- Share This Post
- submit
- 2
-
Sparkle (0)
When I first heard that news that a growing number of customer call center jobs were trekking their way back to the U.S., the first thought I had was,' what took them so long?'
When I first read the news that infertile couples could hire a surrogate in India for a fraction of the cost of trying to do that here, I thought,'this is great news -it's is going to give hope to so many people.'
The irony is that I learned about both of these outsourcing trends within a few minutes of each other. Like many, I have a Jekyll & Hyde reaction to outsourcing. Not so happy when I have to talk with a customer service representative that is struggling with English, and thrilled when the dramatic difference in wages makes things like healthcare and having a baby affordable.
Outsourcing became part of the business lexicon in the 80's. However, it wasn't until the mid-nineties--when General Electric decided to outsource its customer call center to India that every day consumers--not just the ones that had already lost their jobs to outsourced India --actually began to feel the effect of what outsourcing was all about.
First to the call centers. NBC had a story earlier this week about a new trend: US companies are using home agents to fill the jobs that once were outsourced to India. According to the report there are now 150,000 U.S. workers in this new job category and the numbers are expected to double.
Outsourced jobs coming back home
CRM Buyer is featuring a story by Gabriela Rico,originally printed by the Arizona Daily Star, about a recent study that says the trend back to the U.S. is based on(no surprise here)--- customer complaints.
A report released this summer by CFI Group in Ann Arbor, Mich., questioned the wisdom of contracting out call-center operations to foreign countries. The study found that customers who believed they were dealing with a call center outside the United States rated their overall satisfaction 26 points lower than those who believed the center was U.S.-based.
In addition, callers to foreign centers were almost twice as likely to sever business relations with the company.
Industry on the Rise
Despite the cost savings, "There is concern that customers will be turned off both by the loss of American jobs and by the lower level of service," the report said. That companies are responding to customers' frustration is a good thing, said Brad Cleveland, president of the International Customer Management Institute in Maryland. "It's positive that more companies are realizing, 'We've got to get caller contact right,'" he said. "They're not off the hook just because they bring the service in-house. Ultimately, we want to see customers being well-served." Cleveland said $485 billion is spent worldwide running call centers -- $180 billion is spent by U.S. companies, but he did not have an estimate of how much is spent at home versus overseas
.
Like many bloggers ,I have done my share of customer call center horror stories. However, it was this post by Babar from Call Center and Business Process Outsourcing from Pakistan that reminded me that having to deal with irate Americans may not be worth the money.
Call centers and other outsourced businesses such as software writing, medical transcription and back-office work employ more than 1.6 million young men and women in India, mostly in their 20s and 30s, who make much more than their contemporaries in most other professions.
They are, however, facing sleep disorders, heart disease, depression and family discord, according to doctors and several industry surveys.
While some young men and women in India may be reassessing whether the money is worth the lifestyle, a growing number of Indian women are volunteering to be surrogate moms because getting paid for carrying a baby pays more than they would earn in 15 years.
For the families purchasing the services, the fees range from $10-$20,000 which is a bargain compared to the potential fees of $250,k000 for in-vitro fertilization or up to $80,000 for a surrogate in the U.S.
Experts say the "womb for rent" industry is growing in India.
Young women are flocking to the clinic to sign up for the list. Suman Dodia, a pregnant, baby-faced 26-year-old, said she will buy a house with the US$4,500 (euro3,125) she receives from the British couple whose child she's carrying. It would have taken her 15 years
