Language wars
from:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/729062.cms
*NOTE: The following article is based on the viewpoint of the India press and business concerns.
________________________________
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 07, 2004 11:31:26 PM ]
BANGALORE:
The BPO industry and IT services sector do not pose any direct threat to each other as they operate in different spaces. But today, at least on one front, they vie for the same pie: the talent that speaks "quality English".
IT services firms are now looking for people with excellent command over English to fill positions that demand increased customer/end-user interface or product understanding. This makes the job turf tougher for BPO players who are already hard pressed for agents who speak good English.
Earlier, IT firms were willing to hire candidates who could think and develop software. Communication capabilities or English language proficiency were not given any additional importance. However, like in the case of BPO, IT industry too gauges candidates on four-main yardsticks: Voice clarity, neutral accent, fluency and grammar.
In fact, IT companies have been asking their head hunters to scout for candidates with excellent communication skills.
"This is a fresh trend. Earlier, IT companies looked only for domain knowledge and technical expertise. Today they are keen to get people with excellent communication skills in addition to technical qualification," says B S Murthy, CEO of Human Capital, a Bangalore-based hiring firm.
According to M Padaki, director of soft skill assessment firm MeritTrac, average skills are enough to handle testing, designing, maintenance or support jobs. It is important for project leader to be in touch with clients to understand product specifications."In certain cases, the interaction extends up to the end-user level, who is mostly a native English speaker," Padaki says.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/729062.cms
*NOTE: The following article is based on the viewpoint of the India press and business concerns.
________________________________
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 07, 2004 11:31:26 PM ]
BANGALORE:
The BPO industry and IT services sector do not pose any direct threat to each other as they operate in different spaces. But today, at least on one front, they vie for the same pie: the talent that speaks "quality English".
IT services firms are now looking for people with excellent command over English to fill positions that demand increased customer/end-user interface or product understanding. This makes the job turf tougher for BPO players who are already hard pressed for agents who speak good English.
Earlier, IT firms were willing to hire candidates who could think and develop software. Communication capabilities or English language proficiency were not given any additional importance. However, like in the case of BPO, IT industry too gauges candidates on four-main yardsticks: Voice clarity, neutral accent, fluency and grammar.
In fact, IT companies have been asking their head hunters to scout for candidates with excellent communication skills.
"This is a fresh trend. Earlier, IT companies looked only for domain knowledge and technical expertise. Today they are keen to get people with excellent communication skills in addition to technical qualification," says B S Murthy, CEO of Human Capital, a Bangalore-based hiring firm.
According to M Padaki, director of soft skill assessment firm MeritTrac, average skills are enough to handle testing, designing, maintenance or support jobs. It is important for project leader to be in touch with clients to understand product specifications."In certain cases, the interaction extends up to the end-user level, who is mostly a native English speaker," Padaki says.
posted by PABlo Bley aka Paul Alan Bley at 6:57 PM
3 Comments:
I'm a customer of a U.S. corporation that uses outsourced tech support in at least 3 locations that I know of including Canada and India. I'm very annoyed by language difficulties when my call goes to offshore service reps. It is quite obvious that the persons that I'm speaking to must be reading from a script instead of listening to details. Either that or I think that they are ill-informed about software and/or services that they support. But my biggest complaint is that when I seem to be in touch with technical support in far-flung call centers I more often than not get disconnected.
To be fair, I've also encountered American-born support reps who are reading from a script and clearly have little knowledge of what they are expected to know.
My concern is that once a company removes their tech support from its domestic technical assistance sources (whether inhouse or outsourced) I have to wonder whether the quality of the service will suffer dramatically and permanently.
My perception is that language difficulties are always going to be a significant barrier; describing over the phone what's happening to my computer and trying to understand the fixes that are being recommended is always tricky even with no accent problems in the way.
I'm almost becoming cynical about all of this. There just doesn't seem to be any options any more.
Sign me,
Extremely Frustrated American Computer User.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
In the most highly publicized customer backlash so far, a company that was at the forefront of India outsourcing (Dell), decided that the savings weren't worth the potential loss in customer goodwill. Last year, Dell, facing a flood of complaints from their corporate customers about poor service from a call center in Bangalore, India, responded by shifting some tech support for those customers to domestic centers.
As far as I know...calls from Dell home users still go to Bangalore.
Since some outsourcing is automatically expected from now on...here's some suggestions to keep language problems from torpedoing your next support call.
Ways to keep communication flowing:
- Organize your thoughts before you call. Jot down such details as error messages and other symptoms, and keep your descriptions and explanations simple. Speak slowly and clearly, and avoid using slang.
- Ask to speak to a supervisor if the language barrier between you and a particular rep seems insurmountable. Or hang up and try your luck with a different rep. Or try solving your problem via an e-mail conversation or an online text chat with the company's support department.
- Tell the company how you feel if you have a disastrous support experience.
Companies have a responsibility to provide high-quality service and support for their customers, period.
In the case of Convergys and their trend towards outsourcing, it's up to the customers in question to vote with their purchases of products and services.
My hope is that they will receive the following message:
poor customer service is bad business.
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