Posted on 05/29/2005 6:29:17 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
NEW DELHI: 'Virtual call centres' are now the latest alternative to offshoring: Americans dialling for customer service are increasingly being connected to call centre workers sitting in their bedrooms in the US itself.
'Home-shoring', a trend which started as a trickle in the late '90s, is picking up in the US as a low-cost alternative to call centres. According to a report by consulting firm IDC, more than 100,000 US workers field customer service calls from home. Another report by Gartner Inc says over the next two years, one out of every 10 US call centre is likely to shift at least partly to home-based agents.
So, should that ring alarm bells for Indian BPOs? No cause for worry, says Sunil Mehta, VP, NASSCOM. "Indian BPOs are moving up the value chain and diversifying. At present, call centres constitute only 35 per cent of the total ITES business. In the next two years, their share will come down even more, to about 15 per cent." No wonder, NASSCOM is not unduly worried about the introduction of more than 112 anti-outsourcing bills across 40 US states this year.
"There are many issues — agent productivity, data privacy, security and controllership — which are critical factors preventing this trend from becoming a fullfledged alternative to offshoring," says Deepak Malik, VP, Flextronics Software Systems BPO Services.
But that's not stopping some US companies from switching over. Home-based agents are being hired to handle overflow and seasonal work to avoid extra investment in facilities abroad. Experts say homeshoring may not be as cheap as offshoring but companies can save up to 30 per cent or more on overhead costs like real estate, transport, etc. Companies also see home agents as a way to avoid some of the consumer complaints common to overseas call centres.
Far away from noisy coworkers, no boss breathing down necks, flexible hours, good money and no long commutes to work: homeshoring could be the ideal example to replicate in India. Some companies like Datamatics Technologies have already done it on a small scale. Says Lalit Kanodia, chairman, Datamatics: "We pioneered the concept in India. At present, we have about 100 home-based agents: they have broadband connections and they work from home. They don't take calls but the workers help in accounting, HR and other such work."
According to Malik, this is similar in concept to rural BPOs — where low-end work like data entry and data administration is being done in small units of 5-15 people in villages with PC and telecom connectivity. These are usually small micro-centres operating as BPO centres. An intermediary integrates the work done by multiple units to create a comprehensive output.
Home-shoring has its drawbacks, say critics: lack of focus, as workers may be distracted by family members, and lack of on-site support and spare-parts replacement for computers and headsets.
Mehta has the last word: "It is an interesting phenomenon, but it will definitely not be replacing offshoring."
Not sure I want to speak to reps located in the NY metro area tho!!!
Pajama Patrol Payroll bump!
Btttt
I wonder how I can get in on "homeshoring"?
Great part-time job for a young Mom with kids in school, retirees looking for extra income..
Hurray!
www.wahm.com has good information on this kind of thing. You need one of those $50 a month unlimited calling plans (sometimes), broadband internet (almost always), and a headset phone. It's all contract work, and often takes a while to get into due to the number of people applying. Some companies are better to work for than others, so always look for the opinions of former employees before signing on.
When you find out, ping me!
You actually SPOKE with a cusomer service rep? How on earth were you able to break through that gawd-awful supposed 'voice recognition' (more like Hotel California) computer that never works?
I work from home. Connected to my company by a VPN. My job is full time (about 35 hours a week), but not in the normal 9/5 type of way. Totally computer based, and I do the work in small increments throughout the day and evening (because that is the nature of the work itself.)
me too!
There was an old Married with Children episode where the bundys started a home based 900 porn line where the 500lb mother in law answered the phone and talked dirty.
A communications company unable to communicate.
The pajama people take the overload calls.....and it works quite well. Customer satisfaction way up.
JetBlue does this. Very cool. Saves on gas too. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/223367_homecall09.html
I had huge problems with Cingular. Somehow I got an 800 number which reached a human - and the people on the other end were incensed that I'd gotten the secret number that's only for business associates (there were some helpful people there though)! As for the website, there's little or no effective contact info on it. Tried filling out the email form on the site with the details of the problem - and when you hit send it gives an error message every single time. I'm now a happy Verizon Wireless customer.
That is exactly what the General Electric site for appliances does. Bought a new place last year that had a brand new, never been used GE wall oven that did not work. Me and wife went though a living hell trying to get ahold of a human being to get a repairman out. The GE website would NOT work. You filled out the complaint form and when you try to enter you're not allowed to. Overall it took us 5 weeks to get the oven repaired. {Bad touch screen board}.
Bought some lightbulbs two days ago. Sylvania.
We just got a new washer and drier two weeks ago. I hope that Whirlpool is better.
I've got a buddy at work how's thinking about becoming a house husband, this just might be something he shoud look into.
Thanks.
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