Sending work overseas for cheap labor is ideal for companies to do in order to maximize profit. If they can buy low or have low costs for production and sell high on their products, companies will have more income versus costs which leads to more profit. For example, Foxconn Technology, an electronics maker who assembles products and parts for companies including Apple, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, has campuses in China that manufactures products at minimal costs increasing profit for these companies.
I feel that with certain manufacturing work such as clothes, electronics, cars and car parts are ideal to send overseas to maximize profits in companies but when it comes to personal and financial information such as bank accounts, insurance, and credit cards customer service representatives should not have to be located overseas in a different country. When dealing with overseas customer representatives who seem like “a middle man” instead of dealing directly with the company itself does not seem very efficient at all especially when they ask you why you are calling and end up transferring you to the company directly anyways. Sometimes there is a language barrier where it may be difficult for the customer and the oversea customer representatives to fully understand one another clearly. If banks, insurance, and credit card companies are strict on security wouldn’t it be more secure to deal with them directly and in the same country? How secure is your personal information in the hands of someone else in a different country?
Your point is very interesting to me. I feel that the quality of services is diminished when our security is handled overseas. This can be detrimental for service industries, as quality is extremely important for their success. Management needs to remember that although something may be a cheaper alternative, client satisfaction may be lessened because of many barriers, which will ultimately lead to a loss in profit.
This is something I never thought of before reading your post. It is true that all of our information is available to that “middle-man” and we never know if it could fall in the wrong hands. But then again, I do not trust anyone with my information, regardless of what country it is. Any unethical behavior, regarding our information, that can take place in another country has the same possibility of occurring in the U.S, so really our information is NEVER safe.
I don’t know if our information being overseas is necessarily less secure, but it is definitely less convenient. I don’t think it is less secure in the hands of someone in another country because most people have their bank information available online, so it could really be accessed by anyone, anywhere in the world with access to a computer anyway.
You bring up a good point. I have always though that dealing with customer service reps overseas is a hassle for various reasons but I never actually thought about it in terms of security of information. However, I’m not really sure that exchanging info over the phone to India or Florida is different in terms of security. To be honest I’m always wary of exchanging information over the phone but the internet isn’t much safer either. The way I see it, my credit is so screwed up already that if a hacker wants to try and use my info to buy something on credit they can give it their best shot (I can’t even get a candy bar on credit).
I agree that it is a profit maximizer to send work overseas for most companies. However, I do think that this is having a negative impact on the US job market. I think companies need to be asking themselves what is the most important to them…either having cheap labor and less loyal employees, or more expensive labor and employees that are devoted more to a company’s brand image and representation across the world. This will also develop a stronger upper management team.
Yes, outsourcing can cut cost for a company and essentially increase their net income but its not always the ideal approach. Unfortunately, it is the way most companies think because other countries don’t have the laws and stringent regulations that the U.S. has on labor. The ideal way would be to lower expenses all across the board but lets face it, it takes money to make money.
As far as dealing with companies who maintain customer information, it doesn’t matter whether they have call centers in other countries or in the U.S. because the company still bears responsibility to maintain the information safe. Companies invest millions of dollars in information security systems that it would be only wise for them to maintain a reliable system. Otherwise, a company can be held liable for having an inept system in place.
Oh…and this last part is for Johnny, having “screwed up” credit is a good way to deter hackers from claiming a victim of stolen identity. Don’t worry, if you want a candy bar, I gotcha bro.
I believe the word here is outsourcing. I really like this post because till a minute ago I had no idea that banks and financial institutions are outsourcing as well. I agree with you on that kind of personal information because I personally would not be comfortable being helped by someone who is overseas. However, at the same time, we do give our personal information to someone sitting in another state and other than their name, we do not know anything about them. I believe that our information is still out there.
This is a very interesting point, as outsourcing become more prominent companies have to find different ways to communicate with their customers that proposes a more cost effective technique. I totally agree with you on this one, its interesting to see banks and financial institutions are beginning to come into the outsourcing market.
I’ve actually dealt with oversea manufacturing companies. Yes, there is that language barrier that makes it a bit harder to communicate, but more and more oversea companies who work with the United States are requiring their employees to learn English. It’s extremely important to make sure both sides are on the same page when it comes to working with any oversea company.
I agree with Dennis’s post that companies investing a lot of money to keep their client’s information safe – whether it’s here in the US, or somewhere overseas. A company is hanging by a thread if they’re having a hard time controlling their security.
Maximizing profit is every business main objective. What they turn to forget is who buys those products before the profit is made, the local people. If all businesses follow cheap labor overseas then, how do we here get jobs to enable us get the income to patronize their products? I believe the issue with security has to do with our morals, and not where the information goes to.
When it comes to helpdesk and support, I do agree to outsource the job. I have a great experience with those helpdesks who provides their services 24/7 in the basis of follow-the-sun. In certain manufacturing work such as clothes, electronics, cars and car parts are ideal to send overseas to maximize profits in companies but when it comes to personal and financial information such as bank accounts, insurance, and credit cards customer service representatives should not have to be located overseas in a different country. Personally, I am very cautious to deal with any third-party to share my personal or financial information. However, I can trust a secure internet connection with a well-known parties which make my life easy.
I feel the that the cost of thier information falling into the wrong hands out way the profits they make and can cover the damages. Idetity theft is one of the largest crime so they have that in their company already. Now they have more profits to increase security and cover any damage that are likely to occur. They loss millions any way where ever they have their operations in place do to crime so it really makes sense to do what every it takes to increase profits becuase they loss would always be their and with ne companies today their security for inforation is keep very strictly and holds a lot on their computer system.