluctuating in the range of 43-45.

With the Indian GDP growth projected to be above six percent in the coming years, INR is poised to continue this upward trend. The continual growth of offshore exports will bring down the deficit in the balance of payments for the Indian economy as a whole. This is likely to result in the appreciation of the Indian rupee with respect to other major currencies, similar to the recent trend with the USD. Economists expect the USD to further depreciate by around 2.5 percent every year. If INR appreciates against the USD, the cost differential will reduce further and this will result in reduced gains from offshoring services. Figure 5 represents the effect of rupee appreciation on cost differential for three different scenarios of exchange rates.

1.3.2.3 Impact on ITES Industry

If rupee continues to appreciate, together with rising salaries, it will result in increased costs for ITES companies in India. Increased costs will result in higher prices for these services, thereby reducing the cost efficiencies of their US clients. Consequently, client attrition will increase and Indian companies will have fewer clients to serve. We expect that this will result in a major shakeout in the Indian ITES industry and Indian service providers will be forced to close
operations.

1.3.3 Rising Attrition

Attrition not only dilutes the quality of services provided by an offshore vendor, but also raises doubts about the scalability of its operations. This section analyses the trends in attrition and assesses its impact on the offshoring industry.

1.3.3.1 Attrition Rates

Call centres and customer care centres experience the highest attrition rates in the offshoring industry, where job opportunities are aplenty and the skills required are low. While attrition ranges from about 15 percent to 70 percent, it averages in the range of 20-40 percent for most ITES companies.

Attrition rates also vary with the level of experience. According to a study carried out by Team Lease, an executive search firm, the attrition rates at the entry level in the BPO industry are approximately 53 percent, while the rate of  attrition at the middle manager positions is 25-27 percent. Exit barriers are typically higher for companies that require certain specific skills in personnel (technical qualifications or higher degrees).

1.3.3.2 Impact on ITES Industry

Attrition affects the following capabilities of ITES companies:

  • Ability to provide services efficiently
  • Ability to scale operations

1.3.3.2.1 Ability to provide services efficiently

Attrition places direct as well as indirect financial burden on companies. According to industry experts, the cost of attrition is about 150 percent of the annual salary of an employee. Attrition directly contributes to the rise in offshore wages. This occurs when companies increase salaries in order to retain talent or offer a salary hike of 15-20 percent to prospective employees. These costs associated with attrition put pressure on the profit margins of the Indian vendors and might undermine the quality of services offered to their clients. Furthermore, there is a constant need to
re-train employees, who have been poached from or have worked in other processing centres; this is already proving to be a challenge for many players in the BPO space. Given an environment fuelled by competition to hire talent, companies are also ending up spending a lot on retaining their senior, experienced employees. These costs, which can be attributed to attrition, might expose the offshoring vendor to high risks in times of declining billing rates. This will in turn affect the vendors’ ability to provide services efficiently at profitable prices. Furthermore, vendors are also expected to face dips in productivity and efficiency as the new staff takes time to acclimatise to the organisation. There is a quality dimension to this argument as well. Frequent job-hopping results in poor project management ability and lack of domain expertise. This, in turn, causes delays and cost over runs and longer ramp up time, all of which contribute to lower quality and poor customer satisfaction.

1.3.3.2.2 Ability to scale operations

Attrition might lead to a scarcity of domain and managerial abilities, which in the long run would adversely affect a vendor’s ability to alter the scale of operations. In many cases, attrition leads to a vertical movement in the industry, where individuals get promoted a rank or two above their current position. This is especially true for the call centre industry. However, since a majority of the entrants are graduates, who do not have any management background, they are ill-suited for middle management. High levels of attrition also reduce the availability of domain-specific skills.
Due to the frequent shifting of jobs, a person’s movement on the learning curve is also slow, i.e., people who shift jobs repeatedly will have a lower understanding of the domain in comparison with their counterparts who stay in their positions longer. This is because they spend more time in learning about the new company and its policies rather than enhancing their understanding of the industry. To counter this effect of attrition, many companies prefer to maintain an excess supply of labour, thereby increasing their costs. Such processes are expected to affect these
companies’ ability to scale operations in the future.

