Why Offshore Call Centres Can Present Problems for Businesses and Consumers

An employee working the phones at a company call centre is quite often a customer's first contact with any business. Generally, a customer's opinion of a company is formed through this initial contact. It is extremely important that the right impression is made during this first call. While company call centres, customer service centres and contact centres are there to improve the customer experience, many fail to do so by ignoring processes or taking a complacent approach to customer service. Problems such as employees that are unfamiliar with company products and services, long wait times to reach a representative, and being transferred to the wrong person or department can damage a company's reputation and reduce future business. Compounding the difficulties of maintaining superior customer service are off shore call centres that can be a source of customer aggravation and may even pose an increased security risk.

It is imperative that contact centre agents be extremely knowledgeable about their employer's products and services and have the ability to clearly relay this information to customers in a professional, and friendly manner. Offshore call centres, in countries such as India, often generate a great number of dissatisfied customers. The off- shore contact centre employee may not have a clear understanding of the what the customer is saying due to problems with the language or cultural differences. As well, many customers that telephone a call centre do not want to talk to someone on the other side of the world. They want to talk to someone that they think will relate to them and that can easily understand their problem or concern. Many companies have outsourced their call centres overseas largely due to cheaper labour. When you take into consideration how important it is for a company to make a positive impression, saving money in this manner may not be the best choice.

Some evidence suggests that many consumers are not happy with the service they have experienced from offshore customer-service agents. India is the main destination for overseas call centre work but other established offshore locations include South Africa and Ireland. As the number of offshore call centres have increased, so have the problems. Offshore call centres have been accused of higher rates of criminality, especially the flow of data across borders and differing privacy legislation. Last year in India there were instances of workers being targeted by organized crime gangs with bribes for leaking sensitive personal and financial data. Both business and consumers have indicated that they are concerned with the level of protection afforded their personal data stored in India. The main problem customers experience is being caught in the loop. After calling a call centre and identifying an issue, it becomes a larger problem when the person at the other end of the phone can't relate due to regional differences or cannot solve the problem due to lack of contacts and solutions that are regionally based.

The large market share that Indian and offshore call centres have built up over the last decade may be starting to decline. Over the past few weeks, there have been major announcements by a couple of large British and American firms outlining their plans to reduce their use of Indian call centres and to hire more in house customer service agents and outsource call centres locally in order to improve customer service and maintain quality control. Regardless of where the customer call centre is located, delivering quality and consistent service to customers is the key to maintaining customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

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Extend Communications has provided clients across Canada and the United States award winning telecommunication and wireless services for more than 50 years. Call Scott Lyons at 1-800-265-9975 to learn how Extend Communications can meet all of your company's telephone communications needs.

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