Politics
Outsourcing: Not Safe for Work
I've taken Workbench back from Vivek Seal. I appreciate his efforts -- especially considering some of the abuse he took -- but remain unsold on the notion that outsourcing is beneficial to Americans. Seal's clear on the fact that it helps India, of course, but the most he offers us is a platitude that's laid on downsized employees all the time -- you ought to develop skills for another job that'll make you more valuable: I know many jobs are being lost but there are many new jobs which are ... (read more)Outsourcing: What's in a Name?
A name, your preview to the world, may mean everything to someone, but in call centers in India they choose an alias name for themselves to make Americans life easier. Whether they are able to do it or not is a separate issue altogether. You all must be surprised to know that the U.K. companies are much more broadminded as compared to the U.S. ones in the accent, name and even the culture of an employee (maybe because of our past). In fact all the voice-based processes in India are divided into ... (read more)This post was written by Vivek Seal.
How Outsourcing Looks from New Delhi
I am really excited to blog on an issue which is so dear to my heart. Beforehand I must tell you that I have seen this industry from all the angles, I was a CCE in Convergys India (Gurgaon) and was working in a UK process so I have the real floor experience, then I worked as a feature writer for India's national daily The Pioneer and tried to analyze the ill-effects of outsourcing, like aping Western culture, sleeping disorders (insomnia and bad health) etc. If that was not enough many Indian ... (read more)This post was written by Vivek Seal.
This Weblog is Being Sent Overseas
For the next week, I've outsourced this weblog to Vivek Seal, 23, a technology reporter for Global Services in New Delhi, India. Seal recently posted a comment here touting the benefits of outsourcing: If a person from Bangalore is able to do a job in less than half the cost and with more efficiency then that rationally a best thing for all the parties around it. No matter what. ... All I wanna say is give India a chance to improve this world. We hear a lot of dire statements in the ... (read more)Dick Cheney's No Dick Nixon
In his famous Checkers speech in 1952, Richard Nixon was so aggrieved by allegations he misused $18,000 in political funds that he ran down an itemized list of his personal finances, showing the world that he hadn't grown rich in public life: I have made an average of approximately $1,500 a year from nonpolitical speaking engagements and lectures. And then, fortunately, we've inherited a little money. Pat sold her interest in her father's estate for $3,000 and I inherited $l,500 from my ... (read more)Outsourcing My Weblog to India
Vivek Seal, a technology journalist in India who writes for Global Services Media, has posted a comment on Workbench addressing American critics of outsourcing: I am a reporter from India and cover outsourcing scenario. I have few points for you people to get the exact picture and then make your conclusions about sourcing McDonalds customer care business to India: We do not have call centers using Skype to interact with the US or European customers. There are dedicated fiber optical lines with ... (read more)The Washington Media are a Joke
After declaring that he is well-known for being funny, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen launches a weird snit today against Stephen Colbert for his speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner: Colbert was not just a failure as a comedian but rude. Rude is not the same as brash. It is not the same as brassy. It is not the same as gutsy or thinking outside the box. Rudeness means taking advantage of the other person's sense of decorum or tradition or civility that keeps that other ... (read more)Remembering Brian Buck
A comment spam showed up today in a year-old Workbench entry marking the death of Brian Buck, a blogger who told the story of his five-year fight with cancer to its end last April. The entry about Buck was the last before I created an international incident by popesquatting Benedict XVI. So in a nice bit of serendipity, thousands of people drawn here by international press coverage read about Buck, a remarkable person whose blog stands testament to the power of personal journalism. In a ... (read more)Web Publishers Take Gamble with Casino Ads
I wrote an article for Wired News today about efforts by the U.S. government to go after web publishers who run gambling ads. One of the biggest losers is Sporting News, the media company owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. In January, the company surrendered $4.2 million in revenue to avoid prosecution for advertising gambling sites between 2000 and 2003 in its magazine, as well as on its website and syndicated radio network. Tune in Sporting News Radio today and you'll hear the other ... (read more)2006/04/14Next Outsourced Job: Fast Food Order Taker
McDonald's has begun outsourcing drive-through orders in 40 of its restaurants, using 125 workers at a call center in California and submitting orders back over the Internet. The process saves "seconds" on each order. Workers make $6.75 an hour, get no health benefits and handle up to 95 orders an hour in a job that sounds like a workplace massacre in the making: Ms. Vargas seems unfazed by her job, even though it involves being subjected to constant electronic scrutiny. Software tracks her ... (read more)
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This blog has been published since Nov. 7, 1999 (a span of 9,144 days).
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