This X'mas, offshoring follies will be at work

AHMEDABAD/NEW DELHI: Washington DC is snowed under; New York City’s famed Central Park now mirrors a skating rink; freaky weather shut down the Channel Tunnel linking London to Paris for three days. And, of course, hundreds of call centre executives at offshoring firms across India —Xicom, Serco, Interglobe and Motif — will celebrate Christmas in their offices.

Well, DC & Co’s latest impact on Delhi is not another postulate for Chaos Theory. It’s about the chaos unleashed by a cold wave sweeping the West, that is piling up extra work for Indian call centre employees who have to ensure that travel industry clients in Europe and North America are able to seamlessly reschedule itineraries. United Airlines alone cancelled about 1,000 flights over the three-day period. Snow in the UK and France even halted Eurostar rail, which connects London with Paris, and a trainload of passengers got stranded inside the Channel Tunnel.

“This has led to airlines re-book passengers during the busy pre-holiday travel period and rail travellers cancelling their tickets to book themselves on more expensive flights,” said Rahul Mahajan, chief executive of Delhi-based Xicom Technologies, which handles travel-related reservation processes for one of the world’s top travel firms.

Christmas-New Year is usually a busy period, as outbound travel from both Europe and the US peaks. “But the blizzard caught us off-guard,” added Mr Mahajan, whose team will now put in extra hours for the client. Sure, Mr Mahajan said he will give year-end bonuses to the staff, whose leave have been cancelled, thanks to a 20% ‘unplanned’ increase in business. InterGlobe Technologies had to deploy additional manpower to meet extra reservations, and manage travel plans and handle baggage of clients in the US, according to an employee of the Gurgaon-based firm.

Ahmedabad-based BPO Motif India Infotech, which handles one of the world’s top five online travel companies, has been receiving huge traffic for cancellation or rescheduling of travel and hotel reservations and car rental bookings through voice calls and e-mails. CEO Kaushal Mehta claims his month-on-month business is up 40%. Requests are pouring in from places like Washington DC, New Jersey, Virginia, Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, which are most affected by the snowstorms. Motif’s staff has been asked to chip in with extra hours to handle the increased workload.

Raman Roy, managing director of Gurgaon-based Quatrro BPO Solutions, said call volumes tend to be higher in December, as centers are closed for holidays in the US and Europe. “But this time around, thanks to the adverse weather conditions, it’s a double-whammy. There’s an increase in call volumes, more than what’s usual,” said Mr Roy, who is counted as one of the pioneers of the Indian outsourcing industry. Call volumes at centers handling travel-related processes have gone up 15-40%. Travellers are calling in for cancellations or rescheduling of reservations, inquiries and even distress calls.

Companies like Serco BPO and the Bird Group are seeing an increase in calls, too. Said Aditya Gupta, chairman, Serco BPO, “At our centre, call volume has gone up by about 15%, particularly for reservation and re-booking. Employees, including team leaders and quality staff are putting in an additional two working hours to cope with the call traffic. That’s because people caught unawares tend to call at odd hours.” Serco has deferred leave after January 10, 2010.