By Sarah Moore
With the current unemployment rate in the United States hovering around 9.6% and other indicators, such as the depressed housing market, not painting a much more pleasant picture, people around the country are looking for who or what caused this current crisis and what can be done to improve the situation. According to a recent poll, 38% of Americans blame the previous administration for our current financial problems. Others are frustrated that members of Congress allocated billions of dollars to bail out Wall Street, banks, and the car companies, but have done little to help the average worker. And, since the days of the emotional debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement nearly twenty years ago, there is a growing sentiment that our unemployment problems are a result of corporations taking their factories and call centers to third world countries in order to increase the profit margin.
When you call your credit card company or computer help desk, it is more likely that you will speak with someone who is sitting at a cubicle in New Delhi than a person who is answering the phones in Cleveland or Boise. Major corporations are able to hire workers, many of whom hold college degrees and are IT literate, to man their call centers at a fraction of what they would be required to pay an employee in America. India has the largest English-speaking population after the United States, making it a natural partner in communication efforts. And, with the time zone difference, corporations are able to provide their customers in the United States with the 24-hour service that may give them the edge in competitive markets.
There is no denying that the global offshore Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market is one that is lucrative. As of 2007, BPO projects topped $24 billion and the scope of the industry has only increased in the past three years. At call centers in India, workers are expected to make or receive an average of 250 calls every day! That is a lot of business flowing in and out of a place that is staffed by young men and women who are barely out of their teens and who post an attrition rate of 35%. Have companies really considered the dangers that could be associated with placing so much of their assets in another country? And, have unemployed Americans realized that their anger over thousands of jobs being sent to another country has more legitimate foundation than just their financial security?
In his new release Infinite Exposure, writer Roland Hughes offers a fictional premise that seems all too possible given our current political and economic climate. The novel follows the catastrophic fallout that occurs when a na�ve and greedy American banker agrees to a plan to consolidate all of his data centers to one location in India. When the center�s operations fall into the wrong hands, a chain of events is set in motion that is arguably more destructive and of greater consequence than any explosive weapon a terrorist could create.
Infinite Exposure by Roland Hughes can be purchased through the Barnes and Noble or Borders websites or through the Apple iBookstore.
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