1.3.4 Gaps in Skill-sets

1.3.4.1 Lack of Managerial Skills

The sheer availability of resources does not guarantee quality. There is a definite lack of qualified middle-level managers in the Indian ITES industry, which, if neglected, can have a severe impact on the sustainability of a company’s operations. The lack of managerial skills in the hierarchy cannot be filled overnight. Due to this imbalance, the attrition rate and wage levels amongst this band of professionals are increasing continuously. As a result, the industry will either witness dilution in the quality of the workforce hired (not enough skilled middle managers are available) or shrinking profit margins. We conducted an analysis on the hierarchical structure in various sectors in the offshoring industry. This is shown in Table 1.

We estimate that India will have a workforce of 1,809,000 ITES professionals by 2010. We estimate that out of this, approximately 139,000 would be required at ‘team leads/project leads’ level and 25,000 would be required at ‘team managers/project managers/process managers’ levels to sustain operations. This is shown in Figure 6.

1.3.4.2 Inadequate Domain Experience

Inadequate domain experience is another impediment in India sustaining its competitive edge in the offshoring industry. With the shift from BPO to KPO, companies are finding it all the more difficult to offer field-specific services.

The demand-supply gap is forcing companies to hire undergraduates. India’s advantage in high intellectual capital is under pressure owing to this demand-supply gap. The lure of the BPO industry and the huge salaries have seen a large number of students dropping out of colleges and opting for jobs instead. This trend, a temporary solution as of now, could snowball into the lack of qualified manpower 5-10 years down the line. The percentage of students opting for higher studies is already very low in India, and this trend can take away the advantage of skilled labour in no time.

As companies begin to offer premium services in the offshoring domain, the requirement for middle level managers with the right domain expertise will take a huge leap. People shifting their job profiles have also made the situation very grim for domain-specific work. According to Health-IT World, “the slow pace of offshore adoption in the healthcare industry is due, in part; to the fact that many IT service providers lack the necessary domain expertise.” India also lacks core competencies in various areas such as HR outsourcing. For instance, according to sources, Exult, a US-based firm that provides human resource services to companies, wanted to outsource end-to-end HR- related work to a third party, but was unable to find an Indian company with the requisite expertise.

1.3.4.3 Limited Multi-lingual Capabilities

The demand for personnel speaking languages other than English is growing. Experts feel that English is no more the lingua franca of the BPO sector. Multi-lingual processes are the natural progression for successful BPO players and an essential part of expansion to new markets. Indian manpower, at present lacks multilingual capabilities to offer offshoring services to non-English speaking regions (German, French, Spanish, Italian, etc.). This may limit India’s entry in these lucrative markets.

1.4 Conclusion

Indian ITES industry has grown and established itself in the country in just a few years. This is because of the right location, availability of right pool of graduates and the competitive prices that the vendors have been offering to their clients. However, the country may lose the competitive advantage that it has enjoyed till now among various offshore destinations. Rising costs, high levels of attrition and the lack of the right skill sets are among the primary human resource challenges that are reducing India’s edge in offshoring. India’s reduced edge in offshoring may reflect in the following in the coming years:

  • Inability to provide high quality and domain specific services
  • Inability to provide services efficiently
  • Inability to scale operations

1.4.1 Steps to Help Indian ITES Industry

Indian offshoring industry needs to take the situation seriously and take necessary steps in order to retain the competitive edge that it enjoys at present. We suggest some steps in this section:

1.4.1.1 Low Supply Demand Ratio and People Quality

Till now, there is no educational programme catering specifically to the ITES industry. The education system should incorporate appropriate training for an expanding offshoring industry. National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) has already started working in this direction and with the expansion of BPO industry; it is planning to introduce a common certification for different skills and knowledge required by the industry.

Companies in the ITES sector can also contribute their share to this by offering in-house certifications and liaising with educational institutions such as schools and undergraduate colleges for specialized training programmes. Some management institutes have already started conducting special workshops and courses that cater to this sector.

Moreover, the industry associations such as NASSCOM should take proactive measures in branding the ITES industry for greater acceptance among graduates.

1.4.1.2 Attrition and Rising Costs

Attrition should be dealt with by having ‘loyalty scorecards’. Such scorecards would be a measure of employee loyalty and can be centrally recorded by Indian government or industry associations. These scorecards would enable recording of employment details of professionals and graduates working in the ITES industry and would be a reliable source of information on the employment record of these professionals, thereby helping them select the right candidates. Such a process will also promote company loyalty among Indian youth.

Secondly, companies should have non-poaching agreements in the rapidly expanding ITES industry. This will help the companies retain their trained employees and also help them reduce the costs related to attrition.

1.4.2 Alternate Offshore Destinations

If India is not able to employ effective policies to save its ITES industry, other offshore destinations are also coming up in the race to grab their share of the offshoring pie. Countries such as China and Philippines which were lagging behind India have started offering offshoring services to their clients in the US. Table 2 considers the case of BPO sector and compares the labour costs in the BPO sector and demographic factors for some key offshore BPO/KPO
locations:

Blog Written by

Dr. Alok Aggarwal

CEO, Chief Data Scientist at Scry AI
Author of the book The Fourth Industrial Revolution
and 100 Years of AI (1950-2050)

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You have the right to bring a claim before their competent data protection authority. If you are based in the EEA, please visit this website (http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/document.cfm?action=display&doc_id=50061) for a list of local data protection authorities.

Withdrawing Consent


If you have consented to our processing of your Personal Data, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, free of charge, such as where you wish to opt out from marketing messages that you receive from us. If you wish to withdraw your consent, please contact us using the information found at the bottom of this page.

How to Exercise Your Rights


You can make a request to exercise any of these rights in relation to your Personal Data by sending the request to our privacy team by using the form below.
For your own privacy and security, at our discretion, we may require you to prove your identity before providing the requested information.

Changes


We may modify this Policy at any time. If we make changes to this Policy then we will post an updated version of this Policy at this website. When using our services, you will be asked to review and accept our Privacy Policy. In this manner, we may record your acceptance and notify you of any future changes to this Policy.

Contact Us


To request a copy for your information, unsubscribe from our email list, request for your data to be deleted, or ask a question about your data privacy, we've made the process simple:

Email us

Terms and Conditions


Our aim is to keep this Agreement as readable as possible, but in some cases for legal reasons, some of the language is required "legalese".

Your Acceptance of This Agreement


These terms of service are entered into by and between You and Scry Analytics, Inc., ("Company," "we," "our," or "us"). The following terms and conditions, together with any documents they expressly incorporate by reference (collectively "Terms of Service"), govern your access to and use of www.scryai.com, including any content, functionality, and services offered on or through www.scryai.com (the "Website").

Please read the Terms of Service carefully before you start to use the Website.

By using the Website [or by clicking to accept or agree to the Terms of Service when this option is made available to you], you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy, found at Privacy Policy, incorporated herein by reference. If you do not want to agree to these Terms of Service, you must not access or use the Website.

By accessing and using this website, You accept and:


Accept and agree to be bound and comply with these terms of service. You represent and warrant that you are the legal age of majority under applicable law to form a binding contract with us and, you agree if you access the website from a jurisdiction where it is not permitted, you do so at your own risk.

Updates to Terms of Service


We may revise and update these Terms of Service from time to time in our sole discretion. All changes are effective immediately when we post them and apply to all access to and use of the Website thereafter.

Continuing to use the Website following the posting of revised Terms of Service means that you accept and agree to the changes. You are expected to check this page each time you access this Website so you are aware of any changes, as they are binding on you.

Your Responsibilities


You are required to ensure that all persons who access the Website are aware of this Agreement and comply with it. It is a condition of your use of the Website that all the information you provide on the Website is correct, current, and complete.

You are solely and entirely responsible for your use of the website and your computer, internet and data security.

Prohibited Activities


You may use the Website only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Service. You agree not to use the Website:

  • In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the exports of data software to and from the U.S. or other countries).
  • For the purpose of exploiting, harming, or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information or otherwise.
  • To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use, or re-use any material that does not comply with the Submission Standards set out in these Terms of Service.
  • To transmit, or procure the sending of, any advertising or promotional material, including any "junk mail," "chain letter," "spam," or any other similar solicitation.
  • To impersonate or attempt to impersonate the Company, a Company employee, another user, or any other persona or entity (including, without limitation, by using email addresses associated with any of the foregoing).
  • To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone's use or enjoyment of the website, or which as determined by us, may harm the Company or users of the website, or expose them to liability.

