Blog of Q's

A Texas company is
spinning its off-shoring. Would they have done a better job from
Lufkin? Are they “giving back” to Texas?  What does 2 hours of
training get you … from Gandhinagar or from Lufkin?
By Rupak Sanyal, ASSOCIATED PRESS,October 4, 2005

GANDHINAGAR,
India — Until recently, Madhavi Patel came to work each evening at a
call center in western India, put on her headset and American accent
and spent the night taking calls from Americans about their credit
cards.  Then, Hurricane Rita hit.
    The call center, run by Effective Teleservices of Lufkin,
Texas, set up a hot line for victims of the hurricane, and Miss Patel
and more than 240 of her colleagues began long days and nights fielding
thousands of calls from frantic, scared people affected by the storm
half a world away.

    The employees at the call center in Gandhinagar, the capital
of Gujarat state, are giving Texas residents information about relief
operations and where to get food, gasoline and shelter, said center
director Jim Iyoob, a former Texan.

 …
    One call came from a couple who drove about 60 miles with their
children to flee the oncoming hurricane but ran out of gasoline and
were stuck for six hours.
    The hot line directed them to a gas station a
few miles away, Mr. Iyoob said.  The couple later called back to
thank the call center operators, he said.
    …
    “We have taken up the responsibility to save people’s lives,
but we are not here to see our names printed in newspapers,” she said.

    Mr. Iyoob, a member of the company’s board,
said employees were given two hours of training before the hot line
opened.

    “Once upon a time, years back, I used to live in Texas and
never thought that being in Gujarat in India, I would be able to give
it something in return,” he said.