September 16, 2025
Research Suggests Contact Centre Reshoring is the New Offshoring
The onshore/offshore push-pull debate has been rumbling on for many years, with the latest trends showing that reshoring is now in the ascendency as technology reduces costs. Outsourcer ArvatoConnect highlights data in a new report revealing a major reshoring shift is underway in UK customer service.
The figures show that over a third (34%) of CX leaders are set to move operations back to the UK within the next 12 months. That move is led by the use of digital agents cutting costs by almost two-thirds (£42 per hour for human agents vs £16 with AI). This shift enables brands to reshore services while remaining competitive with leading offshore destinations.
The research “Is Time Up For Offshoring?” follows news that major organisations, including BT, Thames Water and Barclays, moving customer service operations back to the UK in a reshoring trend that will positively impact the economy, and likely boost to customer confidence and improve satisfaction ratings in hearing native support voices, even if they are artificial.
Contact Centres Returning to Base
Brands are bringing their customer service operations back to the UK as technology tears up the economics of delivery, according to new research from ArvatoConnect. AI-powered digital agents can already cut UK customer service delivery costs by almost two-thirds. The challenge is to measure the right metrics, as noted in our story, “AI Is Everywhere in Banking Contact Centres, Except in the Metrics That Matter.”
The survey of 200 in-house UK customer experience leaders reveals that 34% say their businesses are preparing to reshore part or all of their operations in the next 12 months, adding to the 46% that already deliver at least some of their customer services onshore. The research shows that the reshoring trend is also being powered by other strategic priorities.
- Nearly a third (31%) say better staff retention is influencing their move, with one in four pointing to cultural familiarity (26%), customer preference for local support (26%), better access to technology (25%) and simplified management and training (25%) as major pull factors.
- Almost three in four (73%) say they would reshore if cost wasn’t a factor, according to the research – and technology is now making this possible.
Another question hanging in the air is, in the mature Contact Centre software market, as noted in the recent Gartner CCaaS Magic Quadrant report, how will vendors attract new business with broadly similar AI offerings?
Reshoring for Economic Growth
James Towner, Chief Growth Officer at ArvatoConnect, said: “The customer experience playbook has had the mantra of offshoring to cut costs, while balancing service quality. But this model is losing relevance and fast.
“Technology is reshaping the economics and expectations of customer service and the question now isn’t where to move operations, it’s whether to offshore at all.
“Brands are waking up to the fact that they no longer need to compromise between cost, quality and control with the right use of technology.
“Added to this, they face challenges that offshoring can’t solve as effectively, from maintaining cultural coherence and ensuring robust data protection, to managing increasingly tighter regulatory frameworks.
“Onshoring is no longer a luxury, and as we’re seeing across other industries, it’s becoming a strategic and logical, future-proof move that will have a positive impact on economic growth.”
The balance for all businesses will be finding the split between the AI/human agents. Maintaining the capacity to deliver empathy when needed, and add value by going the extra mile or minute on a call, something AI will always struggle with.
