New research challenges notion that skills are lower offshore
New independent research could be set to change the way we view offshore call centres, according to Intersperience Research. The study has managed to demonstrate for the first time that companies using offshore call centres are passing blame
onto advisors rather than take responsibility themselves. The same research reveals that whether the advisor is in the UK or offshore is not the issue - in fact, two out of three people don’t care where the advisor is based.
According
to the research, consumers are more likely to blame the agent, rather than the company if the call is handled offshore. However, if the call is answered in the UK, the caller is more likely to blame the organisation than the advisor for a poor outcome.
The research reveals that the issue is not whether overseas agents are as skilled as those in the UK, but that simply hearing a foreign accent leads to blame being apportioned to the individual.
Paul Hudson, consultancy director,
Intersperience Research, said, "This research clearly casts doubt on the way organisations view offshoring and the assumptions they make about customer service and perceptions. Whilst there is no doubt that there is a perception problem amongst
customers that they receive a lower performance from offshore call centres, our research clearly casts doubt as to how valid this perception is, by which I mean if you take one equal call the customer consistently thinks the Indian advisor has provided
a worse service, when in reality the call is exactly the same. Much of this is down to the baggage that customers have before even making the call — the assumption that the experience will be worse thanks to the negative publicity."
Author: Call Centre Focus
27th July 2007
