Call centre workers in the UK are more efficient than their counterparts in India, a new study claims.
The study of over 300 UK and Indian call centre operations, by research firm ContactBabel, places a huge question mark over the credibility of the decision by many company directors to outsource thousands of UK call centre jobs to the lower wage country.
It found that:
A growing number of UK companies are outsourcing large numbers of call centre jobs to India, including Norwich Union, National Rail Enquiries and HSBC.
Commenting on the study, Usdaw General Secretary Sir Bill Connor said: “Thousands of UK call centre jobs are being lost to India. This report paints a shocking picture of the call centre industry there, and UK call centre bosses should take note. The call centre industry must recognise the depth of quality we have in this country.”
Steve Morrell, author of the ContactBabel report, said: “It’s hard to ignore the salary savings, but if customers get a worse service and end up going to a competitor with a call centre in the UK, then these cost savings will soon disappear.”
3 Responses
India – your job goes old boy but not mine, !
Call me a cynic if you like, but I will have a damn site more respect for the power boys who export often poorly-paid UK jobs to even poorer-paid parts of the world the first time I hear of any directors or senior managers jobs going the same route.
call centres
I think it’s very intersting that the heading of the article is about quality because only one of the points made directly points to a measurable difference in quality, (the one about call backs) 1 is about turnover, 1 about length of call (surely a longer call when sorting out a problem could be a positive thing when stacked up against hurrying someone up to keep down call waiting times) the final point just quotes some figures about customer satisfaction surveys, no one is going to tell me that not doing surveys automatically suggests poor quality, it is just a managment tool. Also the figure used in this last point is not a being compared to one for the whole UK.
I’m sure i remember a number of similar articles about the UK call centre sector, i.e. high turnover, poor service, problems not being solved. Maybe i’m mistaken?
A couple of questions to finish up
What kind of people are taking the decisions to put call centres in other countries. (white middle class men?).
Why do we always moan about call centres in India what about those being set up in other parts of europe? Spain for instance.
If we want the call centres to remain in the UK all we have to do is do the job well and our bosses won’t look to another country will they?
The economic argument remains but i’m afraid we will have to wake up to the fact that in world terms people in the UK are paid very very very well and because of improved communications I feel the gap between economies will have to change possibly by us all having to get used to a different standard of living.
Beware of the reputational and cost implications
I have recently returned from a trip to India to see call centres and speak to outsource professionals.
There are call centres and there are call centres in India. Some are very good indeed and do not suffer from some of the weaknesses highlighted by Contactbabel. However, Contactbabel does raise issues which are real, and unless the correct approach and advice is taken, offshoring can be an accident waiting to happen.
Obviously, cost saving is the main driver for offshoring, but of course unless great care is taken, the cost of business interruption, loss of reputation, disputes and litigation can outweigh the immediate obvious financial benefits. And it would not surprise me in the not too distant future that “insourcing” becomes a reality as relationships break down.
Companies must remember that they are effectively outsourcing parts of the customer relationship to a third party, so the reputational risk and cost of dissolving a relationship can be enormous if the outsource provider does not deliver satisfactory levels of service. When negotiating an outsourcing contract you should bear in mind the following:
* Detailed due diligence should be undertaken to see whether the outsource provider is financially stable and whether it can actually deliver the service provided.
* What strategies would be adopted if the outsource provider became insolvent or was taken over by an “unfriendly” shareholder?
* Sensitive issues, such as complying with the appropriate levels of FSA and data protection security, should be dealt with appropriately and the right safeguards should be in place.
* Cost structures vary. Costs need to be clearly documented and an annual review mechanism needs to be inserted, as changes will occur throughout the duration of the contract.
* Consider HR implications such as redundancy and unfair dismissal of administration staff as well as the effect of TUPE.
* Great care needs to be taken over termination provisions. Often the notice period for termination on notice is long enough to enable alternative arrangements to be made and policyholders’ interests to be protected in the meantime. Migrating books of business is a capital and human intensive project and is often messy, and an orderly “exit” is in everyone’s interest.
* Because outsource services involve many components, disputes will inevitably arise. Most will be sorted out amicably without recourse to any formal legal proceedings. When drafting the contract it may be beneficial to include a comprehensive internal mechanism for resolving disputes between each party, so that formal legal action is a last resort and is only used in the case of deadlock or when trust and confidence has irretrievably broken down between the parties. Great care needs to be taken if the outsource provider is located in another jurisdiction as enforcement issues can become complex.
Nigel Frudd, Head of Financial Services at Beachcroft Wansbroughs