Released on: June 11, 2008, 10:26 am

Press Release Author: Scott Lyons

Industry: Telecommunications

Press Release Summary: Offshore call centres may not be the answer for companies
that want to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty while delivering excellent
customer service.

Press Release Body: Brantford Ontario -- An employee working the phones at a company
call centre is quite often a customer's first contact with any business. Generally,
a customer's opinion of a company is formed through this initial contact. It is
extremely important that the right impression is made during this first call. While
company call centres, customer service centres and contact centres are there to
improve the customer experience, many fail to do so by ignoring processes or taking
a complacent approach to customer service. Problems such as employees that are
unfamiliar with company products and services, long wait times to reach a
representative, and being transferred to the wrong person or department can damage a
company\'s reputation and reduce future business. Compounding the difficulties of
maintaining superior customer service are off shore call centres that can be a
source of customer aggravation and may even pose an increased security risk.

"It is imperative that contact centre agents be extremely knowledgeable about their
employer's products and services and have the ability to clearly relay this
information to customers in a professional, but friendly manner," states Scott
Lyons, President of Extend Communications Inc. (http://www.extendcomm.com), a
Canadian company that offers a wide range of call centre and telecommunication
solutions. "Offshore call centres, in countries such as India, often generate a
great number of dissatisfied customers. The off- shore contact centre employee may
not have a clear understanding of the what the customer is saying due to problems
with the language or cultural differences. As well, many customers that telephone a
call centre do not want to talk to someone on the other side of the world. They want
to talk to someone that they think will relate to them and that can easily
understand their problem or concern. Many companies have outsourced their call
centres overseas largely due to cheaper labour. When you take into consideration how
important it is for a company to make a positive impression, saving money in this
manner may not be the best choice," adds Lyons.

Some evidence suggests that many consumers are not happy with the service they have
experienced from offshore customer-service agents. India is the main destination for
overseas call centre work but other established offshore locations include South
Africa and Ireland. As the number of offshore call centres have increased, so have
the problems. Offshore call centres have been accused of higher rates of
criminality, especially the flow of data across borders and differing privacy
legislation. Last year in India there were instances of workers being targeted by
organized crime gangs with bribes for leaking sensitive personal and financial data.
Both business and consumers have indicated that they are concerned with the level of
protection afforded their personal data stored in India. The main problem customers
experience is being caught in the loop. After calling a call centre and identifying
an issue, it becomes a larger problem when the person at the other end of the phone
can't relate due to regional differences or cannot solve the problem due to lack of
contacts and solutions that are regionally based.

The large market share that Indian and offshore call centres have built up over the
last decade may be starting to decline. Over the past few weeks, there have been
major announcements by a couple of large British and American firms outlining their
plans to reduce their use of Indian call centres and to hire more in house customer
service agents and outsource call centres locally in order to improve customer
service and maintain quality control. Regardless of where the customer call centre
is located, delivering quality and consistent service to customers is the key to
maintaining customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.

About Extend Communications Inc.:
Extend Communications (http://www.extendcomm.com) has provided clients across Canada
and the United States award winning telecommunication and wireless services for more
than 50 years. Extend Communications operates a Call Centre Division, 2 Local
Message Services, a Paging and Wireless Messaging Division as well as a third
Message Service in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), under the name of All Call
Communications. Call Scott Lyons to learn how Extend Communications can meet all of
your company's telephone communications needs.

Web Site: http://www.extendcomm.com

Contact Details: Scott Lyons - President
Extend Communications Inc.
49 Charlotte Street
Brantford ON N3T 2W4
519-759-6820
1-800-265-9975
slyons@extendcomm.com
http://www.extendcomm.com