India, the Philippines and now Eygpt

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Posted Wed 10 October 2007 @ 9:53 a.m. by Sarah Putt

Vodafone is the latest telco to outsource part of its contact centre operation overseas. According to the NZ Herald, 200,000 calls from New Zealand prepay customers will soon be answered in Cairo. The tight labour market has apparently made it difficult for Vodafone NZ to recruit local staff to cope with a 35% increase in call volumes.

Staff shortages are a problem throughout the sector, which is why we are holding the TUANZ ICT Skills Shortage Conference in November.

This conference is specifically for Contact Centre Managers and IT Managers – two professional groups at the coalface of the skills shortage. At the conference the workshops for Contact Centre Managers are:

Outsourcing – a threat or an opportunity?
Telecommunication companies run some of the largest contact centres in the country, recruiting agents that are highly skilled and knowledgeable in the ICT area. So what happens when they send part of their operation offshore?

Coping with the talent wars
Gerrit Bahlman, Chief Information Officer at Massey University will lead a discussion on how Contact Centre Managers can retain their skilled staff. Delegates should leave this session with solid ideas on how to prevent valuable staff members from being poached.

Categories: International | Leadership | Recruitment and HR

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8 comments

• Isabella says:

  Oh come on Vodafone - sending your lowest value customers to Egypt. One must wonder how hard you tried to find a city or town with commercial buildings, IT & T and people wanting regular work... Did you take a look at Hastings, Napier, Tauranga or Mt Maunganui - all with good infrastructure, average wage around $12- per hour and people very keen on permanent work. Yes it takes time to recruit and train keen people in NZ. Yes you do have to pay them well and have a good company culture. Vodafone, you could have done so and kept all these jobs in NZ. Shame.

  Added: 11 October 2007, 11:57 a.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• Ted says:

  Agreed, the reasoning is a blatant lie behind vodafone wanting to make things cheaper for the company. Forget about the customer, focus on the bottom line. Vodafone is cementing that it is a crap mainstream telecommunuications company with this move. Oracle: People will start to loose faith in vodafone and hate ringing them, outsourcing overseas has been done

  Added: 12 October 2007, 1:39 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• Warren says:

  I am as disappointed as everyone else about Vodafone outsourcing some of its contact centre staff offshore. But, hey, at least when I dial Vodafone I get a human to answer my questions/solve my problems a lot faster than when I dial Telecom. I would rather speak to a real person in Egypt in less than a minute (Vodafone) than answer a bunch of questions for a disembodied voice for a few minutes before finally be referred to someone -- usually in the Phillipines -- who can help me (Telecom). Contact centre management is about serving the customer quickly and accurately. Telecom is the carrier that needs to lift its game in this area, not Vodafone.

  Added: 12 October 2007, 4:52 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• Ex-VF Customer Service Rep says:

  This was very interesting to read. I left the Vodafone Customer Service team about 3 years ago as morale in the contact centre was the lowest it had ever been in the almost 5 years I worked for them. The continual introduction of outlandish KPIs meant more and more stress for the CSRs. From recent rumors, 4 lots of new, ridiculous and seemingly unachievable targets have recently been introduced. It seems that even managers can't support the new targets, but still have to enforce them. Vodafone are often hailed as leaders in employment and staff treatment - certainly not when it comes to the customer service team (if recent rumors are to be believed.). In regards to service levels, the new targets certainly don't seem to be to encourage better customer service, they appear to have been put in place to create a production line scenario. Quality of service is taking more than just a backseat to call handling times. Is it a bizarre experiment on workplace stress levels, or is this the start to push out staff, so that Vodafone can outsource CS altogether to save even more money?

  Added: 18 October 2007, 5:21 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• Christie Qadir says:

  Good job Vodafone - you are truly a global company! There are no more any real boundaries between countries - and if people are gonna talk of losing jobs in NZ and stuff - what about the thousands of people who are migrating from one country to another? Aren't they also talking away your jobs? Well - time for competent and not-so-competent people to wake up and start competing at global standards. Becoz very soon everything will get outsourced to those who can do anything better and cheaper - even if they are sitting on the Moon or next to the Pyramids or at the Taj Mahal...

  Added: 18 October 2007, 8:25 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• Christie Qadir says:

  Good job Vodafone - you are truly a global company! There are no more any real boundaries between countries - and if people are gonna talk of losing jobs in NZ and stuff - what about the thousands of people who are migrating from one country to another? Aren't they also talking away your jobs? Well - time for competent and not-so-competent people to wake up and start competing at global standards. Becoz very soon everything will get outsourced to those who can do anything better and cheaper - even if they are sitting on the Moon or next to the Pyramids or at the Taj Mahal...

  Added: 18 October 2007, 8:31 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• pigpen says:

  what a bunch of racist morons. "Oh noes, they're foreigners, they must be BAD". Well, I've got news for you. Your English sucks, New Zealand. I'd rather talk to an Egyptian who knows the Queen's English than some of you Nyu Zulundurs. Get a grip.

  Added: 28 October 2007, 11:38 a.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

• Cheryl says:

  I have nothing against globalism and don't care where the person is I'm dealing with is as long as they have good customer service and are empowered to resolve my query or issue. Vodafone NZ used to be brilliant, and now it is quite simply abysmal! As Ted above said "People will start to loose faith in vodafone and hate ringing them", I am one of them. I definitely feel my stress levels rise when I think of calling Vodafone, the staff are abrupt, unhelpful and confrontational. I have rung 8x over a period of a week with no straight answers, broken promises, dropped calls, and basically the only thing they get right is answering the phone in a reasonable wait time (although 50% of my calls I have been told to ring back for some reason or another). Other than that forget it... I am now in the process of disconnecting my Vodafone mobile phone - it scares me how long this might take - I would much rather communicate virtually than deal with a real person when it comes to vodafone! Talking to other people in my office around the water cooler and many have had the same negative experiences. I am curious as to how other area's of Vodafone NZ are affected, what seemingly was an innovative and great company... is this still a good place to work... ?

  Added: 3 June 2008, 3:38 p.m. Flag as Spam  |  Flag as Offensive

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