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7 Commentsi just signed up to the community today. After reading a few topics, finally I have decided to make a post and open the communication channel. I represent an offshore web development house, we are into this work from more than five years now and have good project success rate. To be honest, we do not fail much.
I often read comments about outsourcing offshore from people. I get to know the gurus of business do not recommend outsourcing critical work such as web design, database design and programming. However they are more comfortable with work like data entry, call centers etc.
The point I want to make is that, there are risks in even selecting a vendor from your locality and fail in getting the desired results. If someone can find the right vendor offshore, he can surely save money and get more productivity than hiring an onshore provider.
Outsourcing to me is an opportunity for anyone, to engage with the flat world today and enjoy the benefits of Internet. :) I hope to hear comments from you people.
Mike
Written Feb. 15, 2008 / Report /
Well keep in mind that a lot of users here possess the skills you offer, and everyone knows you should not outsource your core competencies. That's probably a big reason why we have the opinions we do, since we're used to wearing multiple hats to get things done.
peroty
Written Feb. 15, 2008 / Report /
To say nothing of those who work in IT Support, especially at the desktop level. Not a day goes by when I don't have a user complaining about the "helpless desk" they have to call to get things like password resets done because they can't understand them. To say nothing of when simple tasks take 4 times as long because you have to e-mail or IM someone across the world.
pajamadeen
Written Feb. 16, 2008 / Report /
While I wish you the best of luck, I just got another writing gig from someone who tried to outsource blog posting work for a legitimate health blog to workers overseas. When he got the final work product - in broken English and stilted British English for an American audience - he quickly realized that you get what you pay for.
Vidar
Written Feb. 17, 2008 / Report /
Outsourcing support calls (and pretty much everything else) is bad form and shows you dont care about your customer.
There are several call centers here that take calls for several MAJOR companies, and they all suck.
I've worked in two, and the reason they suck is because the people who work there are undertrained, underpaid, unmotivated, and generally dont give a fuck about you and your broken phone line/cellphone/computer/whatever.
The only requirement you need to get hired by a callcenter here is knowing basic "me tarzan, you jane" english, and basic "this moves the arrow, this one makes letters appear on the tv screen" knowledge of computers. Thats it, no high school diploma or any other qualification needed.
Since callcenter duty is that of a mindless drone, everyone with half brain either quits or gets fired in no time (mainly because they ask too many questions like "what about my health benefits" or expect to be treated like a human being), and those who remain can barely haf-ass it.
I could go on and on... If you're interested maybe send me a private message or something.
subimage
Written Feb. 18, 2008 / Report /
Someone has been reading 4-hour workweek...
peroty
Written Feb. 18, 2008 / Report /
@Vidar
You're so right! It continues to amaze me how companies treat their customers. They'll woo you with happy shiny pictures of cute blondes in headsets waiting to take your call. Then when you really need to call someone, it'll be Indian man reading from a script and will most likely disconnect you.
It's so infuriating!!!
@Subimage
I hadn't even thought of that, but I think you're right. ;)
Vidar
Written Feb. 22, 2008 / Report /
@peroty, i may not be indian but you can bet your ass i want to disconnect you. Pro Tip: ask to talk to a manager/supervisor/higher up no less than 3 times.