"Yes, the reason I found is due to the fact some people have an inane attitude towards customer service, others are just being mechanical in their approach, hence the output differs."
- Srikanth Sesh, Founder & CEO, SmartConnect Technologies, India

"I think the biggest difference I have come across is that certain cultures are reluctant to tell customers that their requirement cannot be met. This is great if it is true but often they cannot deliver. This leads to broken promises and damaged reputations. It is essential that a promise, once given, is kept."
- David Morris, Consultant, Sharphill Management Services, United Kingdom

"In today's highly competitive outsourcing market, a closer proximity to the United States , Central Time Zone and Spanish language capability as an added value are now considered almost basic requirements when making a decision on what call center to use for our clients. Leaving this to chance is not even an option anymore. Many of the offshore call center agents are bilingual in their native Middle Eastern or Asian language which is difficult to the North American ear. Whereas Spanish is more useful and practical as a second language for potential untapped markets throughout the North, Central and South American populations as well as those countries where Spanish is either a primary or secondary language."
- Richard Blank, Ceo, Costa Rica's Call Center, Costa Rica

"The phrase "The customer is a god" is in Japan. I think that the service industry of Japan fills the customer requirement politely and kindly like the above-mentioned phrase. However, there is what felt in friendly more rather than the politeness in the service of other countries. For instance, the operator of the service industry says, "Thank you for your calling" without fail in Japan. However, I often hear, "Have a nice day" in another country."
- Toshiko Ikawa, Supervisor & Trainer, Fujitsu, Japan

"English call centre know the culture and despite the call centres abroad trying there best we still have lauguage and culture issues they dont understand the way we work and need."
- David Aplin, MI Business Analyst, Comet Group PLC, United Kingdom

"What American callers are most likely to recognize when being serviced by contact centers around the globe, is not cultural diversity, but the effects of divergent managerial philosophies, "management from afar", or hands-off (lack-of-) management practices.

Sometimes, extreme managerial practices are imposed by parachuted-in expatriot managers, akin to cultural ducks out of water, out of frustration. It’s not their fault. Global literacy is a skill learned over years or a lifetime, not days; and local management practices are often best left to local in-country managers. Hands-off management practices are equally doomed, but for a completely different reason having nothing to do with cultural intelligence.

The most successful global outsourcing call centers are those that work with the US call center counterpart as a team. Would anyone hire a qualified new employee, leave them on a college campus somewhere apart from the team, and expect them to be equally successful as their in-office counterparts? No, of course not. Everyone on the team needs to communicate equally as part of the team to be an equally successful contributor. A contact center’s outsourcing services provider needs to be part of the corporate team, too. Including the offshore team members in regular team meetings is a must. Today’s global conferencing technologies have made it possible.

Many companies expect outsourcing to be somewhat turn-key: contract it and watch it work there from over here. That’s just unrealistic."
- Nina Kawalek, CEO, RCCSP Professional Education Alliance, United States

"I'm afaid so. It's great to be served by individuals who are knowledgeable and curteous, but if I struggle to understand the advice I'm being given because it is delivered in heavily accented English, then it's incredibly frustrating and often detracts from the positive aspects of the interaction."
- Sarah Bolton, Manager, Ernst & Young, United Kingdom

"I think its fair to say that different cultues do customer service in a more committed way. I have always found the culture in the US much better than the UK, because people seem to get the fact that they are providing a service. I think Asian cultures also see the link very clearly. In the UK its unfortunately possible to buy petrol at a kiosk without a word being spoken by customer or provider!"
- Darren Young, Business Development Director, Customer Service Network, United Kingdom

"I am generalising, but Pacific Island people love to help people and normally give excellent service. Bhuddist people also love to help and therefore give good service."
- Ann Mayer, Ceo, Telephos Ltd, New Zealand

"I haven’t noticed differences from a cultural perspective as much as I have noticed a difference from language or speech perspective. Regardless of the cultural background, when the agent you are speaking to is not clear, hard to understand, or speaks with a very strong and unfamiliar accent, it is an added challenge to providing good service. I have been called by sales agents, and for the life of me, I don’t understand what they are selling. They are obviously reading a script as they are speaking very fast and they want to ensure they tell me everything before I have the chance to say I am not interested. I respect those agents, as their job is not an easy one. In a lot of cases they have to be good at dealing with rejection as most of the time they will not have a successful sale at the end. However, there is a greater chance of "no thanks" if the person you are talking to, does not understand what you are telling them."
- Arnold Ward, Management Consultant, ACW, Canada

