India - Call centers

C-Span showed a 3 hour program long ago about development of outsourcing in India and also included a significant portion about how call centers trained their new recruits to change their accent, the speech mannerisms, courtesies, etc. It went further to show how employees were willing to be referred to "Sam" when their actual name was Shanmugavalli! The program itself was unbiased and only reported the facts, not taking any slant at commenting about the practices.

However, in more than one instance I have heard snide remarks about this in my classes, where students are predominantly non-Indian as are the professors. One Professor brought a video clipping so students could be exposed to other countries. It must come as no surprise that the video showed cows on the road, the unimaginably noisy traffic (you know how that goes) and the most poverty ridden-neighbourhoods from our country. Also the Professor narrated her experience of riding the autorickshaw and her terrifying experience when a man was trying to sell her snakes on the street. People laughed. I couldn't see why nobody appreciated the multi-purpose dynamically shifting lanes. People have to go to Six-Flags here (and not to mention pay through their hats for the tickets) to experience what we do when we travel to and from office in India everyday. I somehow attributed the snake-selling story to the fact that the Professor was Chinese..

Another thing to be ridiculed was the fact that many representatives from the call centers change their names, so it will be easy to understand for customers from the US. This snide remark totally offended me. I feel its a significant sacrifice for people to be referred to by a name that is not their own. I wouldn't change my name even when I got married, and I have retained my maiden name. I don't see any reason why that should change. I am sure a number of people feel the same. When reps give up their own name to adopt a new one so the transition of the call to a foreign land remains seamless, I feel its customer service at an extreme end. I don't disagree that there are many experiences that I personally had, when I felt call centers must work more towards enhancing reps' knowledge about the business they are dealing with. There was this rep who was quoting car rental prices and emphasized "unlimited miles" many many times! That is not a real differentiator, everybody offers unlimited miles.

The few of us in class from India made every attempt to nullify the effects of the video to paint a more fair and true picture of our country. I suggested to the Professor (who made the snide remark) that maybe he would like to call me by my full name henceforth (no, not bumblebee) which is considerably longer? The mood was light and their were peels of laughter from the class. The Professor admitted that this was a "politically-charged" issue and he immediately backed of the topic. In the past, I have also been asked if riding an elephant is the preferred transportation method! There are numerous other ridiculous stories and I don't want to recall all. I was wondering what similar experiences others might have had in this regard and woud love to hear some.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

It was spectacular! Colors and shiny clothes, prim and proper princes and graceful damsels, elephants, palaces, islands all on ice skates. It is that time of the year again, when Disney on Ice comes to town. For those who are new to this, this is an ice skating extravaganza with Disney's costumed characters.The excitement on every kid's face was enjoyable. Many of them were dressed as fairies and even hadmagic wands. Even adults were almost kid-ish. The whole show was expertly practiced and executed. Nobody slipped on the ice (some did deliberately as a part of the show-especially Cindrella's wicked and clumsy step-sisters).

Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cindrella all came one after the other. I was totally transported to a different world, as were a number of people around me. All the fairy tales we read as kids came back rushing to me. It was amazing to see a little girl screaming "no, Snow White!" when she was about to take a bite of the poisonous apple pie. The girl had tears in her eyes, when Snow White went on to eat the pie and then swooned.


The characters on ice seemed so casual, yet they were impeccable. I wondered how many times they would have rehearsed this. It seemed so hard to believe - especially when I think of the ice skating lessons I took just 3 years ago. Just skating slowly with arms outstretched was difficult enough. I can still remember the number of times I fell. It looks so easy when we see figure skaters on TV. I remember thinking that the trick is to let go. I tried that several times, but only fell on my backside. Ouch! I realized then that you must have some balance. I admit, I was severely challenged in that area!

Many times (every time I fell-make that many, many, many) I questioned why it is I felt this would be easy and why at all I joined those classes. But looking back, I am glad I did. Now, I appreciate those figure skaters all the more and I am glad I had that first hand experience and I would even try it again. It seems every experience brings some new knowledge and new perspectives.

Who is the real culprit ?

I was filling up gasoline yesterday and the ATM/Credit Card machine at the pump asked me for my zip-code. This is not the first time it asked for it. I've always filled it up as part of my regular routine without thinking too much about it. For some reason, probably due to lack of things to brood about, I started thinking about the variations in pricing in gas-stations as we go from one to another. It is strange that, even the same branded gas station in an area have different prices.

