The current shortage of skilled labour in Indian call
centres is negatively affecting the industry, with cost, quality
and security issues threatening to slow the offshoring of call
centres to India.
The warning comes from analyst Gartner, which says firms are
already assessing alternative destinations to India for their
business.
Gartner says the labour shortage is due to the growing demand
for offshore business process outsourcing (BPO) resources. The
shortage has caught offshore call centre service providers by
surprise, particularly in India, said Gartner.
The Indian government estimates that the need for trained and
qualified employees in call centres will reach 1m by 2009, with an
expected shortfall of more than 260,000 workers.
Indian outsourcing association NASSCOM recently announced a
trial for a national training and accreditation scheme for staff
working in the business processing industry.
Gartner predicts that high Indian call centre staff attrition
will occur as professionals switch companies to advance their
careers or improve their salaries.
The analyst said a shortfall in qualified personnel will
increase salaries overall and India’s low-wage advantage over other
countries will be eroded.
Gartner added that service quality and security issues would
also come to the fore if India’s call centre companies did not put
training at the top of their agenda and enforce tight screening of
new recruits.
India’s call centre industry has been the subject of a
succession of media stings over the alleged dishonesty of some call
centre staff.
The Sun newspaper’s investigation into the alleged sale of
customers’ bank details by call centre staff received widespread
coverage earlier this year, although no banks have made complaints
about data thefts and no-one has been charged as a result.
Further media stings have emanated from Australia and Germany in
recent weeks.
Gartner has advised organisations looking to outsource their
business processes to Indian companies to inquire about attrition
rates and security measures.
They should also ensure that service level agreements –
including financial penalties, call monitoring and customer
satisfaction surveys – are built into contracts, said Gartner.