Another bell (literally) has tolled for outsourcing customer service to India.

 

The Canadian Press reports that Bell Canada is repatriating some of its tech support because of dissatisfaction with some of the results. Bell had sent this work to Sitel India in 2006 reports the Hindu Business Line.

 

“Some of our offshore calling has not done what we’ve wanted it to do,” Bell Canada (News - Alert) Enterprises CEO George Cope reportedly said at the firm’s annual shareholders’ meeting Tuesday. “It’s not a complete withdrawal. If a vendor is not doing what we need, we’ll bring back some of that work.”

 

Cope said that improved customer service is one of five key strategic moves planned by the telco to be more competitive, the Canadian Press reports. Other goals include maintaining a competitive cost structure, accelerating its wireless business, leveraging its leadership in home phones and investing in technology.

 

Bell is in a small but growing company of firms, among them Dell (News - Alert) and United Airlines, who are listening to their customers complain about offshore contact handling and who are beginning to shift the calls back. These firms have decided that the cost of losing customers, and their revenues them outweighed the cost savings even in tough economic times.

 

Bell Canada’s offshore contact handling has been criticized by some consumers and contact center professionals. A Bell-trained contact center agent with 35 years+ experience outlined on the site CustomerServicePoint.com her experience dealing with Indian supervisors and managers over her satellite broadband and TV service. She had spent more than 12 hours on calls, spoke to eight agents and several supervisors. Hooking up a second receiver for her TV eight hours in two days and had left her tears. She experienced being cut off and being given wrong information.

 

“Why does a Canadian company like Bell have call centers in India?” this individual asked. “Why are their employees not trained better and have the knowledge before they answer calls? Why do we has customers not treated better and have to go through this every time we call.”

 

Bell has good reason to listen. It is facing stiff competition for voice and data customers from wireless carriers and by cable firms including Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, and Shaw. Telus and Shaw are based in and are strong in Western Canada, which has not had the same degree of economic shock from the downturn experienced by Ontario and Quebec, where Bell dominates.

 

Bell’s competitors are not sitting still. Shaw announced Tuesday that it is ramping up Internet speeds by igniting in Saskatchewan its DOCSIS 3.0-based High-Speed Nitro service, which is reportedly the fastest Internet speed available across Canada at 100 Mbps. All Shaw customers will experience a 50 percent or greater speed. The firm is also hiring several hundred additional employees.

 

“While many companies are announcing layoffs and cutbacks, we continue to listen to our customers by enhancing their experience and providing more value,” says Peter Bissonnette, president of Shaw Communications (News - Alert) Inc. “Our customers tell us that they want cutting-edge products supported by exceptional service. They want to speak to a real person from their own community who cares about their needs.”

 

Offshoring to countries like India are also becoming increasingly risky. Research by the TowerGroup in December, 2008 found that financial volatility and growing political instability are posing increasing problems for companies located in these nations. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai it said “further underscored the interdependencies and vulnerabilities of markets, companies, and individuals working in outsourced locations.”

 

The financial services industry has invested heavily in offshore outsourcing and continues to do so, said the report, titled “Risk Management in Offshore Outsourcing for Financial Services: Relearning the Lessons of Global Unrest.” Political risk has always been taken into account, but because of market volatility, individual governments now have increasing power, which will lead to conflicting regulatory objectives.

 

TowerGroup expects that financial service institutions (FSIs) looking to reduce costs and gain access to skilled business and technology resources through outsourcing will face new demands for operational resilience and business continuity. It suggests that FSIs with cross-border exposure will need to secure new centers of excellence around outsourcing expertise and management. Vendors that openly assist in improving visibility, transparency, and assurance of the quality of their services will find significant new business opportunity in FSIs.

 

“The challenge of effectively managing the risks of offshoring has been exacerbated by political events and terrorist attacks,” said Guillermo Kopp, executive director and global research fellow at TowerGroup.