Fed Can Avoid Inflation Danger: NY Fed President
What It Takes To Start A Call Centre Business
Anyone who claims to offer innovative ideas regarding starting a call centre business is clearly not in the loop of the industry. One should accept the fact that, call centre business is not based on innovation but rather on strategies.
Given this, there are some people who go ahead with the proposition of call centre business. To start a call centre business you need to arrange for a certain amount of capital. After having finalized that you want to get into call centre business, it is imperative that you need the infrastructure in place. Then plan out for a core team to propel your business and around ten trained call centre agents to start the pilot process.
If any call centre firm has to make a mark in the call centre business, the focus should be on high-end quality. Any call centre business will excel if there are experienced people in the company. Accent neutralization and training in various situations is must. The message should be very clear in terms of handling a call. This is an intense business and there is no getting back after the call has been messed up.
The next is to register under STPI so as to get maximum benefit of duty free imports for all kinds of computer hardware. In addition to this, the other important requirements are carpet area, equipment, communication and manpower. The carpet area can range from 55-155 sq feet per agent and this depends on number of seats. It also depends on the number of services rendered by the centre.
You can estimate the total carpet area by planning the space for facilities, amenities and support areas. The communication or connectivity depends on the volume of traffic and services rendered by the call centre firm.
For example a 200- seat call centre will usually invest in a 2 Mbps international private leased circuit for inbound services. This will comprise of two half circuits in India and the other two in US or UK through an international carrier.
The manpower employed in call centre falls under two broad headings. These are operations or agent and management or support staff. The ratio between the two depends on variety of parameters based on organization, services deployed and the client requirement.
Next comes the technological needs, in terms of technical resources the following things are needed like a voice witch/EPABX, modems, routers, multiplexers ( for data and voice transport), RISC/CISC servers, headsets, desktops, IVR( Interactive Voice Response), E1/T1 circuits for connectivity, CTI( Computer Telephony Integration) and ACD( Automatic Call Distributor) are needed.
One can look up to spending $10,000 per agent for setting up a call centre that includes all types of expenses. The cost of maintenance for a seat would be around $4000-$5000 per year. The industry experts say that most of the operation costs will be two- third of their billings.
One thing which has been highlighted before is the consistent delivery of value services and no BPO firm should be generalist but should have an expertise in certain vertical. In terms of getting clients, the company should have a core team who have gone through a learning process in a call centre and the essential team of HR, Finance, Trainers and Operations in place.
Speaking in terms of return on investment, if a call centre business is managed efficiently, the entrepreneur can reap profits within two or three years in business. One more important aspect of this business is the attrition level of BPO industry. One should have proper recruitment plan in mind and should try to stick to it.
Know The Basics Of Starting A Call Center
What is a call center?
A call center is centralized office where large volumes of requests are received and transmitted by telephone. A call center is a place set by a company to administer incoming product support or to answer the queries of the customers. It is a physical place where customers and telephone calls are handled by a BPO service provider usually with the help of computer automation. Typically, a call center has the capability of handling considerable volumes of calls, screen calls, forward them to qualified agent who can handle calls and log them.
Types of call center:
Call center are of two types, these are outbound call center and inbound call center
The other types of call center are web enabled call center, CRM (customer relationship management) call center, telemarketing call center and phone call center
What are the key responsibilities of outbound call center personnel?
- Make outgoing calls to prospective customers to promote product and services
- Update relevant information in the database as and when required
- The agent is expected to stick to the highest standard of quality and compliance.
- Be friendly and courteous to the customers.
- Make sales to the required target.
What are the key responsibilities of inbound call center personnel?
- Handle inbound calls relating to customer queries on a product or service.
- To offer customized services that are designed to meet the requirements of the business.
- To integrate customer care services.
- To understand the business, product and services
- Help in maximizing the efforts of direct marketing.
How does a call center function?
A typical call center functions in the following way, a caller dials a toll free number that is connected to a customer support center. When the call reaches a call center, a trained call center agent answers the call and has access to wide database of information. The dedicated telecommunication links connects the remote call center to the parent organization through voice links and online database access. Therefore even if the caller may be calling a local US number but the calls will be diverted to an offshore BPO service provider.
What are the application areas of call center?
- Sales support
- Technical queries
- Database development
- Complaint handling
- Relationship and accounts management
- Lead generation and follow up
- Telemarketing
- Credit and billing
- Market research
How to start a call center?
Starting a call center is a complex, time consuming and expensive business. The steps to start a call center may vary depending on whether you want to start an in-house or outsourcing call center. Similarly the equipment and manpower requirement is also different for an inbound and outbound call center. Both large and medium sized companies are realizing the benefits of call center. Starting a call center of your can be a lucrative business. Here are some points to consider while starting a call center.
- Study the call center industry and select a location.
- Examine the four basic types of call center.
- Determine the process, permit and licenses required in order to comply with the rules and regulation of your area.
- Compare the prices of equipment such as Internet and telephone.
- Define the company’s strategy and methods that you will apply to measure the productivity, quality, customers and employee satisfaction.
- Create a business plan and outline the business goals, financial needs, staffing plan and logistics
- Choose a business mentor. There are experts who offer business advice to entrepreneurs, their advice can be beneficial.
Most of the in-house call center function as part of the business and provides services for that business. While an outsourcing call center is the one that provides BPO services to other companies. By knowing the basics of call center industry one can successfully venture into call center business. The next important goal is to follow the plan, improve it, expand it and fine-tune it.
