Good management is good management. Good call center management is good call center management; it doesn't matter where it happens to be located. If there are gaps in customer support it can be traced back to lack of training, lack of process, lack of technology etc., all of which reside in management’s hands. To answer the specific question, customer dissatisfaction is a management issue and should not be directly attributed to a location.

The true question is that of investment. To date, what I have seen first hand is that the investment in 2nd and 3rd world countries is greater than investing in technology and efficiency programs in the U.S (or any country of origin for that matter). The travel, training and infrastructure support cost out weigh the dollar per hour gains in nearly every instance. Executives are following trends that make sense at a high level but loose their luster after the true cost of implementation is revealed.

its not just large companies, no company wants to "own" the customer, no matter what they say...its too much work/cost and they dont want to spend the money...I get lip service like this all the time...off shore, no way, Daisy in India just cant service the customer cause they just dont get it.....Ive changed customer service vendors 3 times in the last 3 years..its very painful...they always say they want the business (that is they want the money) but the service is just plain bad...its a difficult problem and it takes alot of work but it can stay on shore and it can work...
jack
John Spencer
vp, cio (you can tell Im a cio, its sat. night and im on email answering this)
ASHP
3016648681

Call centers within the U.S. have a communication problem. The majority of people who work in call centers DO NOT LISTEN to their callers. They follow their script. This problem is magnified with off-shore call centers. Knowledge of the English language and the ability to comprehend verbal communications are not the same thing.

A call center that takes product orders can easily be re-located to India or other countries. A call center designed to help customers resolve problems requires the ability to understand the dialog.

I have worked with professionals from India and China. They have a cultural impediment that prevents them from asking questions when they do not understand. As a result, they may not understand the problem but that doesn't stop them from guessing at a solution which is a waste of everyone's time and negatively impacts customer service.

If you ask for a superviser in a U.S call center, you can improve your chances of getting a resolution. If you ask for a supervisor in an Indian call center, you are probably getting their co-worker who will also have the same comprehension problems.

Bottom line: Use of off-shore resources is a cost-effective solution for some services such as order entry but it is not an appropriate solution for problem support.

According to the data (reports) I have collated and analyzed, results show that since India was colonized by the British, outsourcing to their country by UK based companies was not much of a problem to the British consumers with regard to customer service. Agents in India have a better chance of building good relationship with their British customers since they are using British English and they are somehow familiar dealing with them.

How about U.S. customers? Reports also show that agents in the Philippines can build better relationship with U.S. customers since they were colonized by the US before and that majority in the Ph use American English. Most of them have neutral and/or Standard American Accent that most of the time you would'nt even realize that you are talking to someone outside the US. They can easily comprehend to US customers because of their westernized communication and way of living. Even Singapore Call Centers, whos clients are based in the US, are getting agents in the Philippines.

If we are talking about cost or customer service, I believe we just need to know where to put up Call Centers, how to do efficient training, analyzation, management and the likes because it doesnt really matter if its in the country or not if we are talkin about attitude [to learn (communication skills, product specifics)and to serve(soft skills, going the extra mile)], because its everything in customer service.