Comments on: Indianapolis -> Indiana -> India

By: David Myers

David Myers — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:12:09 +0000

(Pardon the threadjack but why does a 32 oz pop cost $5 at the State Fair ? Five bucks ? That’s more than at the movie theatres.)
Because people are willing to pay it. If not you would see a price drop.

By: Old Sarge

Old Sarge — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:31:48 +0000

Abdul,

There you go again – confusing us with fact and logic.

Now,even worse, you contemplate breaking a government employee’s rice bowl. Bad deal!!!

By: Taxpayer 834512

Taxpayer 834512 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:50:51 +0000

Pardon. I was trying to initially describe the situation as it might be handled by a business or private firm.

By: jerry

jerry — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:15:40 +0000

Just a small trivial clarification taxpayer, the calls are not forwarded to any one. The MAC employees enter each request into the computer and those requests are sent digitally (via computer) to the corresponding departments. Their software was big bucks, and not sure if they can transfer licenses to a private corp or what, and if the private companies would be willing to invest in the software and still be competitive. I’d be all about seeing some RFQs and quotes from private coprorations, but with the relatively small number of employees making little money (I used to make more as a telemarketer in high school) – not sure what the cost savings would be if we did privatize, if any savings.

By: Becky

Becky — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:12:36 +0000

Hey Abdul please add speaking English to your list! I deal with numerous bank centers that are in India and there is a real problem with them understanding me and me understanding them.

By: Taxpayer 834512

Taxpayer 834512 — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:09:32 +0000

Sounds like a “Tier 1″ call center. The recepient has a canned list of questions & methods for figuring our where to refer the problem for action. If an emergency, it’s transferred to whomever owns that, 7 x 24. Geographically-savy locally and methodically trained sound like legit concerns or it won’t fly. I wish we’d privatize locally or within state. Same mentality as buying local produce, buying American vs Chinese when possible, etc. Except for short-term city budget concerns, if your family & your grocery store are affected by your job loss, why wouldn’t somebody elses? This begs the same question I have of school districts: What’s your headcount, salary, and benefits relative to what you’re doing & customers served relative to a comparable?

By: Sean Shepard

Sean Shepard — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:47:05 +0000

I don’t know. I think if you’re calling the Mayor’s Action Line it might be helpful for the person taking the call to have a cursory knowledge of your city and its geography.

And this would be an unrecoverable political mistake and wayyyy too much fodder for the other side to attack.

From a libertarian perspective, source it to the most capable and cost-effective provider. From a pragmatic and political perspective, keep it in town.

The process should be set up though so that whoever has called is updated that their complaint/request has indeed been forwarded to the responsible agency who must then take action.

By: Shorebreak

Shorebreak — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:27:11 +0000

Holy smokes, Abdul. You’re killin’ me. This idea of benefiting by saving money now as a result of outsourcing will ultimately remove the economic results of the job from the US economic cycle. Todays savings transcend into tomorrows inability to cycle your dollars back into any contribution within the US market.
.
It’s not the same as a corporation who outsources to a domestic contractor or service firm, where the cost of business provides an economic return that stimulates US jobs and helps to grow local, regional, and national markets. Outsourcing across borders is essentially a funnel. Our dollars leave and become a net gain for a foreign economy. And a net loss for the US economy.

By: jerry

jerry — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:42:27 +0000

John Doe – I agree with your Indian take on the issue. However, the MAC already has an automated service (dial one, dial two) when you first call to weed out the easy and mindless answers. The MAC employees are trained to answer all of the questions regarding problems in different departments, and trying to just forward those calls directly to the specific departments would just lead to an extra burden and more employees for each department. I’m not sure there would be any savings there, possibly more expense.

By: John Doe

John Doe — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:29:54 +0000

I don’t care about privatization, but going to India would pretty much make the center much worse. For starters, people would likely just avoid using it since the language barrier usually sucks and is a pain to work through. If someone called me and said they wanted to report a “pothole”, “chuckhole”, or “crater on the road in front of my house,” I pretty much understand what they are saying. Will the Indians understand? If someone calls up saying they want to report someone “slinging rock,” will the Indian call taker have a vision of someone throwing rocks, or someone one selling drugs?

I personally wouldn’t mind them just shutting down the call center as is. Instead, just have an automated computer offer choices to direct the calls: Street issue, press 1. Crime issue, press 2. Etc. etc.. Then those calls would be transfered to someone in the actual department that might be a little more knowledgeable about the issue.