The Great British takeaway!

The UK Insurance companies fight back as offshore call centres divide industry Following the news this week that Aviva is to create 2,500 jobs in India during 2004, an Amicus spokesman said he believed 50% of insurance jobs would eventually be transferred to India and other developing countries, a figure supported by research from Deloitte. This has dealt another heavy blow to an already weakened UK insurance industry, as tens of thousands of British call centre jobs have already been lost to India in the past 5 years. Analysts predict that this figure will increase by 20% a year, and in 5 years time over 2 million Indians will be working in outsourced call centres. Norwich Union, are the latest in a long line of leading insurance companies to offshore their operations in recent years, with R&SA, Allianz Cornhill, Zurich, Churchill and AXA all making the move to foreign shores. A trend that will, undoubtedly, put huge financial pressures on the rest of the industry. Thankfully, not all insurance companies feel the need to follow suit - there still remain some truly British companies who realise the benefits of retaining British employees, in a British company, with a British client base. David Harlow is MD of Leading online motor insurance broker InsureYourMotor.com, he comments: “I truly believe that these big corporations have got it totally wrong. The business model in theory is a good one, after all who wouldn’t want to cut 40% off their costs overnight?! The trouble is, however, Norwich Union, made massive profits last year. They have become greedy, but at the expense of the consumer. These savings are not being passed onto the consumer but are simply lining the pockets of the shareholders. British consumers will vote with their feet on this issue. Dissatisfaction with offshore call centres is universal. The new telephone directory (118) is a perfect example. Although the new breed of Indian employee may be highly intelligent, they simply cannot compete with those with local knowledge. This is even truer for the complex legal issues involved in car insurance. Our strategy over the next three years is to continue offering franchise opportunities for those with experience in car insurance. Norwich Union may not want these British workers but we would love to offer some of them jobs. Mr Blair might think that we can’t do anything to stop companies transferring to the sub continent, but I can’t see any reason why businesses would want to give up the wealth of talent we have on our own doorstep.” The Internet and telephone insurance firm esure have also stood strong against the temptation to offshore its operations. Having recently announced its intentions to open a 500 seat call centre in Manchester, just 3 months after opening the doors to its Glasgow based HQ, with plans to introduce a further 700 jobs over the next 5 years. Only time will tell the effect of this cost cutting global strategy. The expectation of soaring profits has already come at a high price for many of the people that have been left behind. As for the long-term repercussions – that remains in the hands of the consumer.