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Dell sending some jobs back to U.S. (outsourcing to reverse?)
AMERICAN-STATESMAN ^ | November 22, 2003 | Amy Schatz

Posted on 11/22/2003 6:44:01 AM PST by traumer

Corporate customer complaints prompt the change AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

In a surprising about-face, Dell Inc. is moving some technical-support jobs back from India to the United States.

The new U.S. employees will provide phone-based tech support for business customers, which account for the bulk of Dell's revenue. Dell employees in India have been answering some of those calls. Calls from individual customers will still be routed to call centers in India.

"We felt a little noise and angst from our customers, and we decided to make some changes," said Gary Cotshott, vice president of Dell's services division. "Sometimes, we move a little too far, too fast."

The computer company's quiet reversal comes as many U.S. companies are rushing to outsource operations to India and other low-cost developing nations. It suggests that the savings achieved by moving jobs overseas may sometimes be outweighed by the cost of antagonizing loyal customers.

"What (customers) said was, `You guys have been changing some things, and we don't like it as much,' " said Steve Felice, vice president of Dell's corporate business division.

It's unclear how many jobs the move might create in Central Texas, where Dell operates several call centers for tech support and sales and employs 16,500 people overall. Dell executives would say only that jobs will be added at call centers across the United States. Dell's other U.S. tech support call centers are in Nashville, Tenn., and Twin Falls, Idaho.

Dell was among the first large U.S. companies to move tech-support jobs to cheaper Indian call centers when technology spending plummeted three years ago.

The list of companies sending jobs to India now includes Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Computer Sciences Corp.

English-speaking Indian workers are highly educated but earn a fraction of American salaries. Some customers have complained they can't understand Indian workers because of their accents and that tech-support workers rely too heavily on scripted answers.

Despite the escalating backlash, companies continue to send jobs overseas.

A recent Stanford University study estimates that Indian call centers have picked up 200,000 jobs since March 2002. Gartner Inc., the tech research firm, estimates that U.S. information technology companies will move one in 10 jobs offshore by the end of the year.

Dell's move "doesn't surprise me, but I don't see a broad trend to do that," said Ned May, an analyst with IDC, a tech research firm. "There's been so much attention to this that people have moved pretty aggressively. Hiccups were expected along the way."

Some companies have seen a small but definite decline in customer satisfaction. Yet executives have concluded that the cost savings are worth it, said Steve Lane, an analyst with the Aberdeen Group research firm.

"It's certainly fair to say that there's a general backlash against the idea of jobs going offshore," Lane said.

Dell executives left open the possibility that tech support for corporate customers could be shifted overseas again, if technical expertise and language skills improve there.

"I don't think we're ruling that out," said Jon Weisblatt, a Dell spokesman.

Nevertheless, Dell's about-face could provide at least a little "I told you so" comfort for Dell technical-support employees in Central Texas who were laid off in 2001. Dell cut 5,700 jobs that year, most of them in Central Texas, as the high-tech slowdown began.

Dell's worldwide work force has grown since then -- from 34,600 at the end of 2001 to 44,300 now -- but the growth has been heavily overseas.

In 2001, almost 68 percent of the company's work force was in the United States. Early this year, that figure had dropped to about 54 percent.

That trend continues: Last quarter, 56 percent of the 2,500 jobs Dell added worldwide were outside the United States, Canada and Latin America.

One reason Dell's employment has grown outside the United States is that the company is selling more PCs and other products globally, particularly in countries such as China and Germany.

Dell officials stressed that the company will continue to add jobs overseas as as its global business grows.

Dell's ambition to become a $60 billion-a-year company helps explain its responsiveness to the complaints of business customers.

The company wants businesses, schools and governments that currently use Dell Optiplex desktop PCs and Latitude notebooks to also buy advanced computers, such as servers or storage systems. Dell makes a bigger profit on those systems, which are supported by techs in the United States. It can't afford to antagonize its most profitable customers with poor support for PCs.

"Our corporate customers have come to expect a certain level of expertise," Cotshott said.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dell; outsourcing
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"We felt a little noise and angst from our customers, and we decided to make some changes"

DELL was always a trend-setter...

1 posted on 11/22/2003 6:44:01 AM PST by traumer
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To: traumer
Dell, you're gettin' some dudes!
2 posted on 11/22/2003 6:46:35 AM PST by tacticalogic (Controlled application of force is the sincerest form of communication.)
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To: traumer
I know someone who just bought a Dell computer. They had a problem with the delivered product, and have had a terrible time getting cutomer service to respond appropriately.
3 posted on 11/22/2003 6:46:36 AM PST by Maceman (too nuanced for a bumper sticker)
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To: Maceman
Customer Service, or Tech Service? I've never had a problem with Tech, even after this whole India thing started.
4 posted on 11/22/2003 6:48:56 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: Maceman
Absolutely. Dell tech support sucks. I was going to buy another two Dell computer for my small business, but will not-- and principally for this reason.
5 posted on 11/22/2003 6:50:47 AM PST by ontos-on
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To: Maceman
English-speaking Indian workers are highly educated but earn a fraction of American salaries. Some customers have complained they can't understand Indian workers because of their accents and that tech-support workers rely too heavily on scripted answers.

