Off-Shoring? A Dirty Word? You Betcha!

Off-Shoring - A dirty word?
Ned Barnett (C) 2006

Apparently (and if you ask me, appropriately). This is from Bob
Scott, Editor-in-Chief of Accounting Technology, in his monthly
"Consulting Insights" e-newsletter. It really tells it like it is,
and is useful to all of us who have clients who off-shore client services:

OUTSOURCING IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD?
Properly, the word here should be "Off-shoring," not outsourcing. But
the term outsourcing has been entrenched colloquially as a synonym
for having a help desk overseas. What prompts this thought is the
American Flag placed brightly at the bottom of the home page of Cyma
Systems at www.cyma.com , with a note saying,
"Cyma is proudly developed and supported in the USA." And during tax
season, a couple of tax software vendors were so vehement in noting
they do not send calls to India anymore that they sounded like
reformed drunks promising not to touch another drop. The tax business
is tougher because many technical support calls also involve tax and
business issues. It's hard to put these in the same category as
answering calls about a problem installing a GL system. But the
emotional issues here are not going away. However, the real issue is
the quality of the support. If people get their questions answered
and their problems solved and are treated with respect, do you really
think they will spend a lot of time worrying about where the person
solving them answers the phone?