Inbound Customer Service
Today many companies outsource their inbound customer services to an offshore call center. Most of the business owners have a hard time to give up the responsibility to their own employees, let alone an outsider. Customers are lifeline of any business and most of the companies value their esteemed customers. Most of the large business houses outsource the non-core aspects of their business after much thought and extensive research.
Today, the companies have realized that, customer service outsourcing is an important tool to boost sales and gain maximum revenues. While there are still many who are reluctant to outsource their inbound customer services. The truth is that in today's competitive business environment inbound customer service is smart choice. It allows companies to handle the important aspects of their business. Most of the reputed call centers have skilled work force. They are professional and are trained to handle calls proficiently which are needed to manage a business successfully.
Inbound customer service is important for retention of customers. Acquiring a new customer is seven times more costly than keeping the existing ones. An inbound customer representative understands the importance of customer relations and manages those relations in most professional manner. The call center services offered by an outsourcing firm is tailored to place the importance of customer service.
The inbound customer service offered by reputed call center is focused to make each customer a customer for life. A professional call center agent makes sure that each phone call that he or she handles results in something positive that your business can build upon. They play a pivotal role in making sure that the customers are satisfied with your product and services.
By outsourcing inbound customer service, a company actually increases the level of customer service. A call center has trained operators that are always available to handle customers need,concerns and problems. They process the requests of the customers as well as answer the queries of the customers related to the product or services. They also take all necessary action to resolve each and every issue so that the customers have unmatched level of satisfaction.
Today running a small or a large business is a daunting task. This is due to labor costs, recruiting problems and ever changing telecommunication equipment. At this time inbound customer service provides the basic ingredient for a company's success.
The call centres in India providing inbound customer service are well equipped with good infrastructure, highly qualified agents, security solutions and cutting edge technology.
The call centres in India have state-of-the-art multimedia centers that offer multichannel interaction through voice email, SMS and fax services. There is no doubt that Indian call centres can handle a range of outsourcing services.
Some of the inbound call centre services have specialization in appointment setting, research surveys, lead generation, debt collection, consumer response, dealer locators, direct mail response, email management services, help desk solutions, inquiry handling, interactive voice response, product technical information and telemarketing in verticals like mortgage, insurance, telecom industries. The inbound customer service includes order taking, technical support, customer service, answering service and help desk services.
Is Time to Fire Your Call Center?
Call Center Services have grown tremendously in the last decade. The reason is that companies are saving on the bottom line by cutting costs and outsourcing this work by opting for these services. The CCS faces a lot of challenges which surrounds customer experience. If you try find respond of customers of CCS, only one-third of them register positive responses! The agents have to shoulder responsibility not only to sell the products of the company but also establish brand equity for it through various channels. Some of the common problem of these services is high employee attrition, absenteeism, inconsistent answering performance and poor call quality. An often carefree attitude within a call center directly affects the overall performance of the call center.
A few of the service complaints of CCS are failure to resolve customer problems in one call, accumulation of clutter in reaching the appropriate representatives or to qualified supervisor if the problems not solved within five minutes of calling, failure to create credit among the customers especially in outsourced customer care centers. First of all, do not treat your CCS as cost cutting centers. Do not cut on training and quality control measures. In your haste to cut the cost you will lose on quality services to your customers and lose reputation and ultimately revenues. Improving the functioning of your call center must include these- efficient deployment and use of labor, effective leveraging of technology, capacity management, and demand management.
Coming to the internal functioning of CCS, there should be absolutely no lack of communication among the agents and customers. Only communicating through e-mails is not enough. It is easier and cost effective nowadays to be in touch trough the internet. Provide your account manager with as many voice interactions with the customer. Language and cultural difference of the customers is another problem in CCS. This problem needs certain contact points between the customer and service providers make way for smooth execution of any project. The offshore CCS has more problems with the accent of the customers. In this case it is advisable to go on a Live Chat. If any target is missed by the service providers, the party that will decide on the payment withholding needs to be defined frankly. This will assure that the service providers will never make frequent errors and will be extra careful.
The CCS should take extra care to keep its customers updated on a weekly basis. They should always feel they have got track of their project. It ensures less errors and hassles at the time of project delivery. Call centers generally lack leverage to invest in innovative technologies and strategies. Using knowledge base applications helps in managing the information load and keeps the agents up-to-date on the latest marketing based promotions. There are many communication applications such as Voice of the Customer (VOC) which helps to make the workforce more effective and reduce cost.
Greater effort should be make to encourage customer feedback through prompted questions and unstructured feedback which is then mined using speech analysis. You must absolutely make sure that your agents do not type when they are talking to the customer or take multiple calls and talk to more than one customer at a time. This will ensure that the agent is actually listening to the customer and 100% attention is given to the customer. Ongoing alignment is necessary because expectations are a moving target. Innovations, competitors' moves, and economic and social trends are some of the forces that cause continual morphing of customers' expectations. CCS is a consumer-centric business; this should kept in mind all the time.
All Call Centers should make themselves well equipped for call floods. At such times it happens that the calls are routed to inexperienced agents and results in consumer dissatisfaction or even frustration. Be pro-active and invent solutions for any imaginable situation at your center; make a strategy and develop a call routing strategy and test them in advance to cope with the actual problems when they arise.
There are many technical solutions available such as extension of voice of the customer program. You may also establish a call handling service, which would report about out of the service phone lines before the customer does! Make sure your agents can flag problems (such as slow pop-up windows or poor voice quality) during a call. If the quality has already deteriorated, it is no use rectifying the technical lapse later. You should also pay attention to forbid any fraud perpetuated by the agents which might involve false representation of data. There should be constant detecting of problems of the IVR systems.
The agents too need to have some fun and relaxation sessions. The call center management and employees should stay current all call center news and trends. Subscribe magazines or create a library shelving books and reports for the employees whereby they can increase their knowledge and skills. All this help in planning a customer service program that works for both their employees and customers. You will be able to address the customer needs all the time and making them happy even though they may not satisfied with the product or service. You may also subscribe to newsletters and whitepapers for the knowledge growth of the members of your Call Centre.
Customer Communications Group Joins Forces with Pluris Marketing
"COMP is all about making customer-centricity easy for our clients, and Pluris brings to the table a high-functioning, real-time optimization technology that is simply unequaled in the industry," said Sandra Gudat, President and CEO of CCG.
The partnership idea between the two companies began when Gudat and Pluris Marketing’s Senior Vice President, Bob Fetter, had a conversation about the state of traditional segmentation and offer versioning. Both knew they had complementary resources for a one-of-a-kind promotions optimization offering.
"The match between CCG and Pluris seemed like the perfect combination," Fetter said. "We knew that both CCG and Pluris Marketing clients needed a better way to produce highly targeted, relevant communications. Many of our clients understand that more than half of all of their promotions were disproportionately reducing margins on generated revenues."
Gudat agreed. "This partnership allows us to meet a need that’s been growing in the marketplace for some time. And now, because of the current economic climate, that need for an ROI-based, seamless optimization offering has grown exponentially."
The COMP product will reduce the time needed to gather customer data, analyze it and respond to it with a customized offer from more than six months to less than one day.
I have to leave now as I have to catch the news of Soccer 2010 World Cup
The Career Goal in Finance
What’s the end game after a number of years of going to school? Maybe to have a stable career and life but this does not occur overnite. It takes blood, work, sweat and tears which is also the career goal in finance. How will we do that? Well, folks always say a good education opens doors.
A finance career works the same way given that there are numerous corporations that you can work in after graduation explaining why you must do a little research first to discover what facets of the industry interests you the most. When you’re able to perform some research in each of them, it will be easy for you to develop the talents wanted to excel in this in the future.
A career in finance can occur if you graduate with a degree in mathematics, economics or stats. But since the market is really competitive, you’ve got to make yourself shine by earning an MBA degree years on. You do not have to get one after 2 years of work as there are some people who are studying in their forty’s.
Aside from that, it’s best to read up books and participate in meetings and become an affiliate of a pro organization. You have got to be informed of the most recent trends and build up your network because that somebody you know may get you that job you’re looking for. 2 examples of these organizations include the Yank Financiers organisation and the Association for Fiscal Pros . They have events prepared all year long that will enable you meet new folk with similar career goals.
For those that do not have an idea what facet of financing yet to chase, this is the time to ask help from one of your professors. Certainly , this person can tell you what sort of job is firmly related to what was taught in class. With that in your head, it’s time to go looking for firms that engage in precisely that.
While you’re still at school, another thing that might help will be to apply as an intern in one of these firms. Some corporations will give an income while other won’t . If you do well here, they will potentially give you an offer even before you graduate or inspire you to work for them full time.
If the company you’re looking for does not have any vacancies now, leave your resume or application anyhow so that if an opening comes up, somebody will give you a call so all you have got to do is give it your best in the interview. At the same time, be active in your faculty organization because an alumni member may looking out for new abilities that will be of benefit for the company. We need to target something so a concept can be turned into a plan and then executed. A career goal in finance is only 1 example because folk with other interests can do the same and achieve success in whatever enterprise they opt to pursue.
US-Colombia deal 'not a threat'
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sought to calm fears in Latin America about a planned new military agreement with Colombia.
Some countries in the region have expressed alarm over the US plans to use Colombian bases to combat drug traffickers and rebels.
But Mrs Clinton said the accord would respect Colombian sovereignty and other countries would not be affected.
It would not lead to a significant increase in US troop numbers, she said.
Speaking after talks in Washington with Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez, Mrs Clinton said the agreement would not lead to the creation of US bases in Colombia.
"It does provide the United States access to Colombian bases but command and control, administration and security will be Colombia's responsibility," she said.
"Any US activity will have to be mutually agreed upon in advance. The United States does not have and does not seek bases inside Colombia."
She also said there would be "no significant permanent increase in the US military and contractor presence in Colombia" and that other countries would not be affected.
"This is about the bilateral co-operation between the United States and Colombia regarding security matters within Colombia," she said.
Regional benefit
Under the deal, the US military will be able to operate on Colombian soil to tackle drug-trafficking and terrorism.
Mrs Clinton said the threats were very real and that the US was "committed to supporting the government of Colombia in its efforts to provide security to all its citizens".
Mr Bermudez said developing "more effective mechanisms of co-operation" would benefit both Colombia and the region.
"We have suffered, and we have learned from the lessons as a result of this suffering," he said.
A number of countries in the region have condemned the plan and Argentina has called the agreement "not helpful".
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed fears the move would amount to preparation for an invasion of his country by US forces.
Cognizant to offer BPO services from Phoenix centre
Obama attacks insurance premiums
India, The Most Preferred Destination For BPO Services: Know How?
