AT&T Tech Support 360
December 21, 2004 11:24 AM PST
'Homeshoring' to trump offshoring?
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A report released Tuesday from research firm IDC says a number of companies are turning to a new method to meet call center challenges: getting workers to handle calls from their homes.
So-called homeshoring or homesourcing in certain situations can boost productivity while cutting costs, according to researcher IDC. The practice also can avoid a potential pitfall of sending such work overseas, IDC suggested: foreign agents less familiar with U.S. customers.
"There are currently upwards of 100,000 home-based phone representatives in the United States," IDC said. "Compared with traditional outsourcing and offshor(ing), companies utilizing home-based agents can access highly skilled representatives that are closely attuned to the U.S. market at very reasonable cost."
The report may give some comfort to those concerned that the offshore phenomenon is undercutting U.S. workers. Research firm Forrester has predicted that more than 3 million U.S. service jobs will go offshore by 2015. But the scope and impact of offshoring is not certain.
Not all offshore deals are ideal. After receiving customer complaints, Dell stopped sending U.S. technical support calls for two of its corporate computer lines to a Bangalore, India, call center in 2003.
IDC said companies are turning to homeshoring in response to call center challenges such as the need for superior agent quality, frequent turnover and the seasonal nature of the business. Alpine Access, Aspect Communications, IntelliCare, West, WillowCSN and Working Solutions are companies with "home-based sourcing methods and strategies," IDC said.
A number of companies in the technology industry are giving more workers flexibility in the way they do their jobs, including the option of working from home. There are challenges involved in telecommuting arrangements, including data security risks. Also, home workers can feel alienated. But homeshoring can help both agents and companies, IDC said.
"Accessing high-quality agents is not limited to those within commuting distance, and agents can be contacted when needed instead of occupying call centers during periods of very little call activity," IDC said.
See more CNET content tagged:
homeshoring,
call-center,
agent,
offshoring,
telecommuting
Earthlink's service is fast and great, AS LONG AS YOU DON'T NEED TECH SUPPORT. If you're unlucky enough to have to call tech support (in India), you would be better off just cancelling your service and go with another vendor. That's what I did.
If the line goes dead, India tech support will follow a set script: shut down your modems and pc and reboot. As if you were to stupid to have done this already. Than they ask you to change all your Windows settings to a "default" setting. This is even though you had installed nothing since the last time the line was working. And after they had killed your Windows settings, they want you to re-install the modem software. As if you had actually been using that to begin with.
And repeated requests for them to just tell the REAL tech folks in the US to check the lines gets you the "stupid blank stare look" that you can "see" over a phone line. It's that bad.
I wander how many other companies lost business due to Indian tech "support".
June Burnside
I replied above your post but not sure if you got a chance to review it. I live in Georgia and I actually work for two companies from the comfort of my home (kid you not!) I was hired by a third but just didn't have the time to complete the training because of the two jobs I already have. Working from home is the best thing that ever happened to me and my family (and to be honest I didn't believe that these types of opportunities were available, but they are). Please feel free to visit my website for more info. Feel free to email me too.
peoplewhoworkathome@yahoo.com
http://www.freewebs.com/workathome4real/
ASK'uNique
Judy
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