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Use Lean Six Sigma for Call Center Quality

In the October 27, 2003 Business Week, reporter Diane Brady found that "call centers overseas often provide better customer service than their American counterparts…Everything from customer satisfaction to error rates are vastly better."

Since frontline workers can "make or break a customer relationship," many companies are finding it easier to get fast, efficient, courteous service overseas.

India seems to be one of the best places because workers are better educated (college degree vs high school) and call center work is considered a "lucrative, successful career, not a dead end." Employee turnover in U.S. call centers is six times higher than in India.

When are we going to wake up and realize that the crashing cost of telecommunications and the rise of an educated international workforce is going to threaten all jobs? I know of at least one CIO in a $10 billion dollar company who is planning to move all IT work to a software factory in India inside of three years.

Raising our standards of performance and quality aren't just a good idea, they are a new necessity in the global village.