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Consumers Shun Offshore Call Centres

Companies that outsource customer services to offshore operations are at risk of alienating customers, new research has found. Customers are concerned about the impact of offshore outsourcing on UK jobs and the UK economy as a whole, according to the study by trade union Amicus.

Those questioned were also sceptical about the levels of service provided by offshore centres, and thought that cost savings were not being passed on to customers.

The study, conducted by researcher Performance House, reported that two thirds of the 1,500 respondents said that offshoring would have an impact on their choice of company.

Lee Whitehill, a spokesman for Amicus, told vnunet.com: "Major companies are teetering on the abyss of offshoring. It just takes one to go and they all follow like lemmings.

"We were genuinely surprised by the results of this survey. It shows that there's a gulf of trust between companies and their customers.

The news will come as a further blow to the call centre industry, which continues to battle against the image of sweatshop working environments.

Customer perceptions of offshore services is low, with 41 per cent of those who knew they had dealt with an offshore call centre describing the service as worse than at UK call centres.

Respondents also called for more visibility about the offshore activities, saying companies should inform them if they have offshore call centres.

But Richard Coppel, chairman and chief operating officer at Oceans Connect, a contact centre services provider with operations in India, disagreed.

"The customer doesn't care as long as they are dealt with in a professional way and they get the results they are looking for," he said.

"There's an awful lot of emotion going into this issue. But I absolutely do not believe that political concerns will affect people's perception of companies that outsource offshore."

By Rachel Fielding [26-09-2003]