Offshoring call centres to India risks UK customer backlash

Companies that outsource call centre operations to India, principally to save money, could be shooting themselves in the foot as UK customers turn away from them in the long term.

The move to offshored facilities is now a well-documented one, with insurance group Aviva, owner of Norwich Union, revealing yesterday it will send 2,500 jobs to India.

India competes with other economies such as the Philippines, China, Mexico, Russia and Ireland for such contracts but is frequently a winner, as explained recently in an interview with silicon.com by the co-founder of Infosys, because it can offer both quantity and quality of tech-literate, English-speaking staff.

However, according to Steve Morrell, principal analyst at ContactBabel, call centre offshoring is only about cost-cutting.

He said: "In manufacturing, you get the pretty much the same shirt wherever it is made. For back office [functions], what you get is pretty much the same. But when it comes to customer service, you're talking about quality."

He believes there may well be a backlash against companies that have offshored - not against India or Indian people per se - and company bosses will have to ask whether they will pay for more expensive British workers "who do the job that is meant to be done."

The latest figures from ContactBabel actually put average starting salaries for Indian call centre agents at around £1,500 - their UK equivalents start on an average of £13,000 per annum. There is a less of a difference at managerial level - £5,000 per annum versus an average £27,000 in the UK - but it is still large.

The research critically found that Indian agents work faster than their UK peers and put in about six more hours each week but UK workers deal with 25 per cent more calls each hour and resolve 17 per cent more first time. The study was based on 300 operations in the UK and India.

Morrell said: "There is no reason the guys in India can't do as good a job given enough time. While a substantial number of Indian agents speak very good English with barely any accent at all, there has not generally been enough time given.

"If people are saying they're moving call centres to India for anything other than cost then they're bloody liars."

A situation may develop, Morrell added, where 'British and proud of it' companies make a point of advertising their facilities haven't been offshored. "There is an opportunity there for someone," he said.

Earlier this year a MORI poll found that over 90 per cent of Britons are either oblivious (26 per cent) to the offshore call centre trend, or are more than happy (66 per cent) to have their customer services queries answered by a facility abroad – as long as it's answered quickly and professionally.

The ContactBabel report, 'The UK and Indian Contact Centre Operational Reviews', is available now.