U.S. Sourcing Firms Bid to Reverse Offshoring Trend
April 8th, 2010By Tarun George
As the US economy tries to shake off the effects of last year’s recession, companies are looking for 
ways to make their outsourcing operations more streamlined and cost-effective, without sacrificing productivity.
It doesn’t help that wages in India and other offshore destinations have been steadily rising, and a weak US dollar is making it expensive to import services from overseas. Enter the onshore. With some customers jumping on board immediately, and others cautiously waiting to see where this goes, analysts are divided over the scalability and long-term feasibility of onshoring. Nearshore Americas speaks with three startup providers in the US who think it’s not only feasible but more profitable than many of your current offshore operations. Here’s a look at the onshore industry, its benefits and challenges.
Homesourcing Trend Grows at 20% Rate, but Workers Complain it’s a ‘Modern Sweatshop’
April 5th, 2010Once upon a time, phoning it in signaled failure. Now it’s a strategic move. As the U.S. economy slowly rebounds, companies are increasingly relying on a decentralized workforce of domestic, home-based call centers. The old mantra: route service calls overseas to cut costs in half. The new idea: bring call centers back home, but not to bulky, brick-and-mortar phone banks. Use hourly workers sitting in home offices, managed on someone else’s payroll. Call it phonesourcing.
Phonesourcing basically means contracting with a private firm to hire, train and manage a small army of local or regional call handlers. That enables companies to ramp up or tamp down their services flexibly, without the political controversies that are associated with outsourced, overseas call centers. Handing off call handling isn’t new — people have been grinding their teeth on hold for outsourced help since the dawn of voice mail more than a …
Sitel Boosts “HomeShore” Program, Hires 200 in New Mexico
March 3rd, 2010Global business process outsourcing company Sitel plans to add 200 associates to its HomeShore program in Albuquerque.
The company allows associates (“agents”) to work from home while they’re helping its Fortune 500 clients manage their outsourced customer care needs, a prepared statement from Sitel said.
Sitel said that since its initial launch in 2008, the Albuquerque HomeShore program has proven to be a successful model for Sitel clients across the U.S.
“The continued demand from our valued clients to place their call center operations in the Sitel HomeShore Program is a testament to the quality of service our Albuquerque agents provide on a daily basis,” the company said.
Officials said the current recruitment drive will support the recent expansion of a major worldwide hospitality provider that has outsourced its calls to Sitel to provide customer service and technical support, both online and by telephone.
The Sitel HomeShore program has added …
