Cisco set to change TAC
Closure for UK Technical Assistance Centre will bring 40 redundancies
Cisco is closing its UK Technical Assistance Centre (TAC) and transferring the workload overseas, resulting in 40 redundancies.
Cisco outsources telephone support to Milton Keynes-based Getronics, where Cisco-accredited support engineers deal with technical issues for resellers.
Getronics engineers were told in late January that the unit would be closed in July. "Cisco is taking its services offshore and Getronics engineers are involved in the redundancies," a representative of the firm said.
Cisco would not say where the TAC will be relocated to but Nick Watson, head of unified channels at Cisco UK, said it did not matter where the TACs are based. "It's the quality of service that counts," he said.
But Keith Humphreys, an analyst at EuroLAN Research, questioned Cisco's ability to maintain 24-hour support capacity if it moves the resources out of Europe.
He said: "When resellers call the TAC they are dealt with straight away. But if it moves support out of Europe, how will Cisco do it?"