The American manufacturers of everything from blue jeans to semiconductors have searched the world for the cheapest labor that they could find. IT may have cost hundreds of thousand of American jobs, but it is made American products more affordable. Some of the most familiar companies ones they deal every day are moving a whole new class of jobs overseas. They can call it outsourcing, not the old economy assembly line jobs in the new economy anything that involves a computer or a telephone. The person at the other end of the line is more likely to be in India than in Indiana. To many American employers, India is Nirvana, it has a stable democracy an enormous English speaking population and a solid education system that each year churns out more than a million college graduates all happy to work for a faction of the salary of their American counterparts.
The country that often looks on the edge of collapse, a background of grinding poverty, visual a mess and India epitomizes the new global economy. They are doing customer service there, a leading outsourcing company helped start the Indian call center boom in the 90’s when they came up with the business plan for the American companies to direct their calls to India. They service the globe, they service all the parts of the world irrespective of what time it is here or there. The New Delhi is nearly 11 hours ahead of New York so manning the phone is largely night work. The agents as they called are dutiful, Indian sons and daughter. They take on the phone names such as Sean, Nancy, Ricardo and Celine so they can sound like the girl or boy next door. The American movies are part of an agent training in how to sound all American. The Lavanya Prabhu is a call center trainer who guides young Indians through the labyrinth of the American English.
The call goes out for the new call center recruits as more and more American companies come calling. The call center employees earn $3,000 to $5,000 a year, in a nation where the per capita income is less than $500. The perks include free private transport to and from work plus the sheer heaven of an air conditioned workplace. There are few aspects of the telephonic life that do not sooner or later end up in India from someone talking into a new credit card to attempt to return.
REFERENCE:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/23/60minutes/main590004.shtml
