OutSourcing/OnShore Sourcing/NearSourcing/OffSourcing/MultiSourcing. CHEAP. Who's hurt?
The answer as to who is hurt? Us. You know all those times you have trouble with your phone, with trying to get your records, with calling Human Resources, with trying to find out about coverage? Why your printer isn't working? What's up with your phone?And you come back saying, "I was talking to someone in India."
No, you weren't. You were talking to someone in a sort of "ghetto" in the United States (the one on my podcast was in New Jersey) here on an H 1-B Visa. They are often working often under abuse (they have to leave in days if they lose their job, so will keep them at any cost).
No doctor's office does it's billing anymore. No one handles complaints or problems anymore. No company has an onbase Human Resources. It's all done by predominantly folks from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan working in apartments from home.
I learned so much about this on a podcast and it honestly makes me dread for this country because we have no CLUE how companies are managing us by bringing in slave labor to man the phone banks. In my podcast it happened to be Comcast that was hiring in all sorts of people and selling their "outsourcing products."They say: "Let us do your Human Resources, your collections, your billing, our complaints, your sending of records, your IT, your surveying; we can do it saving your office at least 25% of costs and you will need one office worker, not seven. We can do it ALL for you." They do. But how does it work for US? Next time you need to "make a call" let me know.
Currently, my daughter needs a procedure done on her hip. Before he can even see her specialist she needs the ACTUAL MRI of her hip. Easy you would think, right. It was done in her home town hospital which is about 40 miles from Seattle where the procedure is done. So she tries to get for him the MRI CD (they load them onto a CD). But she is dealing with the East India outfit. Even her Doctor's office (who have tried) cannot seem to get it. The answer no matter who she talks to is "We mailed it. It should get there in 7 to 10 days". And that's it. No MRI. Talk about Frustration. Her appointment now bumped back to November 6. And if she doesn't have the MRI by THEN? Right. Cancel the appointment, AGAIN.
I can't figure where we are going in our brave new world. I KNOW, I am old. It is the litany of all the old. It's part of the "I-used-to-walk-10-miles-in-the-snow-to-get-to-... blah blah." That is so boring. I used to think it was ME, simply my aging and inability to deal with the new computerized stuff. But no, my daughter's really tech savvy and now the things she is dealing with, often talking to ROBOTS, is quite unbelievable.
Hang on folks. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.
I wonder if anyone was offered s'mores while rome burned, hmmm?