Call center challenges in India

Any business, small, medium or large understands the imperativeness of customer

helpline numbers. These numbers are any customer’s first asylum when they encounter

any dissatisfaction of technical issues with a product. The calls made by them are

received by call centers which are mostly in India or other developing Asian countries.

Though India is one of the most preferred outsourcing destinations, there are some

major call center challenges here which are to be effectively handled. Amid these, India

has never stepped down because experts here know to ensure that the challenges and

adversities are addressed impeccably.

Serious challenges that need to be addressed

Back in the 2000s, huge corporations selected India as a viable offshore destination and

Indian call center industry started booming. Since then, the growth has been

unbelievably rapid and India soon emerged to be a top offshore destination. This

growth attributes mainly to the software and call center industry. However, now things

are changing as massive challenges are haunting the outsourcing industry in India,

especially call centers. Let’s have a glance on the most common among them.

High attrition rates

Indian call centers are encountering an attrition rate of up to 40% and this is a real bane.

Such attritions are undesirable for any company as when a trained employee leaves,

several sudden issues emerge. Firstly, the void negatively impacts the customer support

quality availed. Besides, getting the correct person to fit the slot and fortifying him with

needed training have serious cost implications. Proper techniques must be adopted to

minimise attrition rates which is one of the main call center challenges in India.

However, companies in India are adopting more and more employee-friendly policies

that are now retaining employees.

Health issues in employees:

One of the chief issues that disturb the reputation of call centers is its demanding

nature; employees are compelled to work even in odd hours. This constant pressure

faced by agents to satisfy the ever increasing level of customer expectations adversely

affects their health. Some of the most common health concerns are panic attacks, poor

immunity, blurred vision, hypertension, poor immunity, digestive disorders and

backache etc. With these adversities, absenteeism increases, employee productivity

decreases and moral degrade. Nowadays, companies are encouraging leisure times,

outings and incentives to make sure that the employees stay happy and healthy.

India has almost reached summit

This is a grave operational challenge faced by call centers in India. India has over time

arisen as a completely mature player. It initially seems to be highly advantageous.

However, things are not that easy and positive. There is other side to this as well.

The clients who have been outsourcing to India are keenly watching the Indian call

center industry. They are well acquainted with the pitfalls existing in the market. This

restricts them from making any new investments which makes the growth rate of this

sector slower than ever before. To make the matters worse, clients have started to

consider new outsourcing options that are relatively cheaper, more passionate and have

better support to English-speaking customers. India has accelerated its pace overcome

this pitfall by offering customers better offers and comprehensive provisions under the

same roof.

Exorbitant property costs:

Earlier, when the call centers were talking their baby steps in India, the cost of

commercial property was cheaper. Things have now changed drastically. Prices for

properties have already hit to roof in almost all metropolitan areas. This has made it

difficult for call centers to sustain by offering their services at pricing models that they

were providing in the old days. Government has now liberalized its policies making

India a fertile ground for call center companies.

International competition:

Countries such as Brazil, Malaysia, Philippines and China etc. are giving a tough

competition to India. Studies have revealed the seriousness of issues through alarming

statistics. These countries are snatching the deals more than ever before. At the same

time, Indian graduates are getting least interested in call center jobs adding to the

worsening call center problems in India. India is a highly populated nation and each

year lakhs of graduates pass out from colleges. Dearth of other opportunities spares

even the best brains for call centers and this is a boon.

Communication gap:

Call center companies in India have agents who have great command over English

language and nobody will disagree with this claim. However, their accent is not that

comfortable to the westerners. It is perceived as unintelligible and feigned. This paves

way for serious communication gaps and makes the customers really frustrated. This is

where countries such a Philippines gets more advantage as the population here speaks

English in the accent of westerners naturally. To overcome these limitations, Indian

companies are providing training to their staff from native English speakers. They also

acquaint the staff with unique cultural nuances and societal inclinations.

Less FCR Rate:

First Call Resolution is the very basic test for customer satisfaction. A caller whenever

makes a call to the agent expects his grievance to be redressed at the earliest without

any delays. On making the caller engaged with numerous agents even for a single query

leads to dissatisfaction. The other side is that these days customers are tech-savvy and

they put forward more tricky and complex questions. Companies in India therefore

provide regular trainings to keep their executives updated about latest happenings in

the industries and techniques to solve customer issues.

Outsourcing Butterfly Effect:

As foreign clients pay more, they are the life force of call center industry. Changes in the

political or socioeconomic situations create tremors in India as far as the call center

culture here is concerned. Whenever restrictions on outsourcing are imposed in foreign

countries, Indian business nosedives. At the same time, if government policies outside

favour outsourcing, call centers in India benefits immensely.

Zero discerning factors:

Lack of focus on multilingual customer support is another main problem. Most of the

call centers in India are concerned only about the English-speaking population. They

willingly or otherwise forget the relevance of other significant languages like German,

Japanese, Spanish and French etc. This keeps the growth limited as there is a huge

demand for multilingual customer support. Still, Indian companies that provide

multilingual support are reaping significantly.

Allocating fewer budgets:

To stay safe in the competition brimmed marketplace, companies in India are always

seeking new ways to minimise their investments. They are overloading employees with

additional responsibilities, lowering salaries and minimising infrastructures and software

support facilities. This is leading to substandard quality services. Prudent strategies are

planned by smarter companies to avoid adverse scenarios.

India is doubtlessly the best choice- Why?

India definitely has its own list of challenges but the fact is that all countries have many

problems unique to them. India is fighting against all odds riding on the back of some

great factors. The country offers easy access to exceptionally talented resources. It is

easier to set up operations here, services are cheaper, greater sustainability is assured

and above all, business environment is better.

Hire call center services from a reliable company with good reputation and you will

surely get amazing results.