I was thinking the other day about how, in these awful economic times, outsourcing is affecting the economy. I'm not referring to manufacturing because frankly if the defect rate & cost is lower and the time to market is not significantly impacted, that decision is a no brainer.
I'm referring to the companies who have chosen to outsource, for example, their call centers, network operation, etc. The benefits of cost and 24/7 availability is clear. However level of service and revenue generation are at most worse than the US economy.
But the killer is that hundreds of thousands of jobs that would normally pay between $10-20 are gone. I think those types of jobs are the ones that provide the foundation for our macro economy. Those jobs are fuel for car purchases, mortgage payments, etc.
I worked at a company where our boss (who is trying to be an absolute superstar) had a wild proposition:
- Provide world class service looking out for the best interests of the customer first in a simple way (i.e., don't "jam" offers down their throats)
- The revenue will follow** (sensitive)
He was right. He's done on a smaller scale and a huge scale. It can be done but most companies don't do it or worse don't even believe it can be done.
In the meantime, our economy keeps sucking wind and when it comes back, we still won't have the valuable foundation that these types of jobs provide.
Next question: are we an asset or liability in the company?
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