This is an excellent description of the problem. Their customer support use to be very good.

They are only going to make sure their business customers are well taken care of. Dell doesn't care about their individual customers anymore. We bought three Dell laptops and are planing to buy another laptop soon. It will NOT be a Dell, since they don't care about the little guy.

6 posted on 11/22/2003 6:55:11 AM PST by FR_addict
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To: traumer
"We felt a little noise and angst from our customers"


Like when I called their customer service line, got someone that could barely speak english, asked for a supervisor... IN AMERICA (she thanked me)
7 posted on 11/22/2003 6:56:43 AM PST by PeteFromMontana
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To: 1rudeboy
Well let me add my Two cents about Dells Technical support

IF YOU CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH GET OUT!

8 posted on 11/22/2003 6:57:00 AM PST by chachacha
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To: chachacha
Or, if you don't like it, don't buy Dell.
9 posted on 11/22/2003 6:58:23 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: traumer
Seems to me that Dell is not a trend-setter in this regard, but has made a mistake and is backtracking. Why I like Gateway: I can go into the store and pick out my machine, and if there's a problem I can bring it back to them to fix instead of shipping it back or having them ship a new part out that I have to figure out how to install. I can talk to the Gateway techs, who are all smart American kids with no language barrier except for calling me "Dude, Ma'am" which is cute. But they're THERE, in my town, not in some damn place 18000 miles away. There's accountability.
10 posted on 11/22/2003 6:58:56 AM PST by Capriole (Foi vainquera)
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To: traumer
"Our corporate customers have come to expect a certain level of expertise," Cotshott said.

Whereas the rest of us don't?

Dell is creating a huge market of un-served upset customers, which creates a business opportunity for someone organized enough to build an independent support organization.

11 posted on 11/22/2003 7:00:33 AM PST by Starwind (The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only true good news)
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To: Maceman
Dell computers are not all that great.
12 posted on 11/22/2003 7:00:40 AM PST by cp124 (The Great Wall Mart)
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To: All
I have TWO Dells, and for the most part, have been happy with the computer and the service. A virus hit one of my computers and took the hard drive out...Dell had another to me overnight. I had a key come off, and they sent one of their people out to replace the keyboard. THe same computer, after 3 years, lost a motherboard, and then again, they sent someone out to replace it. You MUST have the warrenty, and yes, it is hard to understand some of the Indian (from India) folks language. You just call Dell and request someone else. I am happy with the service Dell gives and love the computer, but also understand that it could all change overnight.
13 posted on 11/22/2003 7:02:51 AM PST by cousair
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To: tacticalogic
Well, I thought it was funny! ; )
14 posted on 11/22/2003 7:03:38 AM PST by anniegetyourgun (GO BUCKS, BEAT MICHIGAN!)
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To: cousair
THe same computer, after 3 years, lost a motherboard, and then again, they sent someone out to replace it. You MUST have the warrenty,

Does Dell offer extended warranties beyond 3 years? I thought 3 years was the max.

15 posted on 11/22/2003 7:06:15 AM PST by Starwind (The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only true good news)
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To: traumer
I had anticipated this, but Dell threw in a twist. They realized that customers were pissed and responded. The twist is that they divided customers into 2 groups, the companys(large profit) and the average joe(low profit).

Dell can go to hell,they couldnt make it clearer that they think the average customer should!
16 posted on 11/22/2003 7:06:22 AM PST by mylife
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To: anniegetyourgun
Thanks. My sense of humor isn't always universally appreciated, but it's the only one I've got.
17 posted on 11/22/2003 7:06:43 AM PST by tacticalogic (Controlled application of force is the sincerest form of communication.)
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To: Maceman
"I know someone who just bought a Dell computer. They had a problem with the delivered product, and have had a terrible time getting cutomer service to respond appropriately."

I've been building, buying, selling computers and computer parts and accessories for over 23 years.

Last month, I decided to buy some product from Dell.

I'm not going into detail, but suffice it to say that I had to spend over FOUR HOURS combined time resolving the mess.

MOTTO: Want a NIGHTMARE - BUY A DELL!

18 posted on 11/22/2003 7:11:10 AM PST by Happy2BMe (2004 - Who WILL the TERRORISTS vote for? - - Not George W. Bush, THAT'S for sure!)
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To: harpseal; Lazamataz
Here's another possiblity for ya...[my post #11]

Dell is creating a huge market of un-served upset customers, which creates a business opportunity for someone organized enough to build an independent support organization.

19 posted on 11/22/2003 7:12:02 AM PST by Starwind (The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only true good news)
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To: tacticalogic
I think many of us are underappreciated around here.....
20 posted on 11/22/2003 7:15:29 AM PST by anniegetyourgun (Keep Ohio clean, dump your trash in Michigan)
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