How is gasoline priced ? (I am consciously not using the word 'gas' to keep people in the same page than deviating their minds to more effusive counterparts) Consider 3 gas stations in a area approximately 0.5 mile apart. If you are not very price sensitive, you may not care which gas station you are going to choose. Also, if you happened to be in an area which you are not familiar with, you probably wouldnt take a chance to find the lowest priced gas station. However, for a gas station owner, eventhough there is a constant demand for his product, he really would like to know the prices of the other two gas stations in his vicinity inorder to maximize his profit.

Proximity to a freeway exit, shopping mall/complex, etc., might influence the pricing decision. All it comes down to is to bet on the laziness/psychology of people and price it high enough. But, the problem is not as simple as that. Since the parent companies know all about these tricks, they zone different places and price differently based on where a gas-station is located. Anyway, we shall restrict the scope of this problem to just the final price to consumer. For people who live near the vicinity, since they are going to know about the price savings at the other gas stations, eventually they will start switching. At this juncture, it is clear that, all the pricing decisions in a given gas station depends on the mix of people who visit it. If you enter the zip-code, the gas station owner can judge how his revenue is distributed across the different and price accordingly. If a gas station has been visited by a lot of local folks, it would make sense to price a little lower than the nearby gas stations. Also, if you decrease the price considerably, you can see the impact of attracting far-off customers or lack there of. Interesting thing about this whole thing is, prices at gas-station have very very high sensitivity. Irrespective of a 1 or 2 cents difference, people switch between gas stations.

On an orthogonal note, most states have a law that mandates that the price at the pump should be atleast 8% marked up. This is to avoid big guys like Walmart who recently attempted to slash down the prices to attract more customers. It is interesting however that the parent oil companies have a 41% markup on an average. Who owns and benefits from these oil companies is another subject of discussion...So, the gas station owners are not really the culprits for increased gasoline prices.

PS:
If you dont know already, you can find the cheapest gas price in your area from http://www.gasbuddy.com

Food for thought...

I get inspired by reading about Scientists and their life history. Feynman is undoubtedly one of the top person in my list. I was going through a book called "No Ordinary Genius" by Christopher Sykes and I found certain things that really induced my interest and I decided that it was worth sharing. These concepts are quite simple but yet, needs a different eye to realise it, and thus, becomes quite fascinating.

All of us have studied geometry and we have computed circumference of circle and its area for a very long time. This is how Feynman's father, who is supposed to have had a real influence on Feynman taught him about the significance of "pi". The circumference of a circle divided by its diameter is a constant (pi), irrespective of any circle you pick (pi*d/d). Also that, if you pick any circle and pick identical circles and place it along the periphery of the original circle, you can only place 6 such circles. When I thought about it, all that needed to be proven in this case is that, if you place 2 coins in the periphery, the length of arc covered between the 2 coins should be 2*pi*r/6 (pi*r/3), which means that it has to subtend 60 degrees at the center. This is easy to prove. If you connect the mid point of all the three circles, you will see that the triangle formed is equilateral (with sides equal to diameter) and hence the angle subtended at the center is 60-degrees. Pretty cool...isnt it?

The following is a question that feynman was asked when he was at MIT. When you look into the mirror, things seem intermingled between left and right. However, top-to-bottom stays the same. Why doesnt the top-bottom intermingle itself was the question.. Feynman made his study and came out with an answer. It is not the left-to-right or top-to-bottom, but it is front to back. If you think about it, when we look into a mirror, the real image should be that the head should be seen in the mirror. The mirror takes the nose and the face and collapses it into the front. That is why, there appears to be a left-to-right intermingling, when it is really front-to-back.

I would like to end this with a comment on Feynman by Marc Kac. "An ordinary genius is a fellow that you and I would be just as good as, if we were only many times better. There is no mystery as to how his mind works. Once we understand what they have done, we feel certain that we, too, could have done it. It is different with the magicians. They are, to use mathematical jargon, in the orthogonal complement of where we are and the working of their minds is for all intents and purposes incomprehensible. Even after we understand what they have done, the process by which they have done it is completely dark. They seldom, if ever, have students because they cannot be emulated and it must be terribly frustrating for a brilliant young mind to cope with the mysterious ways in which the magician's mind works. Richard Feynman is a magician of the highest caliber".

