Human Competence Master Standards (HCMS)
Professional Excellence in BPO finally defined & coded.
Across 21 capability spheres. In over 150 professional attributes.
World’s Most Dynamic Competence Standards for BPO Professionals
The HCMS21 standards for BPO professionals enunciates professional standards across 21 competence
attributes and professional pre-requisites (and hence HCMS Release 3.5 under current circulation) and covers all six levels
of BPO operatives and functionaries – from business & functional leaders and managers to team leaders, senior
associates and fresh, young service associates and agents.
The advent of BCI HCMS21 heralded a new era in international BPO service provider industry as it was the world’s
very first set of service-provider dedicated competence standards/ benchmarks for Agents who were working on
even non-voice-based services like transaction processing and Finance and Accounting. The approval of HCMS21 as a
credentialing base by the BPO Professional Certifications Council at the turn of the millennium, spurred HCMS to
establish the world’s very first universal pre-certification assessment system under an independent examination
body – the Human Competence Examination Board, popular as HCEB among BCI partners. Needless to say, HCMS has kept
evolving at a pace as scorching as the pace at which the BPO industry has transformed over the years. In 2012, the
BPO Professional Certification Council, was restructured and expanded into the BPO Professional Certifications Board (BPCB)
and the HCEB was merged into the Board.
Starting off with 14 competence and professional capability parameters for only the Agent/ Associate level
operatives in late nineties, the HCMS today enunciates professional standards across 21 competence attributes
and professional pre-requisites (and hence HCMS21) and covers all six levels of BPO operatives and functionaries – from business &
functional leaders and mangers to team leaders, senior associates and fresh, young service officers and agents.
Various versions of HCMS21 dictate the BCI list of Knowledge & Competence Pre-requisites (KCPs) for each certification.
These KCPs in turn form the bedrock for all assessment and competence evaluation strategies, policies
and programs of BCI for a particular certification.
To know more about how you or your organization can benefit from the HCMS, please write to us at hcms@bci.us.org.