Language has been a barrier for many to access the customer support services since the call center employees mainly communicate in English, even if it is not their mother tongue. Over the years, the BPO companies have mainly served the clients from the West, such as the UK or the US. These countries have been their key clients and hence, the use of English language happened to be the main communication medium between the service provider and the customers. With the increasing competition in businesses, the demand for outsourcing services is also increasing in the European, Asian and African countries such as, Japan, France, Italy, Germany and Netherlands. These nations, as we know, possess huge population densities all of which belong to diverse cultures and races.
The people of these nations give importance to their mother tongue and can speak or understand only that particular language. For instance, the people of Spain speak and understand only Spanish whereas the Indians give priority to English even when it is not their mother tongue. The business markets of these nations are also in need of call center services, but language is the only obstruction in their way. The BPO companies have realized this and are making strong attempts to offer customer support service in multiple languages. This has motivated the setting up of multilingual BPO firms, enabling vendors to reach out to the masses.
Need of Pan- European call center companies are increasing since more and more countries in Europe are entering the IT revolution. These countries are namely- Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Malta, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Cyprus and Slovenia. These BPO firms will offer customer services in various languages other than English, especially, Spanish, Scandinavian, German, French and other languages of Eastern Europe. In the recent years, the US clients are also demanding for multilingual or bilingual BPO services with a sizeable section of its population speaking in languages other than English.
Customer support services in multiple languages, is going to be the next big thing in the BPO industry. This will not only benefit the customers but call center companies as well. Language will no longer act as an hindrance in their way of acquiring clients from across the globe, which can turn to be much influential than their existing clients. Even the customers can easily call up at the support centers even if they are not well-versed with the English language. As the customers will speak their native language, the BPO agents will be able to give the proper solutions to their queries.
Multilingual BPO also has a positive impact on the employment sector. There are many people who possess excellent communication skills but cannot expose their talent since they do not have a command over the English language. They might know Spanish or any other language but that is of no use to them. The multilingual BPO will offer them a chance to make a living by employing their talents at the right direction. Thus, it is evident that this new concept in the BPO sector will turn out to be quite advantageous for many. |