Additionally, you agree not to:


  • Use the Website in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the site or interfere with any other party's use of the Website, including their ability to engage in real-time activities through the Website.
  • Use any robot, spider, or other automatic device, process, or means to access the Website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Website.
  • Use any manual process to monitor or copy any of the material on the Website, or for any other purpose not expressly authorized in these Terms of Service, without our prior written consent.
  • Use any device, software, or routine that interferes with the proper working of the Website.
  • Introduce any viruses, Trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage, or disrupt any parts of the Website, the server on which the Website is stored, or any server, computer, or database connected to the Website.
  • Attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
  • Otherwise attempting to interfere with the proper working of the Website.

Intellectual Property Rights


The Website and its entire contents, features, and functionality (including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, video, and audio, and the design, selection, and arrangement thereof) are owned by the Company, its licensors, or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.

These Terms of Service permit you to use the Website for your personal, non-commercial use only. You must not reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, republish, download, store, or transmit any of the material on our Website, except as follows:

  • Your computer may temporarily store copies of such material in RAM incidental to your accessing and viewing those materials.
  • You may store files that are automatically cached by your Web browser for display enhancement purposes.
  • You may print or download one copy of a reasonable number of pages of the Website for your own personal, non-commercial use and not for further reproduction, publication or distribution.
  • If we provide social media features with certain content, you may take such actions as are enabled by such features.

You must not:


  • Modify copies of any materials from this site.
  • Delete or alter any of the copyright, trademark, or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from this site.

You must not access or use for any commercial purposes any part of the website or any services or materials available through the Website.

If you print, copy, modify, download, or otherwise use or provide any other person with access to any part of the Website in breach of the Terms of Service, your right to use the Website will stop immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made. No right, title, or interest in or to the Website or any content on the Website is transferred to you, and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by the Company. Any use of the Website not expressly permitted by these Terms of Service is a breach of these Terms of Service and may violate copyright, trademark, and other laws.

User Submissions and Submission Standards


The Website may provide you with the opportunity to create, submit, post, display, transmit, public, distribute, or broadcast content and materials to us or in the Website, including but not limited to text, writings, video, audio, photographs, graphics, comments, ratings, reviews, feedback, or personal information or other material (collectively, "Content"). You are responsible for your use of the Website and for any content you provide, including compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations.

All User Submissions must comply with the Submission Standards and Prohibited Activities set out in these Terms of Service.

Any User Submissions you post to the Website will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary. By submitting, posting, or displaying content on or through the Website, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy, reproduce, process, disclose, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute such Content for any purpose, commercial advertising, or otherwise, and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate in other works, such as Content, and grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing. The use and distribution may occur in any media format and through any media channels.

You represent and warrant that:


  • You own or control all rights in and to the User Submissions and have the right to grant the license granted above to us and our affiliates and service providers, and each of their and our respective licensees, successors, and assigns.
  • All of your User Submissions comply with these Terms of Service.

We do not assert any ownership over your Content. You retain full ownership of all of your Content and any intellectual property rights or other proprietary rights associated with your Content. We are not liable for any statement or representations in your Content provided by you in any area in the Website. You are solely responsible for your Content related to the Website and you expressly agree to exonerate us from any and all responsibility and to refrain from any legal action against us regarding your Content. We are not responsible or liable to any third party for the content or accuracy of any User Submissions posted by you or any other user of the Website. User Submissions are not endorsed by us and do not necessarily represent our opinions or the view of any of our affiliates or partners. We do not assume liability for any User Submission or for any claims, liabilities, or losses resulting from any review.

We have the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, (1) to edit, redact, or otherwise change any Content; (2) to recategorize any Content to place them in more appropriate locations in the Website; and (3) to prescreen or delete any Content at any time and for any reason, without notice. We have no obligation to monitor your Content. Any use of the Website in violation of these Terms of Service may result in, among other things, termination or suspension of your right to use the Website.

These Submission Standards apply to any and all User Submissions. User Submissions must in their entirety comply with all the applicable federal, state, local, and international laws and regulations. Without limiting the foregoing, User Submissions must not:

  • Contain any material that is defamatory, obscene, indecent, abusive, offensive, misleading, harassing, violent, hateful, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable.
  • Promote sexually explicit or pornographic material, violence, or discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age.
  • Infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, or other intellectual property or other rights of any other person.
  • Violate the legal rights of others or contain any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under applicable laws or regulations or that otherwise may be in conflict with these terms of service and our Privacy Policy.
  • Be likely to deceive any person.
  • Promote any illegal activity, or advocate, promote, or assist in any unlawful act.
  • Cause annoyance, inconvenience, or needless anxiety or be likely to upset, embarrass, alarm, or annoy any other person.
  • Impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organization.
  • Involve commercial activities or sales, such as contests, sweepstakes, and other sales promotions, barter, or advertising.
  • Give the impression that they emanate from or are endorsed by us or any other person or entity, if this is not the case.

Our Rights


We have the right, without provision of notice to:

  • Remove or refuse to post any User Submission for any or no reason in our sole discretion;
  • Take any action with respect to any User Submission that we deem necessary or appropriate in our sole discretion, including if we believe that such User Submission violates the Terms of Service, including the Submission Standards, infringes any intellectual property right or other right of any person or entity, threatens the personal safety of users of the Website or the public, or could create liability for the Company;
  • Take appropriate legal action, including, without limitation, referral to or cooperation with law enforcement or regulatory authorities, or notifying the harmed party of any illegal or unauthorized use of the Website; and
  • Terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Website for any or no reason, including, without limitation, any violation of these Terms of Service.

You waive and hold harmless company and its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, service providers, contractors, licensors, licensees, suppliers, and successors from any and all claims resulting from any action taken by the company and any of the foregoing parties relating to any, investigations by either the company or by law enforcement authorities.

Third Party Links and Sites


For your convenience, this Website may provide links or pointers to third-party sites or third-party content. We make no representations about any other websites or third-party content that may be accessed from this Website. If you choose to access any such sites, you do so at your own risk. We have no control over the third-party content or any such third-party sites and accept no responsibility for such sites or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them. You are subject to any terms and conditions of such third-party sites.

Social Media Features


This Website may provide certain social media features that enable you to:

  • Link from your own or certain third-party websites to certain content on this Website.
  • Send emails or other communications with certain content, or links to certain content, on this Website.
  • Cause limited portions of content on this Website to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party websites.

You may use these features solely as they are provided by us and solely with respect to the content they are displayed with. Subject to the foregoing, you must not:

  • Establish a link from any website that is not owned by you.
  • Cause the Website or portions of it to be displayed on, or appear to be displayed by, any other site, for example, framing, deep linking, or in-line linking.
  • Link to any part of the Website other than the homepage.
  • Otherwise take any action with respect to the materials on this Website that is inconsistent with any other provision of these Terms of Use.

The Website from which you are linking, or on which you make certain content accessible, must comply in all respects with the Submission Standards set out in these Terms of Service.

You agree to cooperate with us in causing any unauthorized framing or linking immediately to stop.
We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.
We may disable all or any social media features and any links at any time without notice in our discretion.

Disclaimers, Liability and Indemnification


You understand and agree that your use of the website, its content, and any goods, digital products, services, information or items found or attained through the website is at your own risk. The website, its content, and any goods, services, digital products, information or items found or attained through the website are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis, without any warranties or conditions of any kind, either express or implied including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. The foregoing does not affect any warranties that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

You acknowledge and agree that company or its respective directors, officers, employees, agents, service providers, contractors, licensors, licensees, suppliers, or successors make no warranty, representation, or endorsement with respect to the completeness, security, reliability, suitability, accuracy, currency, or availability of the website or its contents or that any goods, services, digital products, information or items found or attained through the website will be accurate, reliable, error-free, or uninterrupted, that defects will be corrected, that our website or the server that makes it available or content are free of viruses or other harmful components or destructive code.

