India: The Ultimate Outsourcing Customer Support Destination

Before we get started with this blog, let us take account of some of the most interesting statistics. First of all 59% of the total call centre employees are Indians. The Indian call centre industry had grown at an unbelievable rate of 65% per annum in the later part of the last decade.

 

The call centre and outsourcing industry employs around 3 million people and contributes around 1% of the total GDP of the nation. The pie chart shows the nationality of people interviewed for outsourcing jobs, all across the world, which is just an indication of domination of India in this field.

The statistics as described above are just an indication of the popularity of Indian call centres and professionals in the outsourcing industry. Even though a large number of new destinations have come up in the past couple of years, but no country has been able to match the overall level of the Indian outsourcing industry.

 

However, the most compelling question here is why India is preferred to be the first preference whenever outsourcing-related issues arise? When it comes to customer support services, there is no better alternative than the Indian outsourcing companies. Well, the reasons are simple and have been discussed as part of this blog. This blog will inculcate the following most important aspects:

• The Growth Story of Indian Inbound Call Centres
• Lack of resources of the foreign companies as a reason for the growth of Indian BPO’s
• Accountability of Indian Call Centres
• Economies of Scales and Cost Savings due to Outsourcing
• Indian English User Environment and Excellent Training and Development procedures
• Comparison of India with Chinese and Philippines Outsourcing Industry

The Unprecedented Growth of Indian Inbound Call Centres

The call centres could be divided widely into outbound and inbound customer support services. An inbound call is one that a customer initiates to a call centre or customer support centre. For example, if you have purchased a product and are facing any troubles in using it, the first thing you’re going to do is to call at the ‘toll-free’ number provided by the company. The call generally connects to the call centre which provides customer support services related to the product.

 

If you’re using any American or European product, the chances of your call connecting to any call centre in Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgaon, or Jaipur are very high. Be it customer support, technical help desk, medical answering, inquiry handling, call answering, toll-free services or product information request, a call centre offers it all. Not just the large companies, but even the small and medium-sized companies based in the western world prefer India to handle the inbound calls. The trust which the companies have placed in the Indian call centres has been formed after a long period of trials and tests.

Lack of Resources with the Foreign Companies

Managing a customer support department and call centre is a general business requirement. Any company which sells products and services in the market has to take care of the after-sales services. However, on a prima-facie basis, the call centres do not add any revenues in the income statement of the company but are rather support systems which help in ensuring the satisfaction of the existing customers.

Even the call centres indirectly help in generating the sales through enhancing the goodwill of the company, but in the short-term period, it does not affect the total sales as any other marketing or promotional activities would do. The companies often do not have the resources and area to set up the call centres and hence the work is outsourced to the Indian companies which have the area, resources, and expertise of handling the customer queries.

Answerability and Accountability of Indian Inbound BPO Centres

The customer services provided by the inbound Indian call centres are managed by professionals who have been working for years in the industry. The companies taking up the outsourcing projects understand the importance of customer services and always associate themselves with the objectives of the clients. The overall accountability of the Indian call centres is very good, and there are hardly any problems related to the quality of services.

Economies of Scale and Cost Savings

 

One of the most important aspects which are responsible for the growth of inbound call centres in India is the economies of scale which the companies get whilst outsourcing the customer support services. The overall amount of setting up the call centres, capital expenditures, training and development costs, and overall employees related costs in any of the western countries would be way more than what the organizations have to spend in India. This gives them the chance to cut down the excessive spending and save the resources which could be invested in other profitable ventures.

Indian English User Environment

India has second largest English speaking population after the United States. Due to the cordial relationship with the UK and USA, the overall impact of western culture and English language based programs, series, and movies in India are predominantly positive. The educational system in India promotes English as a globally accepted language. With the passage of time, the stereotypes related to English accent, slangs, and idioms are reduced. Indian ranks 4th in the Asian countries in respect of English language proficiency and the proficiency trends have been improving in the past few years.

Excellent Training and Development

In order to provide specific services to the clients, the Indian companies providing the call centre services provide the highest level of training to the employees. Besides the English language proficiency, other technical aspects, like knowledge about the services or products are the core part of the development process undertaken by the Indian companies. The performance management system is also aligned with the goals and objectives of the clients, and hence the overall level of commitment from the part of the employees is very high.

Philippines and China: A Comparative Analysis

In the past few years, these two countries, especially the Philippines has become one of the most favoured destinations for voice call centres. English proficiency and cheap labour in the country has ensured that the companies moving the call centres from India to the Philippines do not end up incurring any losses due to this. However, when it comes to sustainability, no country has been able to challenge India’s position as the ultimate outsourcing destination. Companies like Best Buy and Telstra have recently relocated their service centres from the Philippines to India. There are various reasons which have led to such phenomenon.

First of all, mere English proficiency and accent do not correspond to standard technical services. Indian call centre employees are not only proficient in the language, but also dominant in software technology. So whenever it comes to software technology, delivery based services, and cloud-based business processes, there is no better placing to outsource the services than India.

Even the inbound call centres are shifting from mere voice-base towards chat, social media, and technical support where the Indian centres could be impeccable. This is the reason why despite the increased popularity in voice-based processes, the Philippines’ outsourcing attractiveness score is 5.45 compared to India which scores 7.12 on the same index and has been a table topper.

As a part of the inbound customer service industry in India, Processvenue understands the specific needs of the clients with respect to customer care and relationship management. The training and development processes adopted by us are well at par with the international standards. With specialized services, we ensure cost savings and profitability of the clients in the long run.