Manchester staff to take over from Bangalore next year
By Andy McCue
Published: 27 November 2006 13:40 GMT
Online insurance company eSure will bring its offshore call centre work in India back to the UK from February next year.
eSure started using offshore Indian call centres in 2004 and currently has 100 agents with an unnamed third-party provider in Bangalore and Mumbai.
eSure said it originally moved the work to India as a temporary measure because it was unable to recruit enough staff at its Manchester call centre to cope with the volume of customer calls, and not as a way to save on labour costs.
A spokesman for eSure said even prime time adverts during Coronation Street on ITV couldn't fill the vacancies.
Get the lowdown on offshore outsourcing
Check out our special reports on India and China.
He told silicon.com: "The pool of people in the Manchester area to fish in reduced dramatically at a time when we were growing dramatically. We had the option to outsource that work or lose the calls but we have never moved a job out to India."
But with headcount at eSure's Manchester call centre now ramping up again and due to reach 600 by January next year, the UK operation will take over the work done by the remaining 100 agents in India by the end of February.
-- eSure spokesman
The eSure spokesman admitted there has been some negative feedback from customers using the Indian call centres but said this had nothing to do with the reason for bringing the work back to the UK.
He said: "There are people who don't like talking to Indians and that's unfortunate and that's a problem for the UK. Everything we have had out there has been absolutely fine. We have had an immensely positive experience with very quick and good quality offshore staff."
eSure will have just under 2,000 call centre staff at sites in Glasgow, Manchester and Reigate handling all customer calls once the Indian transition is complete.
I don't mind 'talking' to someone in an Offshore C...
Roger Huffadine
I will not knowingly deal with companies that use ...
Anonymous
You can tell when you're talking to a genuine Indi...
Richard
I make my living out of outsourcing software devel...
Anonymous
What I fail to understand is why (if not for cost ...
Anonymous
OTE and Corporate Benefits COMPANY INFORMATION - $2BN T/O - 54000 employees - Established 1975 - Floated 1991 on the Nasdaq - Compete with large ...
You will have presales support from the UK and India. Ambitious plans to double turnover by next year.employees (vast majority in Chennai) - USP: ...
COMPANY INFORMATION - $2BN T/O - 54000 employees - Est 1975 - Floated 1991 on the Nasdaq - Compete with large offshore players - offices in 20 ...
Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.
Stories from the web...
Copyright © 2008 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved. Top of page
Nick Beecham and Belinda Doshi
No more tax breaks for offshoring?
Financial services firms must prepare now for 2010 legal changes
Tim Ferguson
On a new Voyager, tackling fraud and the intellectual challenge
Interview: Nationwide IT director, Peter Stafford
Nick Heath
David Lister on smart grids and why he left RBS
Interview: National Grid CIO
Andy Jones
Why banks will push ahead with offshoring
Comment: Even if they don't want to
Catherine Stagg-Macey
Legacy IT holding back insurers
Comment: Economic crisis means finance giants must step lively
Julian Goldsmith
The City fund manager with no IT department
Q&A: How asset management is embracing the cloud...