The need to outsource call center operations by U.S. companies is based on many different factors, one of which is cost. Access to lower cost of labor has allowed India and the Philippines to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue annually from this industry. While in the recent past companies were happy with this arrangement, changes in technology, customer data protection and higher expectation from a consumer base that is more customer-centric is forcing organizations to migrate back to the states for their call center operations. These companies are realizing the short term gains they achieve with foreign providers are no longer worth the long-term negative outcomes from their customers here in the U.S.
This point was highlighted in a recent piece by Frank Witsil, a Detroit Free Press business writer who reported that Michigan, as well as the rest of the country, is seeing an increase in call-center jobs from companies that are moving back to our shores.
Two of the examples he gave was AT&T (News - Alert) moving back 5,000 call center jobs, and GM doing the same by closing a center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The state of Michigan for its part has seen many different companies establishing new centers or increasing their workforce. Dialog Direct, which currently employs 800 people, is planning on adding 500 more jobs at two different locations in the state.
Even though call center jobs are notoriously famous for high attrition rates, the industry is responsible for employing five million Americans at 66,000 call centers nationally. But this doesn't mean everyone is moving back here. As stated in the report by Witsil, companies are still using the centers overseas to handle technical help and low-price, low-margin items. But when it comes to high value customers, the jobs are handled by American employees.
Another reason for companies moving to the U.S. is they don't want to risk facing fines by violating compliance issues in the healthcare and financial sectors. Although India and the Philippines handle some of the largest companies in the world in these sectors, consumers concerned about their data are looking for home-based call center operations. As news of consumer data theft by hackers and others highlight the damage they cause, protecting this information is becoming a higher priority for Americans.
Technology is also playing a greater role in these decisions, because customers now have different options when it comes to getting in touch with a contact center. And while agents in India and the Philippines can manage to do the job with scripted responses, chatting using text or video accentuates the existing cultural gaps, pushing businesses to use operators in the states.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson