The next wave: multilingual call centers
Call centers that cater to the English-speaking audience have been around for a while. While the English call center market is growing, the next wave of multilingual call center outsourcing is coming from key non-English speaking markets such as Canada, Japan, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Italy.
The need for multilingual call centers
With the expansion of the European Union with countries such as Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia joining the IT revolution and many such as Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey anticipating joining to 2007, there is a growing demand for pan-European call centers that will operate not only in English, but also in many languages, especially German, French, as well as Spanish, Scandinavian and Eastern European. Also in the US, with more people speaking different languages, especially Spanish, there is a demand for bilingual and multilingual call centers to serve this segment of the population.
the next wave
According to Gartner, while the overall BPO market is expected to grow to $173 billion by 2007, most of this growth will come from Western Europe rather than North America. The European BPO market is expected to grow to $65 billion by 2005.
A recent report in Financial Express indicated that a number of German and French companies are looking to outsource multilingual call centers, for both voice and non-voice based services. The report estimates that the French and German market could potentially grow between 5% and 7% of the English-speaking market.
Multilingual Call Center Outsourcing to India
Indian companies have started to recognize the potential of multilingual call center outsourcing. HCL is setting up a call center in Ireland for a pan-European population and Bangalore-based Msource has set up a Spanish-language call center in Tijuana, Mexico. HTMT has announced plans to set up a call center in Mauritius to take advantage of the French-speaking population there. Companies like ICICI OneSource, Progeon, Daksh eServices, and Tecnovate now offer some services in French and German, while iGate offers services in Japanese, Mandarin, Italian, and some Southeast Asian languages.
Promoting Non-English Call Center Outsourcing in India
One problem that India may face is the availability of non-English speakers. In India, although students often study foreign languages such as Spanish, French, and German, not many are able to speak these languages fluently. In a memo prepared by the Ministry of HRD in association with the Indian BPO industry, the need to impart knowledge of languages other than English is recognized. With the increasing demand, Indian educational institutions will soon be able to offer these courses. Tamil Nadu (a state in South India) has already indicated that it intends to create a conducive environment for the teaching of languages other than English. Karnataka (another state in South India) has indicated in its IT policy that it will take steps to promote non-English businesses in the state.
Another unique solution is slowly emerging. With the growing awareness about India, there are many young people abroad who would like to spend some time in India and would like to take a job while here. They are providing a ready flow of agents for bilingual and multilingual call centers.
Given the cost benefits, the non-UK market is looking for Indian companies as potential suppliers. With the Indian government taking initiatives to teach non-English skills, it is only a matter of time, before India becomes a major player in the bilingual and multilingual call center outsourcing segment.
