From today's Globe and Mail:

http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040827.gtcallaug27/BNSt
ory/Technology/

U.S. call centre jobs moving to Canada

By Alorie Gilbert
CNET

More than 140,000 call center jobs will vanish from the United States over
the next four years as companies seek to lower customer service costs by
shipping work to Canada and other countries with lowerlabourcosts, according
to a study released this week.
The report, published by market researcher Datamonitor, predicts the number
of U.S. call centres will decline 6 per cent by 2008, from 50,600 today to
47,500. At the same time, Canada will sprout 800 new ones, along with 93,000
new call centre agent jobs, the report says.
Canada isn't the sole beneficiary of the call centre migration, however.
American companies are opening call centre operations in India, Mexico and
the Philippines, the Datamonitor study said. A large pool of
English-speaking workers and lower wages make these locales appealing to
U.S. companies.
The scarcity of call centre jobs is also as a result of new technologies and
the passage earlier this year of the federal Do Not Call list, which has
curtailed telemarketing campaigns. High-tech call centre systems that allow
callers to pay bills or change address without ever talking to a call centre
agent means companies need fewer workers to man their call centres as well.
The same shift is happening in the United Kingdom, according to another
Datamonitor study release earlier this month. Companies with U.K. operations
are moving call centres to Eastern European countries - including the Czech
Republic, Hungary and Romania - and North Africa.
The phenomenon, sometimes called "nearshoring," allows companies to shift
jobs offshore while minimizing customer service problems that can crop up by
relocating call centres halfway across the globe. For instance, Dell stopped
using a Bangalore, India, call centre for some U.S. technical support calls
after customers complained about language difficulties and delays in
reaching senior technicians.

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