In my two blogs, I often cover the technology industry and outsourcing. I can see that there is a growing hostility among the consumers in Europe and USA about the call center workers of Indian accent. I saw reports in some websites that when some consumers can understand that the support worker is Indian but his or her accent then the consumers verbally abuse them. Such abuses often originate from racial prejudice and grievance over outsourcing of jobs.
On the other hand, many consumers really (and legitimately) feel that they have a tough time to understand the Indian accent. They wish to get support from a worker who is American or British. However, whether you like it or not outsourcing is here to stay and it is growing. Indian call center companies try their best to neutralize the accent of their workers and provide the workers with American sounding names but clearly this is not enough and many consumers are unhappy. As I said, outsourcing is here to stay and as long as Indian workers can do the same thing at a much cheaper salary western companies will continue to outsource their jobs to India to remain competitive and make more profit.
Here, I have made a list of 10 reasons that western executives and consumers should try to learn or at least get familiar with the Indian accent of English language.
1. Support related works are getting outsourced to India more and more everyday. Since the demand for tech workers is growing in India, naturally, Indian companies will have to recruit workers with Indian accents more and more. So, if you are not familiar to Indian accent, you will find it difficult to get any support for your products.
2. If you are the executive of a western company then you will have to deal with your colleagues in India more and more. So, a familiarity of the accent will surely help to keep your job intact.
3. Companies like IBM are cutting jobs in Europe and USA while increasing their jobs in India. So, if you want to come to India and work there, an understanding of the accent is a must.
4. Indian companies like Infosys, TCS and WIPRO are becoming richer and recruiting more workers in USA and Europe. Needless to say that having a skill of understanding Indian accent will give you an edge in such jobs.
5. Indian economy is growing at an 8% rate annually and many US companies are trying to expand their operations in India. In fact, nearly 10,000 US workers are now in India.
6. If you are a teacher of English language in UK or USA then India can be a good source of earning money. Again, if you are comfortable with the Indian accent, you can make the best use of this opportunity.
7. India is becoming a popular destination for health care for the western people. So, for your health, you should think of getting some skill in the Indian accent.
I will give the another 3 reasons in the second part of the article tomorrow.
Do you have any other ideas? Please feel free to share them in the comment section.
I felt that you can go through some of the materials that I have found while browsing through the internet about this matter:
this is such BS,
im indian and this is embarassing. You really shouldnt have submitted this to digg.
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1. Support related works are getting outsourced to India more and more everyday. Since the demand for tech workers is growing in India, naturally, Indian companies will have to recruit workers with Indian accents more and more. So, if you are not familiar to Indian accent, you will find it difficult to get any support for your products."
wtf???
read and remember -> THE PROVIDER IS SUPPOSED TO BEND TO THE CUTOMER AND NOT VICE VERSA .
uhhhhh,,man, your points are flawed and ridiculous.
i really dont to waste one more minute of my life on this page. its filled with hypocrisy.
Posted by: sri | July 8, 2006 3:04 PM | Permalink to Comment