While Cisco declined to comment on reports it was shifting call centre loads to lower-cost operations in South East Asia and Hungary, Getronics said an undisclosed number of staff on the account had been cut, others had been migrated to other clients and the outsourcer was negotiating to maintain a small core of highly-qualified staff at the facility that would continue servicing the networking company.
Getronics' director of people and culture, Ian Moore, told ZDNet Australia the impetus for the cuts had not come from his company and that staff had been informed in February this year their jobs were at risk. Moore would not confirm the number of positions lost.
He said, however, those staff who did leave were supported on their way out.
"We put in place good communication programs and career guidance assistance," he said, "and some retention payments to make sure they stayed until they were no longer required."
Moore said the cuts represented a rearrangement of call volumes between centres globally. "We will lose some call volumes to Asia and some to Europe," he said. Cisco is continuing to maintain a 200-seat call centre in Chatswood in Sydney's north.
A spokesperson from Cisco said it would be inappropriate to comment about staff changes at Getronics.
I'd say the reason that Cisco will not comment on an artical titled "Cisco downsizes Aussie call centre", is because its likely Cisco are not downsizing at all.
The likely story here, is that Getronics moved its call center to "South East Asia and Hungary" to get the same job done for cheaper. While probably charging its customer Cisco the same amount.
Thats how it usually is with Global outsourcers these days, but who can blame them when Asia can do the same job for cheaper.