The global organizations all over the world have always preferred India to outsource their non-core business services. Today, outsourcing BPO services in India has almost become a norm for many global companies. In fact, BPO services are one of the fast growing segments of Information Technology Enabled Services( ITES) industry. India has constantly been able to provide the growing demand for BPO services in terms of cost effectiveness and customer support contact centers.
Over the years, many call centers have mushroomed in India, because India has a huge array of working professionals. Most of the work force here, specializes in science and technology. BPO services also help in time management and proper use of resources. In other words, it can said that BPO services in India help organizations to improve their level of efficiency as well as effectiveness.
Most of the offshore clients outsource work to India due to multiple reasons. These have been summarized below :
- More number of English speaking tech-savvy professionals
- Expertise in all types of customer support services.
- Time zone advantages enables offshore clients with 24 -hour support services.
- Large, skilled and educated work force.
- Specialized BPO services
- Supportive and flexible Indian government policies.
- Equipped with latest technology and high end infrastructure.
- Cost-effective BPO services.
- Confidence and trust of global organizations
The common BPO services in India are as follows:
Inbound call center services
- Outbound call center services
- Order taking services
- Telemarketing services
- Technical help desk services
- Email support services
- Chat enabled services.
- Business transcription services
- Medical transcription services
- Human resource outsourcing
- Accounting services
BPO services in India is undergoing a sea change. This radical transformation has give rise to many new areas of outsourcing. The BPO services in India offer a wide range of cost-effective and quality driven services. Here are some of the new areas of BPO services in India.
- Research and analytics services
- Data entry services
- Financial services
- Engineering services
- E-learning solutions
- Creative services
- Web designing services
- Health care services
- E-governance services
- Retail services
- Pharmaceutical services and a host of other services
The BPO services is one of the fastest growing segments in India. BPO has also attracted huge number of youngsters to join the industry. Most of the young and sharp minds are willing to work in 24X7 environment. Most of the companies globally are looking India as a potential option because Indian companies have proved themselves with quality services and high end performance. Today, some of the world's big giants have their base in India. India has been the main hub for BPO services around the globe. Most of the successful BPO ventures have encouraged more and more companies to outsource their BPO services to India.
T Mobile UK outsource in INdia
T-Mobile is under a burden of cost cutting as the parent company, Deutsche Telekom, posted a goodwill writedown of €1.8bn for the UK operation in Q1, after which there have speculations that T-Mobile is looking to offload its UK business.
21 Indian firms among world's top 100 BPOs
Twenty-one Indian companies, including Infosys Technologies, TataConsultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro, are among the top 100 BPO firmsin the world, according to a new study.
Five of the Indian firmsfiguring among the 10 best outsourcing service providers are: Infosys(No.3), TCS (6), Wipro (7), Genpact (9) and Tech Mahindra (10),according to the study - '2008 Global Outsourcing 100' - compiled bythe International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP). Accentureand IBM head the list published as an advertising feature by IAOP inthe current Fortune 500 issue of Fortune magazine. The other 16 Indian companies in the list are HCL Technology (11), Mastek (16), WNS Global Services
Telus opens fourth call centre in Manila
There are not many bright spots in the Philippine economy these days. Exports are tanking. Remittances are tumbling; and some of the country’s legion of so-called overseas workers are returning home from the hardest-hit of world markets. Amidst this, one B.C. company, Telus, is deepening its reach into the Philippines’ BPO or business processing outsourcing industry, which is expected to post stellar growth of 20 to 30 per cent in 2009. This month, Telus International opened its fourth call centre in Manila, one that currently employs 900 workers, but will ramp up to include at least 3,000, possibly by the end of the year. To fill these new positions, Telus spokesman Shawn Hall said the company would “absolutely” look to hiring from a growing pool of returning workers to the Philippines.
“Because of its history as a U.S. colony, the Philippines is a great place to run these kinds of businesses,” Hall said. “People there have very good educational levels, speak English well and have an affinity to North American culture, as well as lots of family.”
In recent months, a slew of other mid-sized and large BPO centres like the one opened by Telus have announced their own expansion plans, according to Manila-based consultant Michael Hamlin. His clients, including Convergys, TeleTech, eTelecare, Sitel and StarTek, have been keeping him busy with one inauguration ceremony to another. “BPO really is the only bright spot,” he said in an interview. “Everyone I know is hiring.” A new survey published jointly by Hamlin’s company, Team Asia, and the Business Processing Association of the Philippines found that more than 80 per cent of respondents said they will increase their workforces this year and almost 50 per cent cited a growth of between 10 and 200 per cent. The BPAP is projecting 30-per-cent growth for the industry overall.
For an increasing number of clients, Hamlin said, the Philippines is one of many BPO centres in an international string. “For risk mitigation, they don’t just want a presence in India or just in Eastern Europe or North America,” he said. Indeed, while the bulk of Telus International’s employees are already in the Philippines, the company recently announced plans to open a 1,000-seat centre in Las Vegas and three others in Central America.
