Sky to axe calls in £600m cutbacks

Sky is set to force its customers to contact the business online rather than by telephone as part of a £600m three-year cost-cutting exercise.
According to press reports, the move has been sanctioned by chief executive Jeremy Darroch in an effort to defray the mammoth bill for securing Premier League rights.
Last week Sky signed a three-year deal worth £1.4bn a season for the right to broadcast 126 live games, including the lucrative Sunday afternoon fixtures.
However, it is reluctant to slash costs at its in-house production unit, which has launched a number of its own TV series, including Fortitude, the Arctic thriller starring Michael Gambon and Sophie Grabol.
Increases in subscription charges will also be kept to a minimum. Darroch told the Sunday Times: “We’ll seek to minimise how much of the cost rise we will pass on to consumers.”
Sky’s contact centre operation is one of the biggest in the country, and operates out of ten locations, including Livingston, Dunfermaline, Newcastle, Leeds and Dublin.
While much of its work is CRM and sales based, a major part of the business is dealing with enquiries and complaints. Slashing “human” contact would save the company millions of pounds a year as online and email correspondence can be handled by far fewer people. It is not known how many jobs could be affected by the move.