India call centres ‘bad for business’
Relocating call centres to India could threaten a company’s reputation and profits, according to an industry analyst.
Scott Watson, director of performance at human resource consultants, Summit Consulting and Training, said locating call centres in India could damage the UK’s call centre industry and threaten a company’s credibility. Summit specialises in call centre development.
Mr Watson said: “While the lower wage bills, high levels of education and impressive IT systems are attractive, these are coupled with a sensitive political situation, poor telecommunications infrastructure and a widespread inability for Indian-based staff to understand British regional accents. This can severely impact on the customer’s experience and perception, as well as damaging the company’s reputation.
“There is huge potential for a backlash from customers who find they are being dealt with by someone 6,000 miles away rather than in the UK, as well as what they perceive as possible exploitation of low-paid employees in a poor country. Companies also face the problem of attracting adverse media publicity that could damage their corporate image and ultimately, their profits.
“The highly optimistic growth rates for Indian call centres may not be as realistic as some industry watchers claim.
“Focusing on costs alone will not be enough to sustain the growth of the industry in India. As well as being the cheapest, they also need to prove they are the best, and that remains to be seen”.
Mr Watson said that Prudential recently relocated its Reading based call centre to India, resulting in the loss of over 850 jobs, and large corporations like HSBC and GE Capital already have established call centres in India. In the travel industry, Delta Air Lines announced last month that it was locating a call centre in India.
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