Speaking to reporters at the opening of the new facility in Manila, Telus International president Jeffrey Puritt emphasized that the expansion is focused on getting beyond basic call centre capabilities into more complex tasks such as network troubleshooting, risk analysis, human resources and finance. He said: “As the contact centre industry evolves, it’s more than just voice. The trend is definitely up the value chain.” However, how exactly to move up is a big issue for the industry, said Hamlin. “Finding people with supervisory and managerial skills is key,” he said. There definitely was a more sobering side to the survey’s results, which suggests that it will not just be a matter of plugging in casualties of the global economic slowdown, that is, would-be or returning overseas workers into the Philippine BPO industry. Almost 70 per cent of BPOs said that they hire only 10 per cent or fewer of the applicants that apply for work, indicating that a significant skills mismatch continues to exist, according to Hamlin. Survey respondents cited oral and written communication skills as the biggest gap, followed by analytical thinking and problem solving. In Vancouver, Maria Javier, a program manager at Multicultural Helping House, which is helping foreign workers from the Philippines cope with the economic downturn, added that while it might seem encouraging to hear that BPO facilities are faring well, most workers from the Philippines who lose their jobs here and face being forced to return will find little comfort in such news.
Outsourcing Teaching, Overseas
In offering B.S. in economics degrees at three partner universities in China and Hong Kong, Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business uses a different kind of teaching model, similar in some ways to the three approaches but with a significant, and potentially risky, twist. The programs are based on a lead professor/local facilitator model, in which the professors of record at Utah State rely on local instructors, who are not Utah State employees (but are approved by Utah State departments) to deliver much of the course content on the ground.
The degrees in question are Utah State degrees, as opposed to joint or dual degrees with the partner universities, and the arrangement is described in the business school's 2008-9 annual report thus: “Departments assign 'lead professors' to write the course syllabus, pick the text book and other instructional materials, and to write exams and other assignments for the course. The teaching materials are provided to 'local facilitators' (faculty at our partner institutions) who have been approved by the USU department to deliver the lectures and other course material on-site in China and Hong Kong. Lead professors and local facilitators are in contact each week to make sure that the courses are on-track and to deal with teaching and evaluation issues. Final grades are assigned by the lead professor.” In other words, the instructor who interacts with the students face-to-face on a regular basis doesn't have the ultimate grading authority, but the professor back in Utah does.
In the financial model, as outlined in that same report, “tuition for our students in Asia is shared equally between the Asia program and our partner institutions. The partners are responsible for providing the facilities, textbooks, and for paying the local facilitators. The Asia program in the Department of Economics and Finance and the Huntsman School of Business is responsible for providing lead professors, for counseling students, and for admitting, matriculating, and graduating students who meet the requirements, as well as for arranging visits to the Asian sites by lead professors and administrators."
Utah State’s B.S. in economics, with an emphasis on international economics and trade, is currently offered in English at three sites: the Beijing Institute of Technology, Northeast Dianli University, in Jilin City, and the Institute of Advanced Learning, in Hong Kong. In spring 2009, 560 students were enrolled; according to the annual report, the school expects to grow its Asian program enrollment to 800 students and, once a fourth program location is approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education, more than 1,000.
"One of the preconditions for us to get approval from the central Ministry of Education in China was that they required our program to have face-to-face instruction. One of the challenges U.S. universities have had extending their educational products to China is the high expense of maintaining their own faculty on site. So our model tries to leverage the design and review role of a senior faculty member with a local facilitator who is also a professor, and those professors who are local facilitators are approved by our departments," said Chris Fawson, senior associate dean and a professor of economics in the Huntsman School of Business.
“We think it’s a model that will help foster broader collaboration. While faculty are collaborating on preparing high-quality instructional materials, we hope that they’re collaborating on research interests,” Fawson said.
“Does everybody do that? Well, again, I couldn’t say that everybody does that, in [terms of] faculty that are mentoring graduate students who are teaching courses on our campus. But I can tell you our commitment… We talk about a high level of collaborative interaction, and we talk about our commitment to integrity and our commitment to quality. If I thought that we couldn’t do that, we would drop the program tomorrow, to be honest with you.”
Franchising Degrees?
Inside Higher Ed recently learned of the Huntsman School's degree programs in Asia via an anonymous e-mail, purportedly from a group of Utah State students and alumni with concerns; the extent of such concerns could not be verified.
In fact, some at Utah State see the Asia Degree Program as part of an exciting expansion of international opportunities. Adam Croshaw, a senior and the business school’s student senator last year, said fellow students did not bring any concerns to him during his tenure as their representative. “I haven’t heard much other than I know it exists and there’s excitement ... just because it’s a new thing. The Huntsman School of Business is trying to give their students a better opportunity to do things internationally because that’s the way business is going these days," he said.
Outside Utah, Philip G. Altbach, professor and director of Boston College’s Center for International Higher Education, said he was very skeptical of this particular model for promoting internationalization, however. “My view, and I am in a small minority on these matters I think, is that foreign degrees should be taught by faculty from the sponsoring university faculty, and not be random local scholars, even if they are ‘approved’ by the home campus faculty. What USU is really doing is ‘franchising’ their degree -- in a McDonald's way -- which is common especially among low prestige British universities in countries like Malaysia these days. Those British institutions have in some cases gotten themselves into hot water with the British quality assurance agencies and the press for low standards, inadequate supervision and the like. USU may well get into that bind,” he said in an e-mail.
Carving up Responsibilities, and Collaborating
Utah State has offered degree programs in China since 2000, but until 2008 operated the programs, then in interdisciplinary studies, through the university's continuing education unit. By narrowing the academic focus to economics, and moving the Asia Degree Program to the business school (which includes the economics department), administrators were both responding to student demand and moving to better safeguard the quality of the program, said Fawson. ”We've felt that degree programs that don't have a core academic home tend to lose their way a little bit. So it was a way to push a program back to college and a department, where the integrity of the academic foundation is grounded and anchored, so there is a reference point of what we are doing from a core academic perspective."
