Exporting IT: The reality of outsourced labor

Exporting IT: The reality of outsourced labor

2-21-2005 12:05 PM By: Jitin Hingorani

The average American's typical outsourcing experience involves dialing a toll-free number that immediately connects you to a thickly accented voice thousands of miles away.

Honey Balani That's where you'll speak with someone like Honey Balani, an agent at B2K Technologies in Bangalore, India. The call center provides tech support for many American companies, including some in Austin.

Balani's job is to interact with U.S. customers and build a friendly rapport with them. The 21-year-old makes about $300 a month; B2K employs about 600 people who work at night, when it's daytime in the United States.

Balani said she's worked hard to neutralize her Indian accent. Her office was given a list of forbidden phrases that could make Americans uncomfortable. They include "I'm afraid," "I'm afraid not," "I don't know" and "I can't do that."

Balani's training includes watching episodes of "Friends" and learning as much as she can about American culture.

"We did receive a few calls where the customers were interested in speaking only to Americans. They're like, 'are you from India? I don't want to speak to an Indian. I want to speak to an American.' And yes, that's strange. I mean, though the language barrier, we have been efficient enough," she said.

Some American companies would disagree. Many, including Dell, shifted their call centers out of India because the accent was scaring away customers.

Being 'Bangalored'

High-tech companies that opened locations in Bangalore have done wonders for the city's economy and its people. Now it's known as the Indian Silicon Valley.

"Accent is a very important concern because otherwise, the person who is being serviced, the American consumer, or for example the UK consumer, won't really feel at home unless he hears a similar accent," India's former IT secretary Vivek Kulkarni said.

English is the second language in India, and most people speak three to four different languages. That attraction, as well as a highly educated workforce, has transformed Bangalore from a "pensioners' paradise" to the Indian Silicon Valley.

The state of Karnataka has more than 120 engineering schools. That's half the number of all American engineering colleges. Bangalore, the capital, graduates more than 40,000 engineers every year, so it's no surprise then that one major IT firm moves to Bangalore every week.

At the tender age of 25, Zius Bhagwagar is a senior financial analyst for Hewlett Packard.

"The youth has got so much spending power today. Ten to 15 years ago, I know India, buying a car was like a luxury, even at the age of 30, 35. Today, people like around 23, 24 can afford top-line cars," he said.

A shopping mall in Bangalore has a McDonald's and Western stores. Bhagwagar said he understands why some Americans fear outsourcing.

"Bottom line is that people who were there for 15 to 20 years in an organization did lose their jobs. So, everybody would be upset. But to realize that a youngster has taken away your job, no matter how good he or how much better he may be than you, there's definitely a big pinch on you," he said.

The Bhagwagar family has lived in Bangalore for more than 15 years. They've seen it change, grow and develop.

"Bangalore is today on the world map; I mean everybody knows about Bangalore. The word outsourcing, they say 'Bangalored.' It's become a verb in the English dictionary," mother Yasmin Bhagwagar said.

The effects are visible of being "Bangalored." It's is the only Indian city that has a McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC and Subway. A large shopping mall in the heart of the city sells the latest in American fashion.

The Western influence has taken over.

"In the Indian culture, we never used to spend, but these youngsters spend a lot of money in the weekend, which I think is absolutely American. And they're also spending on American goods. There are lots of nightclubs, they also have dating going on, so, all kinds of things are happening," Kulkarni said.

Not all Banglorians think these recent developments are positive. Yasmin Bhagwagar said the city's infrastructure cannot support the explosion of growth.

"The streets are narrow, we do not have a proper drainage system. There's going to be power and water problem, which everybody is already facing. The traffic, we just can't talk about it. The distance which I could cover in five to seven minutes, I take half an hour to get to my office," she said.

And it's only going to get worse. The United Nations predicts Bangalore will have more than 8 million residents by 2010 as more American companies set up shop in India's technical Mecca.