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."
save
JetBlue does this. Very cool. Saves on gas too.
Many of my students' parents have taken reservation jobs with JetBlue. It is nice to see a legitimate home-working job and with benefits to boot.
You actually SPOKE with a cusomer service---
I personally can't stand it when someone from outside the US calls. Half the time I can't even understand it.
My wife and I both did this for a while about 2 years ago. All you needed was a high-speed internet connection and a phone headset. It was a great way to make a little bit of on-the-side money - together we'd pull in about $500-$600 a month. It wasn't profitable enough to be a primary source of income, but as a secondary, it was very helpful.
We worked as "Independant Contractors" for West Telemarketing group, fielding customer service and order calls for Home Shopping Network.
http://www.workathomeagent.com
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