Fawson said the business school absorbed the Asia degree programs in part to serve the broader interests of the university, and also to expand its own footprint in China. "We're looking for opportunities to have high-quality positive engagement in China. We think there's a great ability to build up some brand equity in China and to build a strong alumni base," he said.
In describing the nuts and bolts of the program, Fawson described a lively virtual exchange between lead professor and local facilitator, and also a physical flow of faculty: “Their professors come and spend a whole semester on our campus… And then our professors historically have gone on two-or three-week trips where they actually sit in on classes and observe the classes." Not all local facilitators come to Utah State, but Fawson estimates that about 30 local facilitators, two to five in any given year, have traveled to Utah State in total.
The local facilitators, he said, mostly are faculty with appointments in the partner institutions, although not universally. Not everyone has a Ph.D. – “there’s a strong business orientation to what we’re doing … but they would go through the same kind of screening process that a faculty member would go through here to be approved as a local facilitator.”
In terms of how the Utah State professor assigns a final grade in a course facilitated by a non-Utah State employee, Fawson said, “There’s hopefully [been] lively interaction between the lead professors and local facilitators. I’m sure that there is some variation between how lead professors are interacting with local facilitators, but our expectation is that lead professors take this very seriously.
“There’s a sense of professional responsibility and accountability that comes with that assignment.”
Terry Glover, a professor of economics at Utah State, has served as a lead professor for about seven years, he said, and has experienced the upside and the challenges of this kind of collaboration. “You try to hang onto the local facilitators for some years, because you develop a working relationship and such,” he said, adding that some local facilitators have collaborated with him on data collection and research. “Not only is it a teaching partnership but a research partnership as well.” On the other hand, he’s twice recommended that local facilitators try a different career and those instructors, he said, did not return.
Glover also periodically travels to the partner institutions' campuses, and takes advantage of the ability to do some face-to-face teaching while he's there. He maintains a heavy teaching load, typically teaching two courses each semester at Utah State, and taking on another 3-2 load as lead professor in Asia degree program courses. “Essentially now in the last couple of years, we’ve developed more of a partnership. It used to be Utah State and then the step-cousin, but now it’s a joint kind of partnership,” said Glover.
The model represents an improvement on distance education, Glover said, which is "not our mold"
Instead, “You’ve got someone there, with them, who knows the program, has communicated with me and such, and they know that the two instructors are attuned to each other.... I get lots of e-mails from students and I e-mail them back."
The Huntsman School of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, but the economics department, while housed in the business school, is outside the accreditor's purview. "This program is not an AACSB-accredited program; therefore, none of our standards come into play," said Jerry Trapnell, AACSB International's vice president and chief accreditation officer. That said, Trapnell added, "We see programs delivered in a lot of models.... We've seen similar models to this, sure, where the delivery mode at the remote site is facilitated, assisted or delivered through arrangements with the local faculty. Again, the key is to having very good expectations and understanding of the quality of that faculty, their background, and then the strong communication at work between the Utah State faculty and the faculty there.
"I'll be clear. There are risks there, that essentially they are delegating to someone else to deliver their program," Trapnell said."They're trying to manage that carefully, I'm sure.
“It’s an innovative model, and I expect that as schools seek ways to work internationally, these models will continue to be fairly diverse."
“It looks as if the proposed breakdown of responsibilities is an effort at quality control,” said Andrew Ross, a professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University who has written about branch campuses and the academic workplace. “However, it also shows how globalization hastens on the way in which professorial work can be broken down and reassigned to cheaper and more remote locations. In the twentieth century, professions were able to distinguish themselves from industrial labor process by resisting efforts to separate the conception and execution of tasks. This is an example precisely of that division of labor. It points in the direction of the routinization, at offshore locations, of instruction, while retaining the higher-level tasks onshore
Cisco profits fall 46% but beats forecast
Cisco Systems said on Wednesday that earnings fell 46 per cent in its latest quarter, but the profit beat Wall Street expectations. Cisco chief executive John Chambers said business conditions were improving for the world's largest network equipment manufacturer but he cautioned that it was too soon to call a recovery, dragging its shares down 3 per cent.
'We saw a number of positive signs this quarter in the economy and in our business,' Mr Chambers said in a statement. He added that if trends keep improving, there's a good chance the latest quarter was a 'tipping point'.
'While this is a very important trend, I would want to see the sequential trends continue for several more quarters before we'd be comfortable with saying that we are returning to normal business momentum,' he told analysts on a call. Cisco is one of the first large-cap technology companies to report results that include sales from most of July, making it an early indicator of trends in technology spending. Cisco has seen sales hit hard as clients delayed investments and capital improvements. However, good profit margins and a large pile of cash have helped it ride out the downturn.
The company posted a profit of US$1.1 billion, or 19 US cents per share, for the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended July 25. That was down from US$2 billion, or 33 cents per share, in the same quarter last year. Sales fell 18 per cent to US$8.5 billion. Excluding the cost of stock-based compensation and other items, Cisco's earnings were 31 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings of 29 cents per share on US$8.5 billion in revenue. Cisco's revenue outlook was mostly in line with Wall Street's expectations and profit for the July quarter exceeded forecasts. But the CEO's cautious remarks disappointed those who sought a stronger declaration that global technology spending was on the mend. Analysts said his comments made sense amid mixed economic data, but likely let down investors who have been betting on a recovery in technology demand. 'When he qualified that statement and said we've got to wait and see for several more quarters, I think maybe that was a little more conservative than what the Street wanted to hear,' said Ronald Gruia, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan.
