By Jo Best, 18 December 2003 13:05
NEWS Investment bank Lehman Brothers is bucking the recent trend for offshoring to India with a resolution to move its call centres back in-house.
Lehman Brothers had outsourced its internal computer helpdesk to BPO and IT services firm Wipro last year in a contract thought to be worth up to $100m, but made the decision to return the call centres to the US six weeks ago because it wasn't happy with the quality of the work delivered by the outsourcer.
The bank also uses another local Indian call centre company, Tata. The call centres handled tasks like recording employees' tech problems and employed around 450 staff between them.
Lehman Brothers hasn't put an end to all its outsourcing activities, however - it's still using outside labour for software development and some other tech support functions.
While corporate big names like Barclays continue to opt for offshoring, there is some indication that outsourcing abroad isn't winning favour with everyone.
Dell recently decided to drop its technical support call centres in Bangalore in India due to customer complaints and the US state of Indiana last month cancelled a contract with Tata, saying it preferred to offer more opportunities to local outfits.
Comments
There are 3 comments. Join the discussion
1. David Decasto
I think other countries should learn from Indiana state. They should should cancel the outsourcing contracts in order to be able to give jobs to the locals. I dont know why other countries are even tolerating Big US companies, even they should be kicked out from there.
Thanks.
2. David Lambert
How long will it be before so much is sent off shore that that only a few high tech jobs will remain as local highly skilled staff and the indigenous lower skilled staff will sit home filling job applications but failing to even get an interview because they have gained no real experience and have little or no chance of getting any? Think a few years down the road or should we all look forward to the 50% new university graduates running off to India, where the new opportunities will be for them and never bothering to repay their loans!
3. Martin Roberts
This story is a typical example of how businesses need to think of wider issues rather than just profit through reduced costs. Companies need to realise that customer satisfaction is a primary driver of the service sector.
Service sector companies often only have one chance to get it right with the customer, more so when deregulation has led to increased competition. If an enquiry isn't dealt with effectively it is fair to assume that the customer will take business elsewhere. The quality of the interaction is therefore vital to increase customer loyalty. Whether companies are outsourcing to New Delhi or handling calls in Newcastle, it is important to think beyond cheap labour and the cost-per-call and put the customer first.