Outsourcing is a jobsworth's charter, says IT services guru at Frontrange

CONTROVERSIAL IT services guru Alastair Trower has called on British industry to stop stalking their customers and start offering services they actually want.

Speaking at the Heat Forum in London, Trower, marketing manager at software vendor Frontrange Solutions, confessed that the Customer Relationship Management and Customer Interaction Management systems his company had supplied haven't been used to customer's best interests.

"It's true that CRM has been one sided, and yes, some companies think the relationship is purely about constantly cross selling and up-selling," he admitted. The INQUIRER told him most banks now use CRM systems to stalk their customers. If what you have with a bank is really a ‘relationship', we suggest, many customers would be seeking a restraining order by now. And it's all the fault of CRM vendors, like Frontrage, who gave them the tools.

Trower agreed. "Banks have been too greedy," he admitted. "It's all been about call centres in Bangalore, and cutting costs, but with no benefit to the customer."

But isn't Frontrange guilty? After all, they supplied the banks with these weapons of mass distraction. "What they do with the technology is up to them. The good news is we've seen a shift in attitude recently. Costs are all about even now. There's nothing to choose between many of the main players in most industries. So companies have given up trying to compete on cost: they're actually going to try and improve the service."

"To survive nowadays you need to give the customer something: Better service or a better product," he said.

Trower was critical of the modern outsourcing techniques too. "Half the time in an outsourcing contract you don't know who's responsible for what, and it's difficult to get anyone to own the responsibility of a project. It's a jobsworth's charter," he said. µ