Cisco said it expects fiscal first-quarter revenue to fall by 15 to 17 per cent from a year earlier. That was in line with expectations for a drop of about 16 per cent, according to Reuters Estimates. That outlook represented a quarter-on-quarter rise of one to 3 per cent, a key improvement after a steep quarter-on-quarter decline in sales earlier in the year. Many analysts, including RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Sue, saw the results and Chambers' comments as positive.
'The confidence from increased bookings and orders should be welcome news to long-term investors,' he said. 'Things are improving even though I don't think John Chambers wants to wave a green flag just yet.' Shares in Cisco initially rose about 3 per cent after its quarterly results slightly beat expectations and Mr Chambers said in an earlier statement that he saw 'positive signs' in economic and order trends. After Mr Chambers' comments on the call, the stock backpedalled to US$21.51. Cisco shares had closed at US$22.17 on Nasdaq.
IntelePeer and Transera Team to Offer Virtual Contact Center Solutions
The partnership provides hosted SIP trunking connections to any agent location combined with Seratel’s advanced routing capabilities. As a result, Transera customers can rapidly deploy virtual contact centers staffed by agents located anywhere in the world who are connected by IntelePeer’s carrier-class global voice peering network and SuperRegistryTM infrastructure. By routing all calls through this infrastructure, Transera ensures seamless worldwide connections to any traditional landline, mobile or VoIP soft phone while dramatically reducing telecommunications expenses.
Multi-channel contact center environments can simplify the integration and deployment of additional channels and contact methods such as social networking and Web-based click-to-call via the IntelePeer AppworXTM Open Communications Platform. The AppworX platform allows customers to accelerate implementations and minimizes the time needed to bring the virtual call center into production to generate value.
The entire virtual contact center solution, provided through the Software as a Service model, eliminates up-front capital costs and deployment delays. The combined solution provides a wide range of advanced features, including:
- True end-to-end on-demand, virtual call center – supporting multiple locations, agent types and voice technologies
- SIP trunking for toll-free and local direct inward dialing (DID) services, as well as outbound U.S. and international termination
- Web-based click-to-call and click-to-conference
- VoiceBlast and SMSBlast integration
- Enhanced traffic routing
- Automated VoIP soft phone registration, supporting call routing to remote agents for work-at-home and disaster recovery situations
"The global recession is forcing businesses to find ways to reduce their capital and operating expenses without sacrificing performance or service," said Prem Uppaluru, Transera’s CEO and president. IntelePeer’s global peering grid, which carried more than 7 billion voice minutes last year, ensures our customers can depend on reliable, high-quality voice connections for each customer call, while reducing their telecommunications operating expenses -- a critical advantage in these challenging economic times."
"At IntelePeer, we make it easy and cost-effective for innovative companies such as Transera to offer groundbreaking new services like the Seratel virtual contact center solution. With hosted capabilities delivered from the cloud, complex integration with premise-based equipment is completely eliminated and services are instantly deployed to any location," said Haydar Haba, IntelePeer founder and chief visionary officer. "The IntelePeer AppworX platform provides a powerful foundation to seamlessly deploy high-value services like Transera’s that help contact centers dramatically improve the way they connect with their customers."
About Intelepeer:
IntelePeer, a provider in hosted on-demand rich media communications, enables carriers, businesses and software vendors to easily deliver voice and multimedia capabilities to any phone or network-connected device – without incurring up-front capital costs. Through our innovative, communications-as-a-service platform, IntelePeer AppworX™, our SuperRegistry™ and our extensive Voice Peering Network, we provide our customers with the platform to offer high-quality interactive voice, video,
New Sony e-book reader $100 cheaper than Kindle
Unlike other Readers, the Pocket Edition won't play digital music files, and it won't have a slot for a memory card to supplement internal storage that can hold 350 books. It will retail for $199, a third off the price of the basic Kindle model and about $80 less than Sony's PRS-505 reader, which will be discontinued. Color choices include blue, red and silver. The device is entering a small but growing market. U.S. e-book sales totaled $113 million last year -- up 68 percent from 2007 but still a fraction of the estimated $24.3 billion spent on all books, according to the Association of American Publishers.
Steve Haber, president of Sony's Digital Reading Business Division, expects the Pocket Edition's price tag will lure new consumers who haven't wanted to shell out for such a device thus far. And he's not worried that the Pocket Edition's chances for success will be diminished by the rising popularity of reading e-books on smart phones like the iPhone and BlackBerrys.
"Once you see it, it's been a consistent response of, 'That's cool,'" he said. Sarah Rotman Epps, a media analyst at Forrester Research, said the Pocket Edition's price below $200 breaks an important psychological barrier.
"This is something that is affordable for the holiday season, and I think that you'll see sales of e-readers outpacing current forecasts," she said.
Her current forecast calls for sales of 2 million digital reading devices this year; she said a little more than 1 million were sold by the end of 2008.
She doesn't expect Amazon to rest on its laurels, adding that the online retailer will have to respond to counter Sony's new price point.
Sony is also announcing on Wednesday the release of a $299 touch-screen model to replace its existing $350 touch-screen PRS-700. The Touch Edition will have the same six-inch (15-centimeter) screen as its predecessor but not the PRS-700's built-in light. Haber said removing the light will correct some screen clarity problems it has caused.
