Far from the mumbling horror of Mumbai Calling, JOHN HARRIS discovers that offshore support can deliver some unexpected benefits.

I made a new friend last week, a delightfully erudite and empathetic chap named Vivian.

While some folk regard every stranger as a friend they haven’t yet met, my hermit-like work habits and apology for a personality give me a different perspective.

I generally feel grateful whenever I encounter a friendly face or an affable voice, such as Vivian’s.

The only problem is that my new mate has never travelled outside his homeland in southern India.

I came across Vivian after noticing that the anti-virus software for a PC on my office network had not updated for several months, although it was programmed to occur daily.

I fiddled with the machine for a while, recognised I was out of my depth and decided to call for help.

Fortunately, I have a three-year maintenance agreement for a product called CA eTrust Anti-Virus, which gives me access to corporate-level telephone support for the program and associated problems.

So I dialled CA, gave the operator my Site ID number and was promised a technician would call me back within four hours. Within 20 minutes, I’d received the promised call, from Vivian, a technician who works at a CA support centre at Hyderabad in India.

For anyone who has ever watched “Mumbai Calling”, the prospect of telephone support from India may not fill you with a great sense of confidence.

However, during the next 24 hours, Vivian managed to provide the most practical, patient and personable help I’ve received in years (second only to advice I’ve received from my wife).

Without going into grisly details, Vivian used a combination of clear directions and remote access to my network to repair the failing AV software on the PC, upgrade the eTrust installation on my server - despite a number of Windows problems - and deploy the new version on my network.

Because of the complexity of the software and my technical ineptitude, the entire process took a couple of hours of Vivian’s time over a couple of days.

For me, what made this remarkable was that this great support - along with an effective anti-virus application and three years of twice-daily anti-virus updates for several PCs - cost me only $223.11.

Now CA is a big company with a lot of customers around the world, but I struggle to figure out how they can deliver so much value for such a low cost.

I guess that’s the maths of globalisation, a factor that Australia will need to understand in a world increasingly competing with China and India and their technically literate citizens.

The low cost of their labour and our high expectations for service make offshoring support an irresistible lure for global companies.

However, the ability to successfully shift support offshore is about more than cost, it’s about trust - that the person providing the support will use their privileged access to my network honourably.

Ramesh Soundararajan, CA India’s Vice President for HR, said its Hiresmart process involves assessing core values as well as competencies in applicants for jobs with the company. “Integrity is one of the core values,” he said.

Obviously CA understand that without the conviction of trust, the cost of offshored support could well outweigh the savings it offers.

As for my new friend Vivian, if he ever makes it to Adelaide, he has a standing invitation for dinner at my house.

John Harris is managing director of Impress Media Australia. Email jharris@impress.com.au

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