The Story of How Our Jobs Disappeared
I'd like to tell you about what's happening to approximately 140 people in Tucson and what has happened to another few hundred people who were formerly employed in the same industry. These people are employed by a company called Convergys. Some of them are just starting out in their career paths and some of them are in their 30s, 40s and 50s and have families. Their job skills consist of many things I can assure you, but what they are known for... is being some of the best Technical Support Professionals in the entire world. The Tucson call centers (there were 2 of them) that are run by Convergys were the sites of Microsoft and SBC support centers. The Microsoft project was first established by Microsoft themselves at the Rita Ranch Facility known as the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park. Around 5 years ago, the project was managed by Keane, Inc. and then was taken over by Convergys.
The techs that took calls here in Tucson answered the phone with: "Welcome to Microsoft Technical Support" and were the technical support industry veterans who rolled out an entire list of operating systems, applications and services for Microsoft. Tucson was the premiere tech support site in the country, and contributed heavily to the state-of-the-art knowledge and expertise that became the common denominator for assistance when all else failed. Many of the Tucson techs are Microsoft Content Authors, who wrote white papers and documented "solution objects" that became articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, an online self-help library of methods and techniques for troubleshooting and problem solving. They are known throughout the world of tech support as "The Brain Trust down in Tucson"...and thousands of Microsoft customers are familiar with the answer to "where are you?" being Tucson Arizona.
When those tech support jobs were sent to India, the solution to staying employed was to take a position with the SBC Internet Services project which was also run by Convergys in their Tucson West Side call center. Many of the people working in the SBC project were also trained and experienced as Microsoft Tech Support Professionals, but there were also people who hadn't worked for Microsoft, yet who were trained and knowledgeable and motivated enough to raise the standards and continue the legacy of "Best in the World" tech support here in Tucson. And SBC seemed very glad to have the help of these hard-working experts on tap. The story of what has happened and what is now transpiring is detailed and I won't go into it here, but the outsourcing situation is happening again and the public may not be aware of it.
Additionally, I'd like to present you (and anyone else who might be interested in listening to this story), with a couple of things to think about. The purpose of this message can be addressed by giving you some factoids and asking you some questions.
The fact is, people are losing their positions because these jobs are being taken out of the country and being given to people living in India, the Philipines, and elsewhere. There is no doubt that the economics of the situation tend to cause this but the numbers involved are astounding and there is more to this situation than we've been told. No laws are being broken, but American citizens are being forced out of 3-5 year careers after a similar trend happened in the manufacturing industries.
And the current scenario at Convergys is that anyone who wishes to stay employed must take a job, if available, at a lower rate of pay. So without a doubt there will more people than ever before standing in line for every job opportunity within the IT category, here in Tucson. And of course other parts of the country are JUST as hard hit with the obligatory "job replacements".
What I find ironic is that BPO firms in India are running out of employees. They are searching in every small town for more warm bodies to fill the seats at the call centers. The backlash is unbelievable. Both Microsoft and SBC customers are telling the Tucson techs that they abhor speaking to techs whose native language is not English. But in 1 more month they won't have a choice, because ALL of the best technical support professionals that ever wore a headset, will be working in some other job capacity.
The topic of offshore outsourcing is certainly well known, why is it not one of the top news items on a continuing basis? Probably because of the lack of information. I'm striving to change that.
The techs that took calls here in Tucson answered the phone with: "Welcome to Microsoft Technical Support" and were the technical support industry veterans who rolled out an entire list of operating systems, applications and services for Microsoft. Tucson was the premiere tech support site in the country, and contributed heavily to the state-of-the-art knowledge and expertise that became the common denominator for assistance when all else failed. Many of the Tucson techs are Microsoft Content Authors, who wrote white papers and documented "solution objects" that became articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, an online self-help library of methods and techniques for troubleshooting and problem solving. They are known throughout the world of tech support as "The Brain Trust down in Tucson"...and thousands of Microsoft customers are familiar with the answer to "where are you?" being Tucson Arizona.
When those tech support jobs were sent to India, the solution to staying employed was to take a position with the SBC Internet Services project which was also run by Convergys in their Tucson West Side call center. Many of the people working in the SBC project were also trained and experienced as Microsoft Tech Support Professionals, but there were also people who hadn't worked for Microsoft, yet who were trained and knowledgeable and motivated enough to raise the standards and continue the legacy of "Best in the World" tech support here in Tucson. And SBC seemed very glad to have the help of these hard-working experts on tap. The story of what has happened and what is now transpiring is detailed and I won't go into it here, but the outsourcing situation is happening again and the public may not be aware of it.
Additionally, I'd like to present you (and anyone else who might be interested in listening to this story), with a couple of things to think about. The purpose of this message can be addressed by giving you some factoids and asking you some questions.
The fact is, people are losing their positions because these jobs are being taken out of the country and being given to people living in India, the Philipines, and elsewhere. There is no doubt that the economics of the situation tend to cause this but the numbers involved are astounding and there is more to this situation than we've been told. No laws are being broken, but American citizens are being forced out of 3-5 year careers after a similar trend happened in the manufacturing industries.
And the current scenario at Convergys is that anyone who wishes to stay employed must take a job, if available, at a lower rate of pay. So without a doubt there will more people than ever before standing in line for every job opportunity within the IT category, here in Tucson. And of course other parts of the country are JUST as hard hit with the obligatory "job replacements".
What I find ironic is that BPO firms in India are running out of employees. They are searching in every small town for more warm bodies to fill the seats at the call centers. The backlash is unbelievable. Both Microsoft and SBC customers are telling the Tucson techs that they abhor speaking to techs whose native language is not English. But in 1 more month they won't have a choice, because ALL of the best technical support professionals that ever wore a headset, will be working in some other job capacity.
The topic of offshore outsourcing is certainly well known, why is it not one of the top news items on a continuing basis? Probably because of the lack of information. I'm striving to change that.
posted by PABlo Bley aka Paul Alan Bley at 9:13 AM
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