Multilingual Call Centers

India, which holds a sizable share of the English call center market, is fast emerging as the preferred destination for bilingual and multilingual call centers. While English call centers continue to dominate a large percentage of the call center sector, businesses with a global presence prefer to offer their customers the option of bilingual or multilingual voice support. By answering their customer’s queries in their native tongue, companies are able to build a larger customer base and offer greater customer satisfaction.

The Growing Need for Multilingual Call Centers

The rapidly expanding European BPO sector has increased the demand for multilingual call centers operations in German, French, Spanish, Scandinavian and other East European languages. A recent report published in the Financial Express stated that the French and German BPO market is potentially expected to grow between 5% and 7% in the coming year. Apart from these languages, there is also a demand for Russian, Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese in the voice and non-voice BPO sector.

The U.S. call center sector, on the other hand, requires bilingual call centers for Spanish and English. This is because 13% of the U.S. population is Hispanic, of which 90% claim Spanish as their first language, with 80% preferring to speak Spanish instead of English. The annual spending by the Hispanic population is an estimated $520 billion per year, a figure expected to rise to $1 trillion by 2013. Companies targeting this segment need efficient call center operations with bilingual capabilities.

Why choose India?

India is the most preferred destination and the world leader when it comes to call center operations. Though the availability of non-English foreign language speakers is comparatively low, the Government of India (Ministry of Human Resource Development) and various educational institutions are making serious efforts towards imparting foreign language education to many Indians. The multilingual call center sector also employs a sizable number of young foreign nationals who wish to gain short-term employment while living in India.

Many Indian companies, which were earlier offering only English-based call center services, are now offering bilingual and multilingual call center solutions. International companies prefer outsourcing to India due to the following advantages:

Highly skilled call center agents:

India has a considerable number of call center agents who are proficient in foreign languages other than English. Call center companies also provide adequate training to agents to ensure that their voice, accent and communication methods are up to international standards and match the local culture and flavor.
Time zone advantage:

India’s geographical location proves to be advantageous to companies in the U.S. and Europe, who make use of the difference in time zones to provide uninterrupted customer service around the clock.
Comprehensive services:

Indian companies have great expertise in providing a wide range of BPO services, including inbound, outbound, voice, chat and email support services across various industry verticals. Bilingual and multilingual call center services are offered to various offshore companies in the financial, telecom, medical, insurance and banking sectors.
Best of technology and infrastructure:

Indian-based call centers offer the latest technology and infrastructure, and are equipped with modern communication equipment, hi-speed data transfer lines and 100% recording facilities.
Cost-effective services:

Choosing India for call center operations enables companies to make significant cost savings of nearly 40–60%.