Indian call centres

[Talay]

South Africa ? seriously, you over estimate their abilities.

Largely disconnected from the "mother ship" e.g. Asda - they do not have access to your orders, don't know where the vans are, don't have contact details for the store or the drivers, no GPS etc.

Also, the bright South Africans have left , mostly to come to the UK !

No, South African call centres are not the way forward, they are just another step on the evolutionary road where call centre will ultimately end up back at the country of business as people realise that despite the theoretical cost savings, employing muppets who know jack about the country, culture, language, nuances of the UK etc. is a false economy.

 

[japancool]

I like the South African accent though.

 

[Excel Expert]

As someone who has been a part of the process and monitored it for success I would have to put South Africa as last in the countries I would deal with again.

India we had great success but we didnt just appoint a 3rd party company and start shifting calls there. We hired our own people, set up our own offices and did our own training. Worked a treat then and still works a treat now. No problems with accents etc as this was (a) a part of the hiring process and (b) something that was constantly worked on during training and feedback.

Next place we tried was Canada. Staff there were fantastic as well and became the basis of a whole new business for the company. Again, same methods of employing people directly and our own call centres.

South Africa was at best okay-ish. Same methods of employments, our own offices and our own trainers. Again no problem with accents but loads of trouble getting customer focused staff. Several were fired for just being plain rude.

There was too big of a divide between what we wanted out customer service to be like and what they thought it should be. This could be down to bad luck, being in a bad area etc. It was just our experience. We only stayed there for just over a year.

 

[Talay]

... loads of trouble getting customer focused staff. Several were fired for just being plain rude.

There was too big of a divide between what we wanted out customer service to be like and what they thought it should be. This could be down to bad luck, being in a bad area etc. It was just our experience. We only stayed there for just over a year.

Agreed, often my experience. Arrogant, rude, "know all" attitude and condescending in the extreme. Or just plain stupid.

Quite aggressive with guns and locked bathroom doors as well.

 

[Jet Virtual]

India, Japan ... all the same to me..

 

[jonrod]

Please, please, anyone reading this, don't outsource your customer service to India. Even Birmingham would be better, although it's a close race.

How about in the Philippines?

 

[Talay]

How about in the Philippines?

Can speak but not understand English.

 

[Talay]

No one are interested to outsource their work to India but when price matters you have to find alternatives outside the UK.

Ah yes, the first thought but you acquire more and more technical and operational debt which makes it so much more expensive to onshore again. Near shore may be a better option but getting a semi literate foreigner to try and dole out customer services to a client is simply not the way to go IMHO.

 

[Excel Expert]

No one are interested to outsource their work to India but when price matters you have to find alternatives outside the UK.

When you go for the lowest priced provider to handle your calls that is a direct reflection on how important you see your on going relationship with your client. Cheap call handling = rubbish service = lost customers.

There is nothing wrong with off shoring calls if you invest in it like any other part of your business. Provide the training and the offices etc, dont use third parties. You will still save a load of money but you wont lose customers. Go for the lowest cost solution and you are un-doing all the work you did to get the clients