Indian
call centres may cut costs, but they also cut quality, a new study claims.
The
survey shows call centre workers in the UK are more efficient than their
counterparts in India – and claims this places a questionmark over the decision
taken by many companies to offshore thousands of UK jobs.
Usdaw,
one of the leading trade unions in the sector, urged call centre bosses to take
note of the trends highlighted in the report by research firm ContactBabel.
The
study of more than 300 UK- and India-based call centre operations found that:
•
On average, UK agents answer 25 per cent more calls each hour than their
counterparts in India, and resolve 17 per cent more of these calls first time.
•
UK call centre workers tend to stay with their company for well over three
years, while Indian call centre workers move on after an average 11 months.
•
More than a third of callers to India have to ring back at least once (UK
centres have a first-time resolution rate of more than 90 per cent)
•
Almost a third of call centres in India do not measure customer satisfaction,
while very few perform any pro-active quality checking.
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. Salary costs might be cheaper over in India, but that seems to go
hand-in-hand with poorer quality, less efficiency and more customer
frustration."
Steve
Morrell, author of the ContactBabel report, said: "The figures show that
businesses are moving their call centres to India to save their salary bill,
not to improve their quality of service, regardless of what they say.
"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."
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