Chickens Come Home to Roost

About a year ago, I wrote a blog that predicted what would happen as a result of a specific (unnamed) corporation’s outsourcing strategy. http://habaconsulting.blogspot.com/2010/10/no-crystal-ball-required.html

It’s time to say, “I told you so.” I do not relish being right in this circumstance, as many hard-working, loyal professionals lost their jobs to overseas workers. But the chickens are coming home to roost, and I must say that I don’t have any sympathy for the big guys that have been calling the shots, who are now scrambling for a solution.

Here’s the update on the situation:

MY PREDICTION: “Customer satisfaction will erode with the quality of support provided by the call center(s).”
WHAT HAS HAPPENED: According to insiders, call response times have increased from seconds to many minutes. Once someone answers the phone, the interaction is frustrating and solutions are elusive. Customers are angry.

MY PREDICTION: “Dissatisfaction with support services will foment into serious complaints to senior business management outside the IT/support arena.”
WHAT HAS HAPPENED: Business owners and managers have been complaining vociferously to the people in power in the business, demanding that something be done to improve the quality of support.

MY PREDICTION: “The relationship between IT and the rest of the company will deteriorate.”
WHAT HAS HAPPENED: Although it was the executives on the business side who made the decision to outsource, the CIO entrusted with implementing the strategy has become the whipping boy for the failure. If the CIO is in bad graces, his organization suffers as well.

MY PREDICTION: “At least some support functions will be brought back in-house.”
WHAT HAS HAPPENED: This is where it gets really interesting. The outsourcing contract is being revised. The vendor has sent letters out to support employees who were laid off early this year to solicit their application to be hired (by the vendor, not the corporation) to establish a support escalation organization.

Where this all goes long term remains to be seen. Once in place, will the escalation group staffed by former employees of the corporation end up handling all the calls, making the outsourced first contact group redundant? How many people, burned once by the corporation’s layoffs, will accept a job with the vendor? Will the change in direction and additional services placate the business customers? Will the CIO’s career with the corporation survive?

This would make a really interesting outsourcing case study. I’m staying tuned in.