<<< back Report Highlights Inferior Service from Indian Contact Centres [13 Jan 2004] A report by Contactbabel suggests that Indian contact centres provide inferior services when compared to their UK counterparts. The news of the imminent release of the report was carried on the front page of the Financial Times of Monday 12th January. Significantly, Contactbabel are one of three organisations selected by The Department of Trade and Industry to look into how UK contact centres can withstand competition from overseas – although this report was not commissioned by the DTI. The report has also attracted strong media attention in Newcastle. Please see new press articles located on our “In The Press” page. The report will highlight the following key issues: UK staff answer 25% more calls per hour UK staff resolve 17% more of those calls first time UK staff deal with calls more quickly because customers can explain themselves more easily and need to repeat themselves less frequently The report also goes on to say that UK staff are more experienced and UK contact centres have a better track record on staff turnover. Language difficulties and a lack of local knowledge were also cited. Staying Put Another article in the same issue of the Financial Times discusses the trend for Off-shoring. They highlight a number of banks that have committed their contact centre activities to the UK. Notable among these are Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland, Alliance & Leicester and HBOS. The article also questioned the wisdom of chasing cost savings at the expense of customer service and retention. A Patriotic Stance? In the UK the Government has distanced itself from the issue of Offshoring. In contrast to this the US Authorities seem to be taking a more patriotic stance. Recently, the State of Indiana cancelled an £8m contract to Tata Consultancy Services to enable local companies to bid for outsourced public contracts. <<< back

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