Indians to train UK call centre executives

LONDON: Indian call centre experts are now training British workers on how to manage message-handling services. Britain’s first Indian-owned call centre has opened in Belfast, a total reversal of the trend of British firms opening call centres in the subcontinent to take the low cost advantage, according to a report in Britain’s Telegraph newspaper.

ICICI OneSource, which has 8,000 staff in India, aims to create 1,000 jobs in Northern Ireland over the next two years. The firm’s British clients come mainly from the financial and telecom industries. “This is not about moving work from India to the UK; it is about the growth and expansion of our business,” Matthew Vallance, the European MD of ICICI said.“People are very familiar with the Irish accent and we think it will work very well,” he added.

Under the professional guidance of Indian experts, the first batch of 60 employees in Belfast began a seven-week training course from Tuesday. Critics, however, say that the idea of Indians training the British call centre executives is unlikely to go well considering the past history.the past complained of long waits and difficulty in understanding accents. when dealing with companies relying on foreign call centres, according to the report.