Indian offshore call centres 'not doomed'

Offshore call centres will continue to grow - despite some companies pulling their customer care services back to the UK.

While last week Lloyds TSB became the latest company to decide to reduce its use of Indian call centres, earlier this week Barclaycard announced it is moving more work to Mumbai and Datamonitor contact centre outsourcing analyst Peter Ryan said it is short-sighted to predict the end of the offshore contact centre industry.

Investment in offshore markets will continue for some time as companies attempt to capitalise on lower costs and high quality client care, he said, predicting that more industries will be looking to adopt outsourced customer care services "than ever before".

Ryan said: "2007 will be one of the most challenging in contact centre outsourcing's history."

But Ryan said call centre operations will have to invest in web-chat, SMS and email technologies if they want to attract new customers, as well as offer systems tailored to specific vertical industries.

Companies will be looking for suppliers that can satisfy demand from multiple contact channels - rather than just voice, he said.

The analyst house predicts outsourcers will start to focus on higher-value services - such as business-to-employee care and technical support - which are likely to lead to higher revenues and profits over the long term.