When you call for help with your computer, to book a plane ticket or hotel room, or receive a telemarketer’s call, where is the person you’re talking sitting?
According to this article, if you’re calling in English, the person could be just about anywhere.
India now has more than 160,000 call-centre workers and expects to have a million by 2008. Raman Roy, who runs a company called Wipro Spectramind, imagines India becoming “the back office of the world.” He had 200 employees three years ago and now has 5,100. They take catalogue orders, book hotel and airline reservations, do some telemarketing, and then move up to computer help desks, insurance claims processing, various forms of accounting, and payroll management.
Curious? See the article here: Upwardly mobile phone jockey… or ‘cyber-coolie’? by Robert Fulford. Of course, since it’s in The National Post, the author is a little more optimistic about whether this is a good thing, but I do think it’s not necessarily bad… at least, for the moment, on first glance.