Powergen Quits India: Apple Abandons Plans
UK Energy giant Powergen announced today it is closing its Call Centre in India. They had begun using Indian Call Centres about five years ago. Powergen is part of E.ON - the world's largest investor-owned electricity and gas company.
The 'financial benefits' the move brought have been overshadowed by the "risk or expense of customer satisfaction."
In a press release they said:
* All calls to Powergen will be answered by an adviser in the UK
* The withdrawal from India is part of Powergen’s drive towards market leading customer service
* These moves build on huge improvements to customer service that have already led to a 75% reduction in complaints to energywatch since July 20051
* These changes will contribute to the creation of almost 1,000 new UK jobs throughout 2006
They will be hiring further 980 'advisers' in UK by the end of 2006 to handle the calls. They have been shifting the call handling since last July and have noticed a 'significant' reduction in customer complaints.
These advisers will be based in their existing call centres in Bedford, Bolton, Leicester, Nottingham and Rayleigh (Essex).
About 450 of the new jobs will be a direct consequence of the pull back from India.
In a related development Apple CEO Steven Jobs who had just some months ago announced a technical and customer-service support centre in India that would eventually employ 3000 workers, announced the shelving of those plans. He let go of about 30 newly employees.
According to Mckinsey Global Institute, India is home to the world's largest and fastest growing outsourcing sector that generates over $17 billion in revenues, employing nearly 700,000 people.
These pull backs and impending downsizing in India are either relatively minor strategic business decisions or they could be omens for the future. Too early to make an educated guess.
(compiled from various sources)
The 'financial benefits' the move brought have been overshadowed by the "risk or expense of customer satisfaction."
In a press release they said:
* All calls to Powergen will be answered by an adviser in the UK
* The withdrawal from India is part of Powergen’s drive towards market leading customer service
* These moves build on huge improvements to customer service that have already led to a 75% reduction in complaints to energywatch since July 20051
* These changes will contribute to the creation of almost 1,000 new UK jobs throughout 2006
They will be hiring further 980 'advisers' in UK by the end of 2006 to handle the calls. They have been shifting the call handling since last July and have noticed a 'significant' reduction in customer complaints.
These advisers will be based in their existing call centres in Bedford, Bolton, Leicester, Nottingham and Rayleigh (Essex).
About 450 of the new jobs will be a direct consequence of the pull back from India.
In a related development Apple CEO Steven Jobs who had just some months ago announced a technical and customer-service support centre in India that would eventually employ 3000 workers, announced the shelving of those plans. He let go of about 30 newly employees.
According to Mckinsey Global Institute, India is home to the world's largest and fastest growing outsourcing sector that generates over $17 billion in revenues, employing nearly 700,000 people.
These pull backs and impending downsizing in India are either relatively minor strategic business decisions or they could be omens for the future. Too early to make an educated guess.
(compiled from various sources)
posted by temporal at 6/07/2006
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