How We Limit Our Liability to You


Except where such exclusions are prohibited by law, in no event shall the company nor its respective directors, officers, employees, agents, service providers, contractors, licensors, licensees, suppliers, or successors be liable under these terms of service to you or any third-party for any consequential, indirect, incidental, exemplary, special, or punitive damages whatsoever, including any damages for business interruption, loss of use, data, revenue or profit, cost of capital, loss of business opportunity, loss of goodwill, whether arising out of breach of contract, tort (including negligence), any other theory of liability, or otherwise, regardless of whether such damages were foreseeable and whether or not the company was advised of the possibility of such damages.

Indemnification


To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Company, its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, service providers, contractors, licensors, suppliers, successors, and assigns from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses, or fees (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your breach of these Terms of Service or your use of the Website including, but not limited to, third-party sites and content, any use of the Website's content and services other than as expressly authorized in these Terms of Service or any use of any goods, digital products and information purchased from this Website.

Dispute Resolution


At Company’s sole discretion, it may require you to submit any disputes arising from these Terms of Service or use of the Website, including disputes arising from or concerning their interpretation, violation, invalidity, non-performance, or termination, to final and binding arbitration under the Rules of Arbitration of the American Arbitration Association applying Ontario law. (If multiple jurisdictions, under applicable laws).

Any cause of action or claim you may have arising out of or relating to these terms of use or the website must be commenced within 1 year(s) after the cause of action accrues; otherwise, such cause of action or claim is permanently barred.

Privacy Policy


Your provision of personal information through the Website is governed by our privacy policy located at the "Privacy Policy".

Governing Law


The Website and these Terms of Service will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and any applicable federal laws applicable therein, without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision, principle, or rule and notwithstanding your domicile, residence, or physical location. Any action or proceeding arising out of or relating to this Website and/or under these Terms of Service will be instituted in the courts of the Province of Ontario, and each party irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of such courts in any such action or proceeding. You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to the venue of such courts.

If you are a citizen of any European Union country or Switzerland, Norway or Iceland, the governing law and forum shall be the laws and courts of your usual place of residence.

The parties agree that the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods will not govern these Terms of Service or the rights and obligations of the parties under these Terms of Service.

Severability


If any provision of these Terms of Service is illegal or unenforceable under applicable law, the remainder of the provision will be amended to achieve as closely as possible the effect of the original term and all other provisions of these Terms of Service will continue in full force and effect.

Entire Terms of Service


These Terms of Service constitute the entire and only Terms of Service between the parties in relation to its subject matter and replaces and extinguishes all prior or simultaneous Terms of Services, undertakings, arrangements, understandings or statements of any nature made by the parties or any of them whether oral or written (and, if written, whether or not in draft form) with respect to such subject matter. Each of the parties acknowledges that they are not relying on any statements, warranties or representations given or made by any of them in relation to the subject matter of these Terms of Service, save those expressly set out in these Terms of Service, and that they shall have no rights or remedies with respect to such subject matter otherwise than under these Terms of Service save to the extent that they arise out of the fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation of another party. No variation of these Terms of Service shall be effective unless it is in writing and signed by or on behalf of Company.

Waiver


No failure to exercise, and no delay in exercising, on the part of either party, any right or any power hereunder shall operate as a waiver thereof, nor shall any single or partial exercise of any right or power hereunder preclude further exercise of that or any other right hereunder.

Notice


We may provide any notice to you under these Terms of Service by: (i) sending a message to the email address you provide to us and consent to us using; or (ii) by posting to the Website. Notices sent by email will be effective when we send the email and notices we provide by posting will be effective upon posting. It is your responsibility to keep your email address current.

To give us notice under these Terms of Service, you must contact us as follows: (i) by personal delivery, overnight courier or registered or certified mail to Scry Analytics Inc. 2635 North 1st Street, Suite 200 San Jose, CA 95134, USA. We may update the address for notices to us by posting a notice on this Website. Notices provided by personal delivery will be effective immediately once personally received by an authorized representative of Company. Notices provided by overnight courier or registered or certified mail will be effective once received and where confirmation has been provided to evidence the receipt of the notice.

Contact Us


To request a copy for your information, unsubscribe from our email list, request for your data to be deleted, or ask a question about your data privacy, we've made the process simple:

Email us