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Sky will reduce its headcount with its customer call centres by 2,000 as the media group moves its service further towards online and artificial intelligence.
Call centres in Stockport, Sheffield and Leeds will be closed, while another two, in Newcastle and Dunfermline, will be scaled back.
Sky previously polled 10,000 customers who responded by saying they wanted flexibility in how they interacted with the company. Significantly, the majority of people preferred digital tools for everyday tasks such as paying a bill or managing a contract. It will still be possible to speak to a person to resolve technical issues.
About seven out of ten customers said being able to reach the company 24/7, be that via phone, email, live chat and apps, was important.
Staff were notified of the changes on Thursday morning, which will be subject to consultation.
Is anticipated that calls to Sky’s contact centres will drop from 25 million each year to about 17 million by 2029.
Instead, Sky is making a multi-million pound investment in a state-of-the-art Livingston campus, where it will establish a Centre of Excellence for customer service
A Sky spokesperson said: “We’re transforming our business to deliver quicker, simpler, and more digital customer service. Our customers increasingly want choice, to speak to us on the phone when they need us most and the ease of managing everyday tasks digitally.
“We’re investing in a new centre of excellence for customer service, alongside cutting-edge digital technology to make our service seamless, reliable, and available 24/7. This is about building a future-ready Sky that continues to put our customers and their needs first.”
In January, it was announced Sky would shed 1,000 jobs from its dish installation business, largely due to the shift towards its online Sky Stream and Sky Glass products.
According to Ofcom, Sky has been the least complained-about telecoms provider in the UK for 13 consecutive years.