bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Andrew Chetham

Hongkong Telecom has set up an arm offering out-sourced phone services that could mean savings of up to 30 per cent for some companies.

 Under the service, Telecom staff handle a company's incoming calls, leaving the customer free to concentrate on core areas of business.

 Although 100 per cent owned by Telecom, the new company is called Cable & Wireless Teleservice.

 'We see Teleservices as an international business, we want to give it an international branding from the start,' Teleservices managing director Lindsay Servian said.

 'Cable & Wireless is well known among corporate and international clients,' Mr Servian said.

 Cable & Wireless owns 54 per cent of Telecom and has operations in many countries worldwide.

 The idea behind teleservices is to take over a firm's 'call centre' functions.

  This might mean services such as customer helplines, service hotlines, telesales or marketing promotions, or even taking over a company's public switchboard function.

 Telecom said its main target was multinationals.

 In the United States, the market for this type of outsourcing is estimated to be more than US$8 billion.

 Teleservices head of sales Tony Bruno said research suggested the market in Hong Kong could reach $1 billion in five years.

 Mr Servian would not say what the investment involved in the new business was, although with a start-up administrative and technical staff of about 30 it seems unlikely to make much of a dent in Telecom's cash pile of about $11 billion.

 The company said it had installed 70 positions for teleservice staff at new offices in Tsuen Wan.

  This could be easily expanded to 700 desks to meet customer demand, it said.

 The company hopes to take the business outside the SAR, with multilingual operators in Hong Kong taking calls for companies in the region.



Cost-friendly answering service has international potential