With the PRS-700, users can highlight text and take notes with a touch-screen keyboard. On the new model, users also can write notes with a finger or a stylus that is included.
The new model has a built-in dictionary and is faster at changing pages when readers swipe a finger across the screen. It will sell in red, silver or black and can hold 350 books in its built-in memory or more on a memory card.
A big difference between Sony's Readers and Amazon's Kindle has always been the lack of wireless access for quick and simple downloads of books. The new models are no different: They have to be connected to a computer to acquire books.
For the first time, they will be compatible with PCs and Mac computers, though. Sony will offer current Reader owners a software update to make theirs compatible with both.
As he has indicated in the past, Haber said Sony is working on a wireless model, though he wouldn't say when.
Sony also is adjusting prices to some of the e-books it sells through its online eBook Store. New releases and best-sellers will now sell for $10, $2 less than current prices. Amazon's Kindle Store offers most best-sellers and new releases for $10.
Sony's eBook Store includes more than 100,000 books, as well as a million free public-domain books available from Google Inc. through its Google Books project. The Kindle Store currently has more than 330,000 available titles.
The Kindle can only download books from Amazon's store, while Sony's Readers can display texts sold in the "epub" format -- an open standard supported by the International Digital Publishing Forum that numerous publishers use to make e-books.
Toyota reports $819 million quarterly loss
Toyota, which dethroned General Motors Corp. as the world's top selling automaker in 2008, raised its global vehicle sales forecast for the fiscal year by 100,000 to 6.6 million vehicles. The increase reflected improved sales in Japan, partly because of government measures to boost green car sales. The better forecast is still markedly below the 7.57 million vehicles Toyota sold worldwide for the fiscal year ended March, showing how far Toyota has to go to stop the flow of red ink, now into its third straight quarter. Toyota sold 1.4 million vehicles around the world during the quarter, a decrease of 785,000 vehicles from a year earlier. Quarterly sales dropped 38.3 percent to 3.836 trillion yen ($40.4 billion) as vehicle sales slipped in almost all regions, including North America, Europe, Japan and the rest of Asia. Other Japanese automakers have also reported better-than-expected earnings, with No. 2 Honda continuing to stay in the black, bucking expectations for losses. Analysts say Toyota, because of its bigger size, may need longer for a full recovery. Tatsuo Yoshida, auto analyst at UBS Securities Japan, said a solid recovery can come only when the global economy starts improving and people start buying cars again.
"The damage was great at Toyota because it was heading toward aggressive expansion with its foot slammed on the accelerator," he said, comparing the global financial crisis to a car wreck. The growing popularity of environment-friendly vehicles has given Toyota some respite from the meltdown in auto demand. The automaker's new Prius gas-electric hybrid has been the top-selling model in Japan, for two months straight, the first time a hybrid clinched that spot, and is reportedly on track to take that spot again for July. The Japanese government recently made hybrids tax-free and began a cash-for-clunkers program, helping boost sales of all ecological vehicles, including rival Honda Motor Co.'s Insight.
The last fiscal year, Toyota posted its worst loss ever in its seven-decade history, running up 436.94 billion yen of red ink. For the April-June quarter last year, it had posted a 353.6 billion yen profit. Toyota had appeared almost unstoppable before the global financial crisis, with sales booming on its reputation for mileage and quality. It planned to sell 9.85 million vehicles in calendar 2008, but its annual sales ended up dropping for the first time in a decade to just short of 9 million vehicles, as the financial crisis on Wall Street morphed into a global recession.
The automaker has aggressively cut costs to ride out the downturn -- slashing jobs and production, trimming managerial pay, reducing investment and foregoing travel and other expenses. Still, vehicle sales continued to suffer as the recession crushed demand. Japan quarterly sales totaled 407,000 vehicles, down 105,000 from the previous year, while Toyota said it sold 387,000 vehicles in North America, down 342,000.
"Although we were able to make certain improvements in fixed cost and cost reduction efforts, the decline in vehicle sales and the appreciation of the Japanese yen had a severe impact on our earnings," said Toyota Senior Managing Director Takahiko Ijichi. Toyota, based in Toyota city, central Japan, lost 140 billion yen ($1.5 billion) during the quarter ended June 30 because of the appreciation of the yen. It lost another 650 billion yen ($6.8 billion) in operating income because of miserable auto sales. Other Japanese automakers are also reporting signs that the worst may be over. Honda posted a 7.5 billion yen ($79.8 million) profit for the April-June period, and raised forecasts for the full year on optimism auto sales will improve.Nissan Motor Co., the nation's third-biggest car maker, reported a smaller-than-expected 16.5 billion yen ($175.5 million) loss for April through June. Earlier this year, Toyota chose Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the automaker's founder, as its new president in an effort to use his charisma to bring the ranks of workers, dealers and suppliers together. Toyoda has said the automaker will be making more managerial decisions by region, to stay nimble despite its size but has yet to give details of a turnaround strategy.Toyota shares slipped 1.5 percent to 4,030 yen ($42) in Tokyo. Earnings were announced before trading ended.
Study says Outsourcing Is Healthy & Good
Contrary to the belief in certain quarters that outsourcing is creating new problems, most respondents believed that service providers made positive contributions to the success of their organizations. Oh, and it was not only services that had improved. The financial baseline of most firms was also showing an improvement and as they became more lean and mean, their competitiveness increased. Too much good news for a day. What do you say?