"I have noticed a significantly better level of service from a number of Asian nations, and many Eastern bloc service providers are also very good. My recent experiences in the USA have shown that service levels have dropped away"
- Geoff Langston, Managing Director, GL connects, United Kingdom

"Yes, I have noticed difference in service from people of different cultures. As an example, in India, I have seen much better customer service from the people of south compared to north. I strongly feel that culture and heritage play a big role a persons approach and overall service delivery. With my personal experience, I can say that anyone with a strong and healthy cultural background will behave with respect while a person lacking this would show respect to only those he could benefit from."
- Ankur Bhatia, Founder & CEO, Navigant Technologies Inc, India

"Perhaps of different age groups, not of different cultures."
- Sima Bracken, President, Simatry Inc., Canada

"Yes. However there is a huge difference even within cultures based on the organization's culture. Usually companies at an advanced stage of customer appreciation display better service culture as against companies which are yet to understand the value of their customers fully. The former have better processes in place which ensure that the level of service being offered is reflecting a certain standard."
- Divyan Gupta, Founder and CEO, Keshiha Services, India

"Comparing UK and Spanish contact centers, I find that agents in Spain are less customer friendly when dealing with complaints. Answers like "it's not my fault", "there is nothing I can do" or "that's the companies procedures" are frequent with no hint of empathy at all."
- Cristian Perez, Socio Director, Adoria Consulting, Spain

"Quanto mais competitivo é o mercado, maior a enfase em serviços"
- Marcelo Boarin, Contact Center IT Manager, Oi (telecommunications), Brazil

"I have dealt with contact centres from around the UK and there is not much difference in the level of service. Scotland and other places often have more soothing voices which avoid tension building. I have experience frustrating off-shore services where there is a language barrier making it almost impossible to complete a call."
- Madeleine Sykes, Head of People , Amdocs, United Kingdom

"Yes, in North America, in the restaurant business, tips are a significant part of a server salary so based on the service provided the tip can be good or not. In Europe, tips are extra so the motivation is lower to provide an outstanding service. Regardless of the customer service provided, their salary will pretty much be the same."
- Nuno Periquito, Business Consultant, Altitude Software, Portugal

"I think that the service in India Call Centers is not as good as it could be. Once again, listen to your representatives on the phone and if they cannot get the point across without a couple of adjustments on how they are describing things, they need more language emersion."
- Jennifer Anderson, Director Client Support, Manpower, United States

"Phone reps from India (at least I think that's where they're from) tend to go through more scripted sentences and launch into dialogue that Americans think is unnecessary because we do away with a lot of the flowery pleasantries."
- Sharon Lensky, Support Manager, The American Physical Society, United States

"Not necessarily. However, I have noticed a difference in service from different generations. In general, younger employees don't seem to care."
- Randi Busse, President, Workforce Development Group, Inc., United States

"Living in Los Angeles, I have done business with people from across the globe. I am amazed at how fast the American model of "the customer is king" sinks in with people, no matter the background. I notice a bigger gap with age - typically younger people are not taught the basics of customer service and are not being managed properly."
- Russell Schmidt, Ceo, Extenda Communications, United States

"Not really. There are good and bad customer service people from all cultures. Country Australians seem to be more empathic than metro Australians but as far as offshore centres are concerned some are fantastic and some are terrible. It's down to the training and recruitment more than the culture."
- Probir Geoffrey Dutt, International Sales Director, Concentrix, Australia

"Yes. For English speaking agents in the Asia-pacific region, Filipino agents provide the best service. I don't think it is a coincidence that we also see many Filipino providing good service in many service industries, e.g. retail, restaurants, entertainment etc."
- Chee-wai Ho, Business Analyst, SingTel, Singapore

"I would assume it would depend on the context of the term culture. I understand the question may reference employees environmental conditioning based on where they grew up, currently live, etc. The society from which they come from should not matter as much as a strong focus on an organizational culture of which the employee is part. It should not matter which culture a person comes from as long as the organization maintains the appropriate melding of their own culture and how it expects their employees to behave. Again, it goes back to the organization and if they appropriately cultivate, motivate and compensate the employee will convey that which the organization expects."
- Carl Lobaugh, Director of Quality, Abbott, United States