Offshoring to India doesn't mean clueless call centres

The main organisation representing Indian software and service companies has hit back at those wanting to portray customer service delivered from that country as inevitably shoddy.

Speaking at the 'Truth about offshore outsourcing' debate at the Institute of Directors earlier this week, Nasscom VP Sunil Mehta said: "There has been some anecdotal evidence [of poor service] but service levels are independent of geography. They depend on many things."

Although exceptions such as a Dell facility being moved away from India have hit the headlines, Mehta added "hard data" typically shows the ramping up year-on-year of business processes such as customer care from call centres that have been outsourced to India.

"If customers were not happy, that wouldn't happen," he said.

Indeed, one of the conclusions drawn from this week's debate, which featured Nasscom, the DTI, the union Amicus, India-based research company Evalueserve and other experts, is that training and offshoring must go hand in hand. That means training from government and employers for those affected as jobs move and training for those who get new jobs.

David Fleming, Amicus national secretary, agreed that companies have a responsibility both to the UK staff who are being replaced and the offshore workers. "In my sector there is evidence to say there is upskilling. But [offshoring] also brings issues of corporate social responsibility," he said.

Although most people are concerned about all manner of high-value service sector jobs moving away, it must be remembered that badly trained call centre agents have existed long before offshoring - or even more generally outsourcing - became fashionable.