NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f73o3iGwv8

I did see some of this stuff when I was visiting IT parks in Chennai. Way too much chaotic even for me. Incoming calls and SMS is free so people are on the phone like ALL the time. Since outside browsing is barred by proxies, people send these huge attachments (video and audio files) that slows down servers. Typically in a team of 10 members, a couple of people are knowledgeable and the rest are there just to fool around and for the "head count" - since the projects are based on man-hours, companies would get people inside a team just to jack up billing hours although the real work would be done by the few who know the stuff. What is amazing is that even with this unproductive jacking ups, the companies can still quote competitive rates and are still competitive due to the vast cost difference between on-site employees and off-shore outsourcing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f73o3iGwv8
What is amazing is that even with this unproductive jacking ups, the companies can still quote competitive rates and are still competitive due to the vast cost difference between on-site employees and off-shore outsourcing.

Probably because American companies really aren't any more productive, just better at hiding it.

"teams of 10?"
man I wish we had ten people in our Helpdesk/Desktop support...

Having worked for IBM, EDS, and IT departments of two major pharmaceuticals, I can't say that I've ever seen anything like any of that. There might be 10% of the workforce that's less than productive, but they tend not to last long.

As for billing based on headcount rather than effective call resolution metrics, can't say I've ever seen that either. Companies aren't interested in maximizing headcount, they're interested in minimizing it to maximize profits.

Also, the video was dumb, and the audio sucked. Not that I'm being judgmental or anything.

Sounds like the last place I worked tbh. They really took the clients for bundles though. I'm surprised they are even still around.

Once upon a time, a company decided to outsource its tech support - dumb idea. They had a contract with a telemarketing company to handle all the calls.

There were three of us who were actually techies, the rest were minimum wage idiots just there to pad the numbers and keep a seat warm. They handled all the stupid questions like 'is it plugged in?' level of troubleshooting (which actually cleared out a surprising number of calls) then escalate it up to us.

They billed the company as if everyone on the account was a well paid tech.
When an idiot couldnt figure it out, they would transfer the call to a tech and log it as a successful resolution of the call (I suppose the idiot did successfully get rid of the problem as far as they were concerned), then it would be logged as a new call when it got to one of the techs. This artificially inflated the numbers and let the telemarketing company totally scam the client.

Moral of the story - do not outsource unless you have one of your own people doing some supervision.

Once upon a time, a company decided to outsource its tech support - dumb idea. They had a contract with a telemarketing company to handle all the calls.

There were three of us who were actually techies, the rest were minimum wage idiots just there to pad the numbers and keep a seat warm. They handled all the stupid questions like 'is it plugged in?' level of troubleshooting (which actually cleared out a surprising number of calls) then escalate it up to us.

They billed the company as if everyone on the account was a well paid tech.
When an idiot couldnt figure it out, they would transfer the call to a tech and log it as a successful resolution of the call (I suppose the idiot did successfully get rid of the problem as far as they were concerned), then it would be logged as a new call when it got to one of the techs. This artificially inflated the numbers and let the telemarketing company totally scam the client.

Moral of the story - do not outsource unless you have one of your own people doing some supervision.

Another reason is to up their "First Call Resolution" percentage. that makes their company look good and thus can charge more.