Telecom running a 123 call center trial in Manila

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freitasm

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#19524 20-Feb-2008 14:45

This was just announced yesterday to staff, and I got some more information after a phone call today to TNZ.

TNZ is running an offshore call center trial, from April, for four months. More details in my blog post.

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#111860 20-Feb-2008 15:01

freitasm: This was just announced yesterday to staff, and I got some more information after a phone call today to TNZ.

TNZ is running an offshore call center trial, from April, for four months. More details in my blog post.

I am saddened by this news, but I don't really get why a 'trial' is necessary. After all, surely they would have customer satisfaction data from their existing helplines in Manilla such as the Broadband helpdesk?

It's a surprising move given that Paul Reynolds has spoken of his passion for championing the customer. Being from the UK himself he should be all too aware of the backlash many businesses in the UK have experienced after going down simillar routes. I often download TV shows from the UK and now and again they forget to edit out the TV ads. Any bank, ISP, etc that still has a contact centre in the UK makes a point of advertising that because they know how much it means to people. I just don't know if the potential savings in labour costs could outweigh the general effect such a decision could have on the way Telecom's customers feel about the company.

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#111865 20-Feb-2008 15:21

If it was one or the other, I would rather pay for the call (Within reason) to speak with a kiwi over someone in a foreign country. That being said tho, I have actually had better customer service from Vodafone CSR's in Egypt that I have with the local ones.

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#111875 20-Feb-2008 15:57

adamj: If it was one or the other, I would rather pay for the call (Within reason) to speak with a kiwi over someone in a foreign country. That being said tho, I have actually had better customer service from Vodafone CSR's in Egypt that I have with the local ones.

Hmmm... so if we hadn't heard about this trial, but Telecom suddenly announced that they were introducing a 50c cost everytime you called 123 as a counter measure to "rising costs", you'd be okay with it?

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#111878 20-Feb-2008 16:02

Sorry, my post should have started with 'Given the choice'. Given the choice, then absolutely.

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#111883 20-Feb-2008 16:27

adamj:
Sorry, my post should have started with 'Given the choice'. Given the choice, then absolutely.

You would very likely be in a minority I should think!

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#111890 20-Feb-2008 16:51

Nice to know that Telecom likes to keep kiwis working..... not

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Old3eyes

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#111900 20-Feb-2008 17:58

Could you point out the bit where it states that kiwis would be losing jobs?

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#111902 20-Feb-2008 18:04

I'll be very keen to see the results of this trial. Good to see they are using Teletech whom have contracted to Telecom for many years.

I spoke to a Vodafone rep today (locally based) and she was extremely helpful after I got a fraudulent call from some guy with appaling english stating he worked for "Vodafone" today tried to grease some info from me.

freitasm

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#111905 20-Feb-2008 18:25

cokemaster: Could you point out the bit where it states that kiwis would be losing jobs?

This bit:

"It could be that nothing changes, part or the entire service is moved offshore. "

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#111906 20-Feb-2008 18:29

But are they losing jobs, right now?

As paradoxsm said, its a trial at the moment - it isn't going to affect anyones job here in NZ at the moment.

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#111910 20-Feb-2008 18:37

They may simply not replace people as they lave of their own accoord (Natural Employee Attrition) and divery more calls offshore.

It may show to be a "dog", but it might also show great results and that's why they are looking at a trial.

Maybe even do some "concierege" type service to replace that awful voice recognition system? just thoughts.

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#111913 20-Feb-2008 18:46

Filipino's generally have pretty good English. I just called the broadband helpdesk and spoke to a guy who had excellent command of English and was extremely helpful, who was based out of Manila. So long as these guys are capable of doing the job, have the tools and experience needed to do the job, and are able to communicate effectively with Kiwis, I can't see the problem.

Of course, I do see a problem with local jobs being lost - but we've still got plenty of call centres in the country looking for employees. As paradoxsm said, I doubt they'll be going on a mass-redundancy spree... they'll just replace each departing employee with an outsourced one.

freitasm

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#111915 20-Feb-2008 18:50

cokemaster: But are they losing jobs, right now?

As paradoxsm said, its a trial at the moment - it isn't going to affect anyones job here in NZ at the moment.

At no moment I wrote that jobs are being cut now or later. If the trial is a success then there will be a decision that could be part or total of the call center jobs transferred. Whoever wrote that before (that's you old3eyes) got way ahead of the cart.

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#111918 20-Feb-2008 19:28

At work we have two staff from Manila, we could not have asked for better workers or nicer people. Their english is also extremely good. If only the locals were this reliable.

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#111926 20-Feb-2008 20:03

So long as these guys are capable of doing the job, have the tools and experience needed to do the job,

"experience" is the keyword here (as far as I am concerned that is), Telecom and most other call centers have 'Senior Reps', 'Red Coats', 'Floor Walkers' or whatever other name they get given. These are the people with the experience that provide support to either new or just less experienced staff. The system works well and my question would be, how are they going to get this same level of experience overseas.

I am not just talking about 'systems' experience or 'TNZ product' experience, I am talking about the kind of experience that only comes with having done the job for lengthy period of time, 'the expeirence' that you can't really put a name to but everyone knows if the person they just spoke to had it. These staff are an invaluable resource and yes you can teach someone Telcoms systems and Telecoms products and they may have experience in other call centers overeas, but do they have 'the experience'

I know things have advanced now, but I am sure there are companies that still do this, in the UK when they first started 'out sourcing' they sent over English people to teach them the 'english ways' - and you know how they did this....showed them Coronation Street! Seriously what were they thinking! The point though is that they obviously knew they had to do something because these people didn't know anything about England, English people and the English way of life and it still didn't help because they didn't have 'The Experience'? To me - it is the same thing with this.

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