Should we send offshore support services to India? Take a look at these pics and think again…
Filed Under (Misc Thoughts, Technology) by Julian Stone on 26-05-2008
Tagged Under : Comms, India Call Centers, Support, Telco
This is India. It’s where many companies send their outsourced support services and call centres for a more ‘efficient’ operation… Hmm… There’s some irony in Telco’s like Telstra etc sending support to India!
I know that the actual support centers are a little flasher, and they probably use cable ties to tidy things up a bit. But thought this was a laugh for the week after reading through the NZ ‘Digital Strategy’ paper. It says we need Fibre connectivity to compete on the world stage, but India are competing nicely and they’re doing it with spaghetti comms and tin cans tied together with string. Just give us reliability in NZ!
Disclaimer: Some people think I’m serious about this (been contacted by some Indians from 2x telcos :-) ). for those with no funnybone, this is a lighthearted humorous post. Don’t take it seriously. And yes I’d gladly poke fun at my own country/govt if the opportunity arose - we in NZ have plenty to laugh about! We should all learn to laugh at ourselves more. ;-)
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About the author:
Julian Stone, CEO – Project Management Software visionary for: ProActiveSoftware.com, ProWorkflow.com & Julian101.com
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It is hard to start a post like this without having the odd 'uptight' person spoil all the fun. Sometimes people need to step back and look at the big picture…it really makes you a better person.
Anyway these companies like hp make so much money that they can justify having cheap call centres, knowing there will be a decrease in quality support.
I work at <a href="http://www.project123.com/" rel="nofollow">Project123</a> based in Australasia and we pride ourselves on good support and most customers point that out to us. I do think outsourcing is disgusting but then who can tell corporate giants what they can and cant do?
Doing things with what we have is greatness. I think you have never been in India. Being a CEO its shame on you to publish this type of article in your blog.
You are purposefully diverting peoples mind and it is against ethics too.
I think the world needs more CEO’s with a sense of humor! And no I have never been to India, but have talked to many, many, Indian call centre services for NZ, AUS and USA companies, and I can make two distinct statements.
1. The quality of the connection is always terrible.
and
2. I can never understand the operators name.
This is not a racist comment, rather applies to any person of any culture in any call center. I just want to be able to write down the persons name whilst on the phone - for callbacks. So please say the name clearly and slow.
As for the quality, no idea… is it the inground lines causing issue? is it VOIP? Don’t know, but it needs to change as it’s a bad look. Called Dell the other day. Same thing - Really bad line connection and couldn’t understand the persons name.
On another note: I personally find the Indian call centers helpful as the operators always seem very technical. In New Zealand, most call centers are useless. Try calling Telecom, a power company, IRD etc - All USELESS. They like to keep passing you to other people and avoiding answers…
Food for thought…
We call indian call centres all the time and it’s ALWAYS terrible line quality. We also get people with names we can’t pronounce or spell that they say it in 0.01 seconds.
The say something like “Hello, Telstra Call Centre - this is Rajhmahemetryionresocjmni…”
We’re lazy in NZ and names like Bob, Bill, ALan, Sam, John, Tom etc. This is much easier and we say it slower “It’s Aaaalan here”
I have nothing against Indians, Indian Names or the culture - that’s all great and they’re wonderful people, but the simple fact remains that English people do struggle with their names. We can’t pronounce, say or spell them.
I reckon they all need a short ‘Alias’ if working in a call center. For example…
They should say this… “Hello, Telstra Call Centre - this is Rajhmahemetryionresocjmni… but you can call me HotRod for short”
That would make life simpler for all. ;-)
It is hard to start a post like this without having the odd ‘uptight’ person spoil all the fun. Sometimes people need to step back and look at the big picture…it really makes you a better person.
Anyway these companies like hp make so much money that they can justify having cheap call centres, knowing there will be a decrease in quality support.
I work at Project123 based in Australasia and we pride ourselves on good support and most customers point that out to us. I do think outsourcing is disgusting but then who can tell corporate giants what they can and cant do?
Agreed Dave… And WE can tell corporates what they can and can’t do… WE are the customer.
Love the subtle URL to Project123, :-) but we at http://www.proworkflow.com not only provide fanatical support, some of the best we’ve seen but also have raving fans. Check out: http://www.proworkflow.com/customers_testimonials.cfm and sign up for a free trial here: http://www.proworkflow.com/PWF_assistance_privateDemo.cfm.
Re: Project123, you should have a contact page with real details and a real address. This should be public especially from a legal perspective if you start doing ECommerce. We couldn’t find one…
mmmmmmmm…. I talked to many operators from India and have found them all very useful….. when I could hear them over the crackling line. Those images would make me nervous to consider relying on one of their call centres for my business support. I hope NZ can sort its problems out so we dont have to continue the shame of unreliable internet and crackling calls on VOIP. We may not have the birds nests of wires, but our VOIP quality is not much better. Cool post Julian.
I think the world needs more CEO's with a sense of humor! And no I have never been to India, but have talked to many, many, Indian call centre services for NZ, AUS and USA companies, and I can make two distinct statements. 1. The quality of the connection is always terrible. and 2. I can never understand the operators name. This is not a racist comment, rather applies to any person of any culture in any call center. I just want to be able to write down the persons name whilst on the phone - for callbacks. So please say the name clearly and slow. As for the quality, no idea… is it the inground lines causing issue? is it VOIP? Don't know, but it needs to change as it's a bad look. Called Dell the other day. Same thing - Really bad line connection and couldn't understand the persons name. On another note: I personally find the Indian call centers helpful as the operators always seem very technical. In New Zealand, most call centers are useless. Try calling Telecom, a power company, IRD etc - All USELESS. They like to keep passing you to other people and avoiding answers… We call indian call centres all the time and it's ALWAYS terrible line quality. We also get people with names we can't pronounce or spell that they say it in 0.01 seconds. The say something like "Hello, Telstra Call Centre - this is Rajhmahemetryionresocjmni…" We're lazy in NZ and names like Bob, Bill, ALan, Sam, John, Tom etc. This is much easier and we say it slower "It's Aaaalan here" I have nothing against Indians, Indian Names or the culture - that's all great and they're wonderful people, but the simple fact remains that English people do struggle with their names. We can't pronounce, say or spell them. I reckon they all need a short 'Alias' if working in a call center. For example… They should say this… "Hello, Telstra Call Centre - this is Rajhmahemetryionresocjmni… but you can call me HotRod for short" That would make life simpler for all. ;-) Food for thought…
Agreed Dave… And WE can tell corporates what they can and can't do… WE are the customer. Love the subtle URL to Project123, :-) but we at http://www.proworkflow.com “>http://www.proworkflow.com not only provide fanatical support, some of the best we've seen but also have raving fans. Check out: http://www.proworkflow.com/customers_testimonials...“>and “>http://www.proworkflow.com/customers_testimonials...and sign up for a free trial here: http://www.proworkflow.com/PWF_assistance_private...“>“>http://www.proworkflow.com/PWF_assistance_private... Re: Project123, you should have a contact page with real details and a real address. This should be public especially from a legal perspective if you start doing ECommerce. We couldn't find one…