It's not going to put you at a competitive disadvantage in all cases. But you do run the risk of being at a cost disadvantage if, all else being equal, your competitors are using cheap labor and you're not. Of course, in the real world, all else is never equal, which is why the ultimate impact of outsourcing and offshoring depends from case to case. It's not always good, but it's not always bad as some folks believe.

In your case, it sounds like your company is differentiating on service quality. If that is true, then you naturally don't want to skimp on service costs since that is one of your core competitive strengths. Every successful company has some unique core differentiator that it defends at all costs. For you, it's service. Companies almost never offshore their critical core functions and it makes sense that you guys are keeping your big strength in house and within our country.

But for some other company that doesn't differentiate on service, the money saved by offshoring could mean more cash to allocate toward defending their own unique value proposition. It's all a matter of what customers value about your company and how you allocate resources to keep providing that value.

For instance, let's say one your competitors has no hope of ever catching up to your #1 position in service quality. What can they do to survive if they aren't going to beat you on service? One option would be to offshore customer service and put the savings toward developing a superior product, or maybe toward increased sales and marketing.

I'm just saying that sometimes offshoring makes good business sense. In other cases, like yours, it doesn't. Reality is indeed that customers may perceive service quality based on what country your staff is in. But reality is also that offshoring cuts costs and is attractive to companies. There is also the issue that people tend to resist change and things that are new. Offshoring has only been picking up steam in recent times because technology now allows us to manage distributed teams. People are worried about it because it's the new kid on the block. I think that will slowly change as offshoring becomes more common and fades into the background as just another way of doing business. But only time will tell.

 

^ Should also clarify that the part of my post you quoted was assuming that the end product is the same (i.e., fulfills the customer's need just as sufficiently) regardless of who made it. If your customer service is what differentiates your company and is of higher quality (i.e., fulfills customer needs better) when kept domestic, then by all means you should keep it domestic. In this case, the end product is not the same.

Personally I see two distinct issues here: 1) customer service quality, and 2) offshoring.

For customer service quality, IMO things like language skills and technical knowledge are more important than country of origin when it comes to actual service quality. From the customer's perspective, I don't see any difference between a poor English speaker working out of India and a poor English speaker working out of the USA. Granted, some customers may have their own biases and rank you higher because you hire American workers. That would be an issue of perceived quality. Perceptions are valid but fleeting and very hard to get a grasp on.

For offshoring, then I'd have to agree that it's not good to offshore to a country that speaks poor English when the majority of your customers are English-speaking. But that's a language skills issue, not an offshoring issue.

Here's something I'm curious about. For the folks here that dislike offshoring to India, would you like it better if we offshored to a fluent English-speaking country in Europe instead? Why or why not?

 

I could chime in on the issue of offshoring, but I'll not speak ill of my employer.

I will say this though, my buddy has one clock set for Bangalore, and when having to talk to a support person in India, they will happily say, "Good morning/afternoon/evening/night" for India. . .

. . . he says only 1/10 phone-jockeys understands what just happened.

 

I don't have time to read through the whole thread right now but I hate calling and getting someone in India, I called linksys because I had a router screw up and I swear everything had to be repeated like 5 times.. I got so pissed. I eventually just said screw it and mailed the router back to linksys and let them deal with it. I don't have time nor patience to deal with someone who can't speak English when I'm calling for customer service.

 

CLICK HERE

Customer Service

 

Well for basic sites based off of templates I refer them to my friend's company that specializes in that. And yes there is an incentive... higher level of service. Besides the inferior quality of work, the other most often heard complaint of these web people in India is that they are impossible to reach. Verbal communication is impossible, email communication is sparse at best and sometimes done through a middle party.

 

I generally dislike outsourcing and offshoring. I understand that in certain circumstances it makes business sense however.

So to answer your question, no I would prefer the duties be given to an American worker but if offshoring is a must, than I would prefer that the duties be given to someone that speaks English good enough to properly communicate with regardless of location. They can be in Europe, Canada or the freaking North Pole swimming with the penguins for all I care. As long as they can speak English clearly and understand enough to not repeat "I not understand." five times.

 

I think there are way too many generalizations being bandied about here. FYI, India IS an english fluent country, especially in the areas where call centers are built. Your typical call center employee has at least a Master's Degree and has an unbelievable work ethic. How's this for a generalization? Your typical American counterpart is lucky if they are HS educated, lazy, barely speak correct english, and are all from the south with that annoying twang.

India's IT community can run rings around pretty much any other country's offerings. All of this for a 1/10 of the cost required for a less skilled US counterpart. You do the math Einstein. Better quality for significantly less money...hmmm tough one there.

As for the sh!t-for-brains poster who thought it was funny by harassing the CSR with his juicy burger story, that CSR is laughing right back at you for clogging up your arteries and your eventual need for a quad bypass. Your Apu comment...smart, witty. That CSR is thinking your the typical fatass loud mouthed ignorant American, who goes by the name Cletus.

THe reality is, India is an incredible resource for any company looking for bright, hard working, and qualified workers at significantly lower HR costs. There is a growing trend of MBA grads from top Ivy league schools going to India to learn from them and get better international business skills.

 

HAHAHA!!! that's great.

 

[QUOTE=kadeshpa,Aug 14 2005, 01:10 PM]I think there are way too many generalizations being bandied about here.