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Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Can't take this receptionist out for lunch
S. Mitra Kalita of the Washington Post writes:
Link via email from Michael Higgins, who asks: "If you can outsource the receptionist, couldn't one outsource pretty much the whole office?"
I'd say, no. It gets tougher and tougher to outsource tasks higher up the value chain, and while it's one thing to outsource manufacturing and services low down the value chain, I don't think it's going to go beyond that. Or am I wrong?
In a chic downtown lobby across the street from the Old Executive Office Building, Saadia Musa answers phones, orders sandwiches and lets in the FedEx guy.
And she does it all from Karachi, Pakistan.
As receptionist for the Resource Group, Musa greets employees and visitors via a flat screen hanging on the lobby's wall. Although they are nine hours behind and nearly 7,500 miles away, her U.S.-based bosses rely on her to keep order during the traffic of calls and meetings.
Link via email from Michael Higgins, who asks: "If you can outsource the receptionist, couldn't one outsource pretty much the whole office?"
I'd say, no. It gets tougher and tougher to outsource tasks higher up the value chain, and while it's one thing to outsource manufacturing and services low down the value chain, I don't think it's going to go beyond that. Or am I wrong?
