Feb, 2009 : Offshoring Leads to Customer Loss, says Webfusion

📅 February 23, 2009 - UK web hosting provider Webfusion (webfusion.co.uk) announced on Monday that offshoring to save money in the short term will lose customers in the long term.

The web host encourages UK companies to continue to invest in the country, despite the current recession.

The report comes a week after budget web hosting provider Fasthosts announced it would soon replace up to 38 customer service employees at its Gloucester, UK headquarters with offshore call centers in Romania and the Phillipines.

"We've had more businesses than ever call in to simply ask if our hosting and support is based in the UK," says Thomas Vollrath, managing director at Webfusion. "Customer demand is still high in our online industry despite the downturn and businesses seem keen to help keep money in the UK economy. Expanding UK operations and securing British jobs hold great appeal to existing and potential customers; that's why we host our operations in the UK."

Following the opening of its new £2.5 million data center in Leeds, Webfusion says it has been greatly benefiting from bringing its support back into the UK.

Webfusion's service level has increased from 29 percent in April 2007 to 92 percent in December 2008.

Additionally, Webfusion's overall call volumes have decreased by 42 percent year on year.

Headquartered in Uxbridge, Webfusion continues to hire people within the UK. According to Vollrath, investing in UK-based support has "improved Webfusion's call center management immensely" and its "customers recognize this."

With 1.4 million hosted websites and almost 2 million registered domains, Webfusion Group provides range of services including web hosting, domain registration, and ecommerce.

The company recently expanded its services into US with the launch of its American branch.