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Contact Center Outsourcing and Election Year Politics

By Jacqueline Lee, Contributing Writer

The New York Times recently profiled Jim Margolis, a campaign staffer for President Obama who is in charge of cranking out negative ads against Republican rival Mitt Romney. The Obama campaign wants to paint Romney as a patrician, out-of-touch corporate executive who has singlehandedly shipped many jobs overseas.

The Obama camp has specifically accused Romney of outsourcing contact center jobs to India during his years as governor of Massachusetts. “At the center of this effort is Jim Margolis,” Jeremy Peters writes in the article, “and his job is to make you think of call centers in India every time you hear Mr. Romney’s name.”

By characterizing Romney as someone who shipped valuable American jobs overseas, Obama is tapping into the accessible zeitgeist. Over 70 percent of Americans believe that outsourcing hurts the American economy. Economist Paul Samuelson told Businessweek that the economic effect of outsourcing was similar to allowing a mass infusion of immigrants into the United States to compete for low-wage jobs.

However, companies who run outsourced contact centers in other countries often argue that their work does not negatively impact American workers. “Which software do we use? We use American software,” points out Diana Gitiba, a co-founder of Kenyan company Adept Technologies. “What hardware do we use? We use American hardware. We use Dell (News - Alert) computers in the office.”

In addition, some corporations point to a lack of available talent in the American workforce as a major driver for outsourcing. According to a recent Deloitte (News - Alert) survey, IT is the most commonly outsourced department among American companies. Multiple sources have confirmed a shortfall of skilled IT workers in the United States, particularly in the area of unified communications.

The stereotype of the Indian contact center is a relic of the past. The Philippines has overtaken India as a hub for contact center outsourcing, and China may soon surpass them both. Additionally, outsourcing doesn’t necessarily mean offshoring. Companies in the United States handle contact center outsourcing for numerous enterprises, and American workers are wearing the headsets.

The Obama campaign may make a dent in Mitt Romney’s armor by associating him with the unpopular issue of outsourcing. However, companies have a lot of complex reasons for choosing outsourcing, and those reasons range from the desire to save money to the necessity of tapping into the overseas talent pool. Besides, many of those outsourced call center jobs may not be heading across the ocean. Many of them could be heading just up the street.