Has anyone else noticed Tom Friedman's absence from The New York Times recently? He's been on "book leave" it seems.
I hope he's writing a new book this time. I don't think I can stomach another "new and updated" edition of The World is Flat, his ubiquitous paen to globalization which for some reason makes people believe he is really, really smart, and by repeating some of his inane book or dropping his or the book's name often enough, they are, by extension, just as smart.
In Friedman's flat world, we are more efficient and productive through use of offshoring, just-in-time production and being able to recieve services 24/7 via a networked world. Sounds great, right?
In his opening chapters, he talks about his visit to the Dell factory and how he saw his laptop being built. Well, what about the time my brother spent $1,000 on a new Dell laptop and got an empty box? Sealed, delivered, and empty. When he called Dell, they simply sent him another machine, because it's apparently normal for some machines to disappear in transit. Some never make it into the box. Some are stolen. Who knows? They don't care. Meanwhile, they take no measures to disguise that their 24/7 support is based mostly in India. Actually, this isn't a bad thing. The amount of competition for these jobs and the fact that it's an english-speaking nation makes India a perfect economic partner for keeping operations running 24/7.
Now, I've got no problem with offshoring. In a conversation with Alex the other day, I noted that an Indian Institute of Technology graduate in a call center could possibly be more qualified to do either of our jobs than we are. It's pretty incredible the calibre of people they can choose from over there.
On the other hand, what happens when offshoring to cut costs leads to bad experiences?
On Monday, I decided to cut my DSL and go with Sprint EvDO broadband. It costs around the same and I don't have to pay for hotspot usage at airports and other public places. So, Monday evening I called Sprint's new activation line. I requested the "web special" pricing and a certain piece of equipment, etc etc. Now, this call center was in Buenos Aries. While I've dealt with Dell's support before with no problem, the Sprint reps obviously were having a hard time. Having worked at helpdesks and call centers, I know when I'm being read a script.
I also can tell when I'm dealing with someone who is having a hard time communicating. Quite simply, these guys were not up to the job of communicating in English and getting everything 100% accurate. So, after two disconnects and a 20 minute hold, I finally got the account open...except where I had been promised overnight shipping, the rep put in for the standard 3-5 day. Useless.
I quickly called back and was bounced around and around until I got to a supervisor, who was barely any better. They dispatched a 2nd order and canceled the first. However, yesterday, i found out that they sent the order to the wrong address. I repeated that address maybe 8 or 9 times. The Sprint rep simply didn't understand what I was saying.
Meanwhile, UPS dropped the ball, too. Their driver didn't unload the package, either, and despite 4 phone calls, I never recieved a call back about my package's location. So, around 5:30pm I walked the 3 blocks to the 18th Street Sprint Store.
25 minutes later, thanks to a helpful rep, I was up and running. Despite the call center's protestations that the store wouldn't honor the web price, they were happy to do it. Very nice people. I plan on going back.
What does this have to do with tech policy? Well, a large amount of our infrastructure is supported by people in other countries. When so much of our security depends on our ability to communicate with one another, shouldn't we trust the administration of those systems to people who are best equipped, not just the lowest priced?
A flat world still has corners you can hit your head on.
Oh, special event coverage after my doc's appointment today. Live, with photos.
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