Outsourcing Your Life...

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?

VoIP Theory and Beyond

Following my early journal - recently, I just read an article again; theorizes that the stock market meltdown and slowing economy will actually spur faster VoIP growth.

It was mentioned that more and more people will be under the gun to cut costs. There are a number of ways to cut costs but one way to cut costs tends to jump out at you -- the PHONE BILL. This will force many companies to take the digital/VoIP plunge. As a result, VoIP sales will increase significantly over the next year or two.

Additionally, stock market crash has effectively pulled in the VoIP growth curve by 6-12 months or more! As identified in the Post-Melt Down chart, VoIP sales may increase by 200-300% over previous forecasts. Thus, next year's VoIP growth can be expected to jump from 4% to 8% or 12% or more next year... (let see!)

Of course theories, and pretty chart graphs can be made to make anything look good. Is the VoIP industry truly headed towards faster growth in this economic climate? I tend to agree, even with comment from my colleague. There are indications that not only enterprises, but also municipalities and public services are deploying VoIP to save on costs. 

Anyway... my simple comment that some example doesn't make it the rule, I do think companies, municipalities, etc. are looking to cut costs and VoIP is one sure-fire way to do just that... rest is about people behaviour