5 years ago...Call centre industry creates 35,000 jobs

21.02.2000: The call centre industry generated 35,000 jobs last year in the UK and Ireland, according to a report from consultancy firm, Deloitte & Touche.

The growth was lead by the telecoms and IT sectors, which accounted for 28 per cent of all new projects. Growing mobile phone adoption rates accounted for much of the investment, with BT Cellnet, One2One, Orange and Vodafone creating 7,750 jobs between them.

A total of 88 call centres opened last year - up 52 per cent on the previous year. Ireland and Scotland were the most popular locations for new call centres, accounting for 18 and 15 per cent of the market respectively.

21.02.2005: The plight of the UK's call centre industry has been thrust into the mainstream over the last 18 months or so because of the competition posed by cheaper overseas locations such as India, South Africa and Eastern Europe.

High turnover rates, poor working conditions combined with a continued squeeze on costs have forced many UK firms to join the offshoring bandwagon and move some call centre operations overseas.

Despite the obvious short-term pain being felt in some sectors of the UK call centre market recent reports claim the offshoring threat has been overstated. One analyst predicts there will be a net gain of 150,000 jobs in the next three years.

And it's not just offshoring that is asking some hard questions of the call centre industry. As automation and voice recognition technologies get more sophisticated firms are finding they can eliminate the human element altogether for many of the mundane and routine calls.