Wow. That was interesting. I knew that call centers in India existed, because I've had to deal with those people when trying to fix my computer, but I had no idea the extent to which the outsourcing of such services had reached. I'm interested to see where this is going to go, but on the other hand, I'm worried. I share Friedman's sentiment that this is going to empower those non-Western, non-Whites, and give them the ability to catch up to where we are! Yikes! Hah, but seriously, though, I am very excited to see how this will improve (change)the way we live, as a country and as a people.
I knew that the outsourcing of calls to India was going to become a big deal when I read that they actively and scrutinously recruit young Indians to work at these call centers. With the way they're hiring people for these jobs and with what the people go through to get them (I mean, accent neutralization training? Really?), you know that they've got to be important. And even though they're not really getting paid all that much in our eyes, it's still more than what they could get anywhere else. It simply blows my mind to think about stuff like that.
As Friedman moved closer and closer to home, he (and I) were surprised to find how technology and "Globalizaton 3.0" has truly affected the way we live and work. Not only can technology help those in India and China better compete on a global scale, but it can help those in Washington, DC, and Salt Lake City (I really liked the JetBlue example) improve thier ways of life by making things simpler.
Oh, and if outsourcing drive-thru orders becomes commonplace, the world has officially gone insane.
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I was suprised about the call center behind-the-scenes 411 as well, Matt. I didn't know THAT many companies outsourced customer service, especially ALL of the companies are in the same building. Makes perfect sense. If they are going to save money on employee wages, might as well save money on rent and utilities toO!
I’m curious as to why you are worried about people in India conducting outsourced call center jobs; perhaps you had a bad experience dealing with those people when trying to fix your computer.
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