I’m actually ok with Telecom outsourcing part of their broadband help-desk support to Manila – as long as they do it right, which, knowing Telecom, they won’t. Here are some implementation tips for them….
Firstly, don’t let the Filipinos pretend that they are sitting in Waikanae or Auckland. That’s insulting to them and insulting to us.
Second, make sure the training for the Manila based operators is nothing short of excellent. There are five Telecom trainers over there now – I hope they are amongst the best ones you have.
Third, the systems that the operators in Manila see need to be identical to those in New Zealand. We don’t want to have to ‘talk to a real operator’ in order to get anything done. That is not fair on the Filipinos, and it is not fair on the customers.
Fourth, send a bunch more Kiwis over there, and hire expats and ex-residents that live in Manila. The crew will need all the Kiwi localisaton tips that they can muster.
Fifth, use Manila for surge situations, and so use a provider that can instantly upscale the number of operators during outages and emergencies.
Sixth, pay those operators well so that you get high quality staff and so that turnover is low. If you are seeking to squeeze on prices then you’ll have predictable results.
Seventh: Invest a fortune in expertise into the systems that the operators will use. Don’t use the guys Ferrit used to build the systems.
Eighth: Offer a 0900 direct dial service for a high quality local, instant answer 24 hour service. If Trade Me can do it then so can you.
Ninth: Test and keep testing the system, which means calling yourself and not relying on survey results.
Tenth: Make your sucky sucky broadband work properly so that we don’t have to call in the first place, and we are happier if we do have to.
Lance Wiggs 
Hmmm. I’ve sent a trackback to this story this morning, got 200 (OK) but it didn’t show up?
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Mauricio – it was detected as spam – now rescued, thanks.
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“Offer a 0900 direct dial service for a high quality local, instant answer 24 hour service. If Trade Me can do it then so can you.”
You’ve got to be kidding. You think it’s reasonable to compare the service delivery model of New Zealand’s main phone and internet provider with an internet auction site?
No telecom customer is ever going to dial an 0900 number to get some “premium” support for their phone service.
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James: I would, without even thinking about it. That’s one.
Meanwhile the inbound telemarketing industry ‘standard’ for email/total enquiries is around 8%. Trade Me’s number is likely to be the inverse of that – Opportunity knocks for Telecom there as well.
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This is the most reasonable post I’ve read about outsourcing customer support. I’ve never seen anyone treat the outsourcees (the Filipinos) and the outsourcer equally, realizing that the usual dissatisfaction sometimes isn’t the outsourcees’ fault.
Btw, I’m Filipino, so you can call me biased.
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nothing wrong with the philipines at all as they can offer better unbiased service but i doubt this will go far for telecom’s reputation unless they do it right.
The only thing thus far that has prevented many customers leaving is the fact they will lose their email address. Of course with the fantastic email services such as gmail it’s so easy to switch.
Great post, i’ll rss it.
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From the tone of this post and the comments, it seems Telecom’s rep isn’t so great. Can anyone tell me, an non-NZ resident, why?
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