Who's the fairest of 'em all? India, says UK

BANGALORE: Notwithstanding occasional hiccups such as the outsourcing backlash in the West and misgivings over privacy and quality issues, India still rules as the preferred destination for contact center outsourcing. This was the finding of a study conducted by UK based Technology Law Alliance (TLA).

The results showed that 67 percent of the 1,000 companies surveyed had indicated that they were considering India as their destination for the contact center service provider, while the rest were evenly spread amongst Europe, South Africa and Australia. The survey was conducted jointly by TLA and an UK based call center publication called CCF to assess the trends and implications of offshore outsourcing for UK companies.

The study confirms that the move towards offshoring is continuing, with 44 percent of respondents indicating that they had either engaged offshore outsourcing companies, or were thinking of doing so within the next 12 months.

China seems way off the radar of these companies since language skills posed a problem, observed director of TLA, Jagvinder Kang.

"There was a lack of response to China being a preferred destination for offshore call centers. This seems to tie in with the view that although China is making inroads into the technology offshore outsourcing sector, language and accents are still presenting themselves as obstacles to China replicating the success which India has had with hosting contact centers for international clients," he added.

Reduction in cost (41 percent) topped the list of motivation for outsourcing followed by improved quality (31 percent). Around 25 percent of companies viewed outsourcing as a means of letting them focus on core activities.

The remaining three percent viewed it as a method of dealing with requirements, which could not be managed with their internal resources.

In terms of companies considering outsourcing to India, 67 percent of the respondents expected up to 20 percent cost savings, with 33 percent expecting between 30 percent-40 percent cost savings. In terms of companies already outsourcing to India, the figures showed that the cost savings realized were approximately 30 percent.