Business India

[Brian Turner]

I'm having trouble taking India seriously as a business sector at present, for the following reasons:

1. Inability to show professionalism in approach

It seems that many Indian web developers think they won't get UK work unless they spam UK companies with work offers.

The spam can be e-mail spam, forum spam, or directory spam - overall, it shows an inability to recognise how business works.

E-mail spamming is illegal, forum spamming is plain annoying, and directory spamming shows an inability to work with basic boundaries.

In fact, all too often I see Indian companies online typified by an immaturity of attitude, where they perceive the users time to be cheap and a disposable commodity.

Perhaps that's true of their own time, or the people they know - but if a business cannot even show basic professionalism, how am I to form a positive image of that company?


2. Inability to deliver professionalism in work

Last year I went with an Indian company for some development work. The results were poor and sloppy - nothing was done on time, and the work was riddled with errors. I make mistakes, but at least when I make major changes to a website, I at least try and check how those changes affect the site.

I found it impossible to rely on them, and when an issue relating to their work became critical, the company decided to ignore support issues so that they could build a blog network.

From discussions with others, as a generalisation from experiences, there is a common problem of Indian web development companies failing to understand the level of professionalism required by UK businesses.


2. Inability to perceive value with Indian work

If a company sends me to an Indian call-center, I know I'm being sent there because the company thinks it's a cheap option. They're doing it not for customer/client benefits, but instead for shareholder benefits.

No doubt you'll see Public Relations spin that by removing service costs, the services can become cheaper - but they don't, the savings go to company investors, not company users.

Using an Indian call center to offer client support is like offering Kwiksave No Frills coffee to your clients. It saves money, and still delivers quality, doesn't it? Ah, but it doesn't deliver any perceived value.


General discussion topic.

[bumfluff]

I totally agree with you

What makes it a shame is that when you get a lot of people spamming Indian companies on a forum, it gives a bad impression of ALL Indian companies. They're screwing it up for everyone - and like you said, if a company is unprofessional and ignorant enough to spam, then there's no WAY I'd consider doing business with them.

I'm guessing there's a lot of good companies based there, but jeez, they're getting a bad name too..

[MaxForce]

Yeah all the bad apples and the rotten eggs

[Brian Turner]

And just after I sent the above message, some company from Hyderabad came into these forums and spammed their advert on 5 of the Platinax boards - for e-mailing spamming services.

Which sort of underlines the point...

I agree - this isn't a condemnation of Indian companies overall - I recently puchased some database work from a qualified programmer in India, and the service was timely, professional, and I have no complaints.

But bad apples indeed - for India, they are very visible online, and if I were an Indian developer, I should be concerned about what reputation the bad apples are creating for Indian developers in general. I think the terms "trade association" and "ethics statement" come to mind...simply to subscribe to a professional code of practice.

[MaxForce]

agreed on the point that some sort of code of practice or guidelines should be established... also, perhaps it could be extended to certain mlm companies whose members seemed to be spamming (other forums)

[etechsupport]

This is not applicable for all company,a proper review and capability test is important before you're going to outsource your project.If you take example of few corporate giants like Amex, Motorola, Boeing, Ingersoll Rand, Avon, GXS (spin-off of GE), Daimler/Chrysler, and Citigroup, HCL who have opted for outsourcing support to India and performing very well through their highly trained in house staff employed locally. The selection and recruitment procedures for those employees are very stringently performed and after going through different screening process including voice test procedure like diction, modulation and ascent of english language and its fluency. Those outsourcing companies ONLY select most competent person matching with their standards and requirement. Overall after appointing their staff they also provide continuous in-house training to improve their effectiveness in communication matching with international standard.

If you check the stats percentage growth for only international voice business in India there has been growth of 25% - 30% per year in international voice business itself.

[bumfluff]

Yep, I don't think anyone is saying that ALL Indian companies are bad. It's just that there are a lot of companies outsourcing to India that AREN'T as stringent in their tests. As an example, my telecoms company have outsourced customer support and telesales to India, and I'm still receiving bills with the wrong name on despite phoning them several times and spelling it out. It isn't just this one company - I've had problems with directory enquiry services that suffer through having staff without local knowledge of the UK (including geography).

I don't have a problem with outsourcing per se, but it seems that too often companies that do so cut costs at the expense of quality of service. Stats on growth of the industry don't prove otherwise.

[Brian Turner]

In my opinion outsourcing call center support to India and similar countries still presents an image of low-quality, because is done entirely on the basis of cost to help shareholders, rather than being focused first on the customers.

I originally had a business and personal account at HSBC - but even though the main branch was only a mile-and-a-half away, I was not able to call the branch directly - I had to be routed to a call center in India first, who would take my details, then try and put me through to the local branch.

That told me that:

1. The staff at the branch were too important to be able to talk to me directly

2. The Indian call center was cheap and easy and that's all I was worth

It wasn't a way to *improve* service - it was done as a way to try and preserve basics while slashing costs.

It also served to put up a barrier between the customer and company, which in marketing terms is a great way to lose customers.

[MaxForce]

Good one Brian!

[webmate]

I totally agree with Brian. I also believe the "cheap cheap" is the reason behind outsourcing to India and for that I partly blame the customer.

People (some) want things cheaper, but they fail to realise they may have to compensate for the cheap price themselves. Our college graduates face a tougher job market because their parents wouldn't pay the few extra pennies.