Another Blow For the Dellsnots 1130

ones.

Yes and there is lies the flaw in all of the dire predictions about NAFTA & CAFTA. Yes US and Canadian companies jumped a the chance of jumping into a lower cost production market without a tariff penalty on the goods produced there. Then most just as quickly jumped to the next low cost frontier in Asia where the lower cost more than offset the penalty of the applicable tariffs. Leaving those in Mexico and Central America holding the bag and wondering where all these so called jobs were that the folks up north all cried about losing. Many production facilities were built and abandoned in the rush to get to the cheapest possible labor market.

However, with tech support, there are no tariffs, hence no penalty for taking it off shore. There are some additional infrastructure cost, but those are inversely proportional to the scale and so not a major item for the larger companies. Conversely there has been a degree of backlash from the customers due to cultural and language issues. The biggest true issue expressed here has been that of the idea of the free thinking tech expert who intuitively understands the issue presented and is encouraged to fix the problem based their expertise in the shortest time possible. This has been met off shore by scripted tech support with the individual support tech being required to follow the company design script to the letter or face penalties, regardless of the possibility that the tech may or may not have the intuitive knowledge that could resolve the issue in half the time and to greater customer satisfaction.

If anyone is to blame it is the middle to upper level managers on both sides of the ocean who have designed this system. They have eliminated any incentive for a higher standard in their support staff by locking it to the company script. Any number of problems here have been resolved in short order because posters can draw on their experience and knowledge to skip unnecessary steps in the diagnostic process based on that and a review of the symptoms presented. I wonder how many off shore techs are as frustrated with providing this kind of support the situation as customers on this end are with receiving it.