English is lingua franca of call centres

NEWS The vast majority of UK call centre operatives still speak only English, despite the fact that more than 60 per cent handle calls in foreign languages. That's according to a report by CRM technology provider Cincom, which found that 72 per cent of workers in call centres speak only English, while the call centre industry is taking off globally. Cincom said the results are indicative of the technological advances, which have made physical locations of call centres much more flexible. As a result, a location is more likely to be decided by availability of staff, not nearness to market. However, the report added that with English widely recognised as the international language for business, other countries will be hard pushed to compete with the UK dominance of the global call centre market.