Who you gonna call? Outsourcing to foreign countries
I'm sure we all recognize that line from Ghostbusters. Well I finally found a way to use it. Let me ask a question. Have you had to call a customer service center lately? If you have, you may have been shocked to find your self speaking to someone in another country. Outsourcing is taking over the world as the way to go for many businesses who base decisions on their bottom line. You may live in Australia but you are talking to someone in the Philippines. Or perhaps you're in America talking to someone in India. In the U.K. and talking to someone in China.
Yes this is what is happening. Businesses are cutting costs by hiring cheap labor in other countries. You're thinking that's a good business decision. Is it really?
First of all there's the fact that you cannot understand half of what the customer service representative is saying. They may be speaking your language but with an accent so thick that they might as well speak whatever their first language is. You would understand as much. This leads to confusion on your part.
Secondly there is the issue of regulation. Different country, different set of laws. Laws which may not be as rigid when it comes to information security. Citicorp found this out the hard way when workers in an Indian call center used the access to personal information to embezzle funds from American accounts. American workers could have easily been subjected to a background check, not so in India. To really understand the drawbacks of outsourcing to foreign call centers, I suggest you read this article by Heather Wood of SocyBerty on The Dangers of Outsourcing to Foreign Countries
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Comments (8)
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
You've also got outsourcing of the outsourcing going on. The State of Georgia was one of the entities that outsourced their customer service center for welfare recipients to Citicorp. Citicorp then outsourced to a call center in India. The one where the workers were embezzling funds!
Instead of jobs being created within the state (maybe one or two of those food stamp recipients could have gotten one and gotten off the food stamps, reducing the budget for the food stamp program) lowering the
Arthur Webster7
Just plain honesty
Out-sourcing to India and far eastern countries is well established. The Barclaycard call centre and many others are now remotely operated from one-man offices in the UK, saving enormous amounts of money.
It isn't just the salaries that they save, it is also much cheaper to call into the UK from thousands of miles away than it is to call from within the UK. A result of government mismanagement of the economy and the greed factor that is now the single driving force in any enterprise.
Of co
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
This is what happens when businesses base the decisions on "the bottom line" rather than the good of the business. Every slips in the attempt to save a few cents.
Jenny Stewart11
Great article Cheryl,
When in London and trying to unravel an unholy mess for my elderly parents with AOL - THAT WAS COSTING THEM MONEY - I had to speak to operators in.....New Delhi, India- and yes there were some communiction difficulties to say the least!
When trying to arrange an urgent consular passport for my youngest son with the British Embassy in Madrid - guess who I spoke to? A delighted young man in Northern Ireland!! And could he pop to the next office to check up anything?' Da
Jennifer Underwood11
Promoter
Telling you. It is everywhere! That is what worries me for all of you that think....'Identity theft won't happen to me'
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
It is worrying. As if 261 of 300 security breaches occurring in the U.S. wasn't enough, now we have to worry if companies in other countries are giving criminals access to our personal information!
Jennifer Underwood11
Promoter
That is why I am so glad that the people who handle my computer security, computer issues, and my identity theft recovery.....the tech support and the customer service is right here in the United States!!!!!!!!! And it is FREE!
SO I call Utah!
:0)
Jeff Greene8
Online Marketing Specialist/Consultant
Most certainly informative and a bit worrying, but not surprising... It doesn't seem to occur to people that major companies are cashing in on outsourcing in a big way behind the scenes of "Globalization"....
It's like a thief who steals your coat on a cold Winter Day, and then offers to sell it back to you at extortionary prices, all for your convenience, of course... Morality, Integrity, Openess.... all are Platitudes for "The People"... They will never find their way into the hearts of f