IN a rapidly changing world we sometimes have to get used to what seems like an alien idea.

So it is with foreign call centres. Conventional wisdom has it that British people do not want to be connected to faraway countries when discussing their insurance or other financial matters.

When companies started to "offshore" such services, there was customer resistance on a number of fronts, including worries about foreign accents and fears that exporting such jobs would undermine our economy.

Now that everything has settled down, a fuller picture is emerging - certainly according to the experiences of Norwich Union in York.

The company admits that its Life operation call centre at Pune in India was initially a cost-cutting exercise. Just under 20 people were made redundant in York - although the overall number of people working for Norwich Union in the city has in fact risen since the jobs went abroad.

Aviva believes it can employ top-quality, highly motivated staff at much lower costs in India, and that, after teething troubles, the service is now better than before.

The main complaints customers have about telephone services concern being kept waiting too long or being connected to the wrong person - both of which problems are said to have been reduced.

Thanks to higher wage costs and a saturated jobs market in York, Norwich Union says it could not run such an operation here.

This brave new world is not without its worries.

Should we be alarmed that such jobs are possibly no longer viable in Britain? Certainly, but perhaps this could also be seen as part of our new relationship with the developing world.

Updated: 09:11 Friday, January 06, 2006