Cincinnati-Based Convergys Hangs Out Help Wanted Sign: Adds 500 New Jobs In Costa Rica, Apply At Bldg. 3, Barreal de Heredia

Convergys Puts Another Call Center in Cost Rica  

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Offshore and outsourced telephone calls getting under your skin when you try to straighten out a bill, or get help with a product.  There's more of that coming your way from Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp., which soon will have 1,600 people working the phones from call centers in Costa Rica in Central America.  The expansion has been big news in Central America, but hardly noticed in Cincinnati, where the mainstream media hasn't mentioned the latest outsourcing operation. The president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla Miranda, left the capital in San Jose to dedicate Convergys' newest addition earlier this week. She toured the production floor in tow with two top Convergys' execs.  Here's a brief press release from the Costa Rican trade development board, which says the new hires will handle transactions and take calls in English.

The Cincinnati company -- which has taken economic development aid from officials in its hometown -- set up shop in Costa Rica in March 2009. It now has three facilities there. Call Centre Clinic, an industry trade publication, says Convergys is growing:

"Once this third site is fully staffed, Convergys will employ over 1,600 talented employees in Costa Rica. Convergys will employ over 500 individuals in the new 35,000 square foot Convergys Costa Rica III contact center. Six training rooms will help ensure that employees are well prepared to provide superior customer experiences to the customers of Convergys’ clients."

Christine Timmons Barry, a senior V.P. with the Cincinnati company, said Costa Ricans are bilingual, which means that customer care calls can go back to America, where most people speak English. She didn't say what the Costa Ricans are being paid -- probably far less than U.S. workers would earn. So cheap labor may be behind the interest in Costa Rica's labor pool. Said Timmons Barry:

"Our clients appreciate the high quality bilingual customer care we offer from Costa Rica, and it is client demand that is fueling our continued growth here. Costa Rica boasts a highly-educated, dedicated, bilingual population that shares a strong cultural empathy with our client’s customers. The opening of this new facility will help ensure that Convergys continues to meet our global clients’ current and future need to provide superior customer experiences.”

NPR Outsources Work To Canadian Firm: Public Radio's Comment Moderation Corps Employed By Winnipeg Outfit

 Canada Rescues Public Radio

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Isn't there an American company capable of keeping the comments civil and spam-free on NPR's website?  After all, the network was formerly known as National Public Radio and it has been nurtured by U.S. taxpayers.  Certainly NPR knows that its home country is trying to recover from the worst economic downture since the 1930s.  Still, it is outsourcing jobs to a Canadian company.  NPR's Andy Carvin announced today that ICUC Moderation Services from Winnipeg will be patrolling online commenters because public radio's own staff can't keep up with the task. Carvin is the senior strategist on public radio's social media desk. Said Carvin:

 ". . . we've reached a point that our staff is spending an enormous amount of time penalizing problem commenters rather than facilitating conversation and engaging the community.

Because of this, we've decided to ask for some help. We've now begun working with a group of professional moderators who are helping us monitor comment threads for spam and trolls. With their assistance, our news staff can now concentrate on doing what we've always intended - to use the comments for fostering intelligent dialog, finding potential sources, fleshing out story ideas and like.
For the vast majority of you, nothing will change on the site, though hopefully you'll experience fewer spam and trolls.

"The moderators we're working with, a Canadian-based company called ICUC Moderation Services, have been trained to understand NPR's commenting rules, so the same standards that applied before still apply now."

NPR gets the largest chunk of its budget from fees and dues it charges local stations that are members of the network.  They, in turn, receive federal subsidies.  In Ohio, about $1.96 million flows to the local radio stations from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which is funded by Congress.  Cincinnati's WGUC-FM gets about $350,000 in federal funds. You can see all the federal grants to public broadcasters in Ohio by clicking this link. The current federal budget calls for $430 million, which is distributed between radio and television stations across the nation.

H/T Jim Romenesko who spotted Carvin's blog posting about the commenting cops from Canada.

University of Cincinnati Opens Research Center in Singapore: State School Will Help Asian Nation Generate New Jobs

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Ohio is mired with a drowsy industrial economy and high unemployment.  But that hasn't stopped the University of Cincinnati -- a tax-supported state school in Ohio -- from teaming up with government economic development officials in Singapore to generate new jobs in the Asian city state.  Singapore says it is looking for a competive edge.  The question:  Will the Cincinnati school's overseas venture end up threatening the U.S. workforce?  UC is boosting an offshore economy by opening  a research center in Asia at a time when the U.S. is struggling to compete in the global marketplace and the state jobless rate is around 9.5%.    Cincinnati itself is ranked as among America's most poverty wracked cities by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Thien Kwee Eng, an official with Singapore's Economic Development Board, makes it clear that the Cincinnati school's presence will help that nation produce products for Asian consumers.  It's about jobs, job, jobs for Singapore.  In fact, that's the duty of the Economic Development Board, which says in its mission statement:  "EDB is the lead government agency responsible for planning and executing strategies to enhance Singapore’s position as a global business centre and grow the Singapore economy. We dream, design and deliver solutions that create value for investors and companies in Singapore.  In so doing, we generate economic opportunities and jobs for the people of Singapore; and help shape Singapore's economic future."

The Daily Bellwether has the complete text of Eng's speech welcoming the project, which is available at the link below.  But here are a couple of pertinent paragraphs from the Singapore official's speech:

"We recognise that Design is exceedingly growing in importance to companies as a competitive edge to creat products and services that enhances the quality of life of people and also makes business sense.  To come up with a successful product requires more than the ability to sketch and build things.  Instead, a deep understanding of consumer needs and deriving consumer insights, coupled with the ability to translate those insights into a useful product is the key.  To address this EDB [Singapore's Economic Development Board] plans to build up capabilities to establish Singapore as a leading base to gather and analyse consumer insights, as well as to develop products for Asian consumers.  This was the result of a recommendation from the Economic Strategies Committee earlier this year, and would enable companies to anchor consumer-centric innovation activities out of Singapore."

Here's the link mentioned earlier: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-pgmFMQp6BMJ:www.cepo.sg/etc/medialib/downloads/pdf_documents_for.Par.72533.File.tmp/Speech%2520by%2520Ms%2520Thien%2520Kwee%2520Eng,%2520Director,%2520Lifestyle%2520Programme%2520Office,%2520Singapore%2520Economic%2520Development%2520Board.pdf+thien+kwee+eng&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Outsourcing Gives Chinese Sensitive Military Technology: ITT Corp. To Pay $100 Million Penalty

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Federal prosecutors in Washington say ITT Corp. intentionally allowed classified night-vision technology used by American military forces to fall into the hands of China and other nations. The company outsourced work that should have been done in the United States by American workers.

A criminal case is scheduled to be filed in court tomorrow, March 28, according to U.S. Attorney John Brownlee. The government said the critical military technology was transferred to enhance the company's profits.

Full details are in the statement of facts (long pdf file) that will be presented in court when the company pleads guilty.

Bottom line: U.S. troops lost a tool that gave them a battlefield advantage because somebody wanted to make money. In this instance, outsourcing really is a dirty word.