A new survey revealed that customers hang up more frequently during call center assisted phone calls.

The survey commissioned by Dimension Data showed that customers who abandon calls increased to 13.3 percent last year from 5 percent in 2003. On the average, customers hang up after 65 seconds of listening to canned music. Additionally, more customers end their calls when asked to pick their way through multiple options.

Customer's lack of patience may be due to the use of their mobile phones. Cara Diemont of Dimension Data said, "Customers are getting used to the idea of an 'always available' society.'"

These problems may also be attributed to inadequate training of call center workers. The survey found that the average induction time for these workers were just 21 days. This leaves "agents not equipped to deal with customers".

Additionally, the study showed that the resolution rate, the number of calls mutually satisfied, is only 50 percent. If the customers' calls are passed on to a specialist or manager, this rate goes up to 70 percent. These are still below industry target of 85 percent.

Diemont said that it is wrong to suggest that outsourcing is the reason for this. According to her, there is no substantial difference in the wait times and resolution rates between call centers based in Europe or North America with those in developing countries.

In fact, half of the companies surveyed, said that workers in outsourcing destinations offer better skills for their money. Diemont said, "You can make call centers perform anywhere if you have good management and the right processes in place."

However, two-thirds of companies surveyed said that they have no plans to offshore their call center operations. Reasons for this include: call center operations are their business' "core function", risks of moving to another country, and outsourcing's negative effect on their brand.