[LINK] Australian Old Economy Companies Failing to In

[richard@auscoms.com.au]

Linkers,

The other viewpoint is that the call centre brings a highly vulnerable
white-collar slave industry, which at the drop of a hat can get moved entirely
to another country and will be used to hold state.gov.au to ransom.

Tom, a few years back Telstra PR people were issuing press releases about how
Telstra's distributed call centres demonstrated technological advancement;
Telstra people went on stage at conferences showing lots of little red dots all
around Australia, with the same barrack-for-the-call-centre statements. Life's
good, we can use technology to distribute call centres all around the country,
economies by getting staff wherever the skills exist instead of being restricted
to the big cities, save on real estate, etc etc etc.

Now they need a new strategy, a bone to throw to the dogs of Bond St, and it's
"Telstra to close 250 call centres".

But state.gov.au needs to throw money at somebody-or-other to get a call centre,
even given that experience; and in a year's time, or two, or five, operators in
other countries will be given fake Australian names, fake accents, and will
answer the calls instead.

Or: the call centre itself will migrate to speech recognition and do away with
fleshware entirely.

Pollyanna-ish "Look isn't this technology stuff wonderful, we've got a strategy
that will make life wonderful" is wearing thin all over; I thought Utopian
science fiction died with Asimov...

Richard Chirgwin

____________________Reply Separator____________________
Subject:    Re: [LINK] Australian Old Economy Companies Failing to Inves
Author: "Ben Elliston" <bje@redhat.com>
Date:       1/06/00 5:56

> The call centers provide local employment, pay local rates, purchase some
> goods and services locally. This benefits the local economy.

But does it?  Offset that with the incentives the state governments offer
these companies in the first place.

> The jobs provided may not be as high paying as ones in the high end of the
> high technology industry, but they are still jobs. 

The point I'm driving at is that the Silicon Valley didn't get to where it
is through telephone support operators.  Innovation doesn't come without
highly skilled labour.

Ben