banning the outsourcing of campaigns

[Tejal]

Hi there!

Can anyone tell me why do the Foreign Govt.s think it is not feasible to outsource their work to other countries all of a sudden.?

I mean, if we go to look at the surveys and statistics, it says, outsourcing is the only way the companies can actually reduce the costs and get the best quality in the bargain.. if they dont, they would be losing business; despite unemployment, people qualified for the right kind of job are hardly available.

SO why do people feel antagonistic towards outsourcing jobs?

[Donnella]

Hi

Recently in the UK news, there has been a great deal of debate with respect to the skills level of today's workforce. Part of government strategy may be to "encourage" employers to invest more fully in the existing workforce, as studies frequently show employers to be crucial in this process. This would be a vital step in ensuring more effective competition with international solutions.

I am sure that this is only one small factor amongst many, but it is a consideration.

Donna

[Michcall]

There are many answers to this question, depending on who you speak to. In the U.S., there is a sensitivity to any jobs being moved out of the country because we have a large workforce who is trying to get by in a struggling economy. Think about it from your perspective: In 10 years if Indonesia or some other country is the new low cost outsource provider for call centers, I would assume the Indian govt. would have some difficulty if thousands of jobs were relocated for cost control reasons.

The problem isn't that the U.S. doesn't have qualified workers to work in call centers; we have multiple thousands of seats currently staffed. The problem is that U.S. workers wages are comparatively much greater than many other countries, either based on exchange rates or prevailing economics. In the U.S., moving these jobs overseas is seen by many as profit chasing by large corporations (who made their fortunes in the U.S.) resulting in crippling a segment of the American workforce and increasing unemployment.

This is also an election year in the U.S., and this is a very high profile issue. No politican who wants to get elected is going to come out in favor of moving jobs out of the country. I think that's no different than many countries; if it's announced (over and over) that over the next 10 years, hundreds of thousands of jobs are going to be moved elsewhere because it's cheaper to do business, there will generally be a public outcry, especially from those people who feel their jobs are in jeopardy.

[hallbj2]

Hello,
I tend to agree with the other posters- primarily, it is a pure business decision in dollars and cents.

I think we can all agree that labor is much more cost effective when outsourced offshore however there are some tradeoffs.

Call center agents in the U.S. who lose their jobs in a shaky economy only to discover their job has been given to someone in another country for less wages - makes them angry and rightfully so.

[cjw17]

Some corporations, my own included, have shown terrible insensitivity by bringing in the folks from India who will be taking the jobs and having the current employees train them as a condition of receiving severance. This increases resentment.
Also, all of us are not only call center employees, but customers of companies who've done similar outsourcing. There's a lot of deception which shows a lack of integrity. Some examples are using names like "Sean" and "Elizabeth", stating that they can't reveal where the call center is located for security purposes.

[hallbj2]

While I know it's always a bottom line decision, personally I don't agree with outsourcing overseas. I've had a few personal experiences where I have had to call a customer service number for something at home- only to be answered by a person who cannot fully understand English much less help me.

Many Americans have lost their jobs to outsourcing overseas - greedy companies will eventually find out that when you place the service end of your business in the hands of those who leave a poor first impression for the sake of a few bucks - it will cost far more to get those customers back - if ever.


Just my personal opinion.

[Donnella]

This is indeed a very emotive subject, but several people have touched the often common concern of language, which I would additionally extend to culture.

However many of these considerations are purely cultural and not government led initiatives.

But in the case of Scotland over the past 10 - 15 years you can see not only a national preference for use of local workforces, but a positive "discrimination" in terms of subsidies to attract business locally, purely to augment and improve the local employment opportunities; e.g Livingston is marketed as "Silicon Glen" for IT hardware, and Edinbrugh as the "Call Centre Capital" of the UK if not farther afield.

So unfortunately Tejal, this will usually mean that even if businesses are considering other locations, there will frequently be other incentives for organisations to source locally themselves, or benefit from effective "subsidies" to use local resources, this is the nature of the "beast".

[tarunpuri]

Hello everybody,

Here is what i have to say : Jobs that are outsourced are jobs which are not really increasing your bottom line , hence outsourcing of these jobs leads to cost savings....i.e. $$$$$, which could be used to expand the organisations operations further or start a new LOB (Line Of Business),which would offcourse lead to more employment and that too high profile jobs which directly make or break the bottom lines.

Atleast in 95% of the cases this would be true, 5% cases of outsourcing could be involving processes which do effect the bottom lines (though not in a big way), these jobs are outsourced due to two reasons a) Quality remains the same or better b) Cost ($$$$), Quality would always be the first thing any client would look at before looking at the cost.

Infact all jobs are outsourced after looking at these two factors a) Quality of service / manpower (ability to deliver same or better quality service) and b) Cost ($$). Where you find these two togather, its a win win situation for the organisation.

Am sure, that no organisation would outsource its customer service if the vendor cannot give the same level or better quality, they would certainly not want to outsource to loose all their customers, idea is to expand / grow the business further.

Regards,
Tarun Puri
Mobile : +91 98111 41111
Email : tpuri@rediffmail.com

[Joseph Benoit]

First of all companies must decide if they will handle their own calls or hire an outsourcer. Companies with no expertise in this area, or the capability to finance a center look at outsourcing as an option. Also if a company was seriously looking at operating their own site, they would look at the $ difference in outsourcing. For some companies it just makes a lot of sense. Companies today are looking at focusing on their core business. Car manufactures have done this for years. They assemble cars and sell them. They don't make the seats, glass, dashboards etc... It's all outsourced. As far as companies having non-english primary countries doing there calls, if think it's an option for some companies. However, there is definately problems with someone names "Jim Smith" who speaks with a definite foreign accent handling insurance, medical, or other sensitive issues. If they obviously are trying to trick me here, what else are they doing? So at the end of the day, it's not going to stop, just some companies will do it better than others.

Joe

[Joseph Benoit]

Here a good example of when companies don't think before they outsource.

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/bus...d74070?source=

[centerguy]

can you post the article? The link didn't work.

thx

[hallbj2]

Interesting. I live in the Washington DC area and just yesterday in the Business section of The Washington Post- there is the beginning of a 3 part series on the front page (left hand side) titled: "Offshoring Has it's Trade-Offs".

The Washington Post has a webs site where you can read it. Not sure when part 2 will appear, it is however very interesting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com


Beverly Hall- Hall & Associates
Contact Center Consultant & Trainer

[Joseph Benoit]

Sorry centerguy. The London UK paper my researchers pulled that from must only keep their links up for 24 hrs. My firm researches news stories from around the world daily on behalf of our clients. If it is not completely relevant we don't archive the article. Basically what it dealt with was an India based call center was handling calls for a UK bank. Tech staff at the call center were being bribed into divulging banking info that was aquired through there system. Which goes to my point that outsourcing makes a lot of sense if done right. If done wrong however it can destroy a company. The whole bribing scenario could happen anywhere. I have 15 years experience consulting call centers and some of the things I've seen and heard would make you cry in your pillow.