Sixty per cent of the call centres in the Asian major outsourcing markets expect to expand their operations in the next 12 months to keep up with demand, according to a callcentres.net study.

The study was conducted by ACA Research, and supported by Kelly Services, Avaya and
Witness Systems found that China, South Korea, India and the Philippines have emerged as the star performers of the past year.

The study reveals that among the several Asian countries, the growth trend is led by India with 64 per cent predicting growth, the Philippines at 53 per cent and China at 50 per cent.

During the last 12 months, all of the markets with the exception of the Philippines, spent considerable time and effort developing and upgrading their technology and phone systems.

Staff recruitment continues to be a problem for Asian call centres, especially in the Philippines and Korea. The concept of 'teleworking', or working from home, is becoming more popular especially in call centres in China and India.

But as call centre sizes in the major Asian markets continue to grow, so do their levels of staff turnover. Over 50 per cent of staff that leave these call centres leave to work in a competing facility, which on a supply and demand basis will have an impact on wages. Interestingly, with the exception of South Korea, staff costs are between 40 – 50 per cent of operating costs for Asian call centres compared to 60 per cent and 70 per cent in first world environments.