Saf gives assurances over offshore centres

A decision by shipping line Safmarine to base its customer service centre offshore has met with mixed response. The shipping line sees it as a move to improve customer service, allowing local staff to interact more frequently with clients while the more functional or process-type activities are handled in countries elsewhere. Local companies are however hesitant to buy into the concept. Safmarine in July announced it was in the process of establishing a southern Africa customer team in Mumbai. In its customer notice the line said the vision for this was to ensure that the customer’s interface locally would be simplified, with one point of contact for sales and one for customer experience – the new name they have introduced to describe customer service. According to Safmarine, the off-shoring of certain functions such as finance and customer service-related tasks has been happening for over a decade. This is not a unique concept as a number of industries – for example banks and financial institutions, IT, insurance and telecommunication companies – have been doing it for years. Some customers have however expressed reservations about the impact on service levels, based on experiences with other shipping lines that have already gone the offshore route. “There have been incidents involving other lines where a generic standard response is given by the local person and that is that the off-shore centre will respond to the query in three hours. What if you don’t have three hours?” said one source. Aspects such as the updating of Navis and after-hours crises are some of the concerns being raised. “So someone in Mumbai must help me with a crisis after hours? Or update my container at the gate? I don’t know if I am all that excited about this move,” said another source. “Challenges are very real – such as the updating of Navis – and it has to happen in real time," said the source. Safmarine’s southern Africa managing director Dirk Hoffmann has, however, assured FTW that the local point of contact will still retain complete control over their customers’ activity. “We realise that there are certain transactional tasks that require local agility – such as after-hours support for business-critical issues – and we will be available locally to support our customers as and when required,” he said. “Change is always difficult. The priority for Safmarine will always be our customers.” The company has made it clear that the partnering between the South African teams and the offshore service centre will become a key enabler of its business. Local sales and customer experience will be present in all of the current locations in southern Africa. Through this move, it says, more time is being created in a Safmariner’s day to really understand their customers, their needs and respond to them.” INSERT & CAPTION We realise that there are certain transactional tasks that require local agility — such as after-hours support for business-critical issues. – Dirk Hoffmann