Weird thoughts..

As we all know, our mental thoughts are usually dependent on the ongoings in our life at a particular time phase. Some of them are too weird and we dont ever let it out.

I remember the instance when my parents were looking for a groom . I was 21 and I guess they were eager to get me married then. I looked at some photos and even met a couple of would-be grooms.There was this guy,US settled (no Susheela, not the one I saw when you were in my house) and his parents came to SEE me. I smiled and didn't talk much as I was not sure if I was going to end up in their list for their supposedly all-in-all son. I saw the BOY's photo , didn't find it very impressive in the first glance and during that phase of life, not knowing the importance of life,looks were sorta my main criteria for shortlisting.They asked for my resume !!YES ,RESUME and gave me the guy's bio. His height was specified as 5'4'' . I jumped up and down saying he was too short ( no Sri !! I know what you are thinking,NO smart ass comments about my height) . My parents were gaping open-mouthed at my acrobatics and tried explaining that height doesnot matter in relationships. Anyway, my decision was final. For the next few days, my thought was revolving around guys' height. Whenever I walked into the elevator at work, I used to look at all the guys around me and wonder what their height could be and how tall they look when compared to me. This went on for a few days and I used to laugh at myself .Finally, it stopped when my thoughts started drifting elsewhere.

Tomorrow, if I see my look-alike infront of me, I doubt if I will ever be able to recognise her. In the climax scene in movies, when two long lost brothers meet, have you seen how they stare at each other and go,"Wow!You look just like me." I dont think I can recognise myself . I just dont look at myself that often. My face was a thin,long one and changed to a round,chubby face after some time. People who had seen me during my college days and who were not with me during the changing phase, have never recognised me with the change. My thoughts always revolve around how I might have looked then. Till today, whenever I see a lanky,thin,dark girl with reasonable features in SunTV, my first question to Suresh will be, "Does she resemble the Shoba of olden days?".This intriguing thought is not momentary but is always in the background.

Recently, when I was undergoing chemo, it was always difficult for the nurses to find my veins as they are thin and deep. From then on, if I see a vein in anybody's arm that is very visible, I go,"Wow ! Isn't that great " . I started noticing people's arms , including the tele actors. Suresh , having seen my difficulty started thinking the same. Well..it stopped when my chemo got over and my thoughts started moving elsewhere. If you get a chance to watch Mr.and Mrs.Smith, you will find that Angelina Jolie's veins really pop out in some scenes.

Ofcourse, some weird thoughts are better unsaid !! :-)

Turning Point...

It was a cold morning and Ram got up and had his breakfast as usual. He was getting prepared to perform, what to him, was one of the major turning point of his entire life. Being the eldest son in the family, he had to set an example and live an exemplary life. Though one could have too many credibilities to their regard, every new thing that needs to be accomplished always portrays a new form of challenge.

Interviews, Exams and Races are all about timing. You have very little time and you have to prove to the world that you are the best. You could have put in hours and hours of hard work into learning, but it finally comes to those few minutes which could turn your life upside down. It is the nature of life. Ram was not an exclusion. If he doesnt perform, he is going to be thrown out and be considered among a big group of losers. On occasions when there is just one winner, it is a paradox that everybody else is marked as a loser.

Though Ram had just shared a few smiles, he knew that she was the one. He would do anything to gain her love. To him, it was about winning someone's heart. It is not as same as everything else that he had put efforts into. On top of his already nebulous mind, worries about his parents' acceptance started creeping. Acceptance forms a major role in a societal network. Especially, parent's acceptance for a marriage is not something that can be considered lightly.

Ram was more nervous than ever. The worst part of selecting only one person in a given challenge is that the remaining people dont even run a chance once the selection is made, however capable they might be. Though, it is good in a way because they could term themselves as "winners" since they didnt really compete. A better consolation than being considered as a loser. Today, Ram had to win and that would mean that everyone else before him had to lose. It was his turn... time passes by....Yes, he DID it... He broke the bow so easily that Sita came running by to offer the garland...Ram's life changed...And Ramayana took a new turn...:)

Artificial Intelligence in a Globalised Market

Artificial intelligence and this whole concept of machines taking over man is a concept which I never understood, fundamentally because, men make machines and so, how could machines get any more intelligent than a man who is producing it. But then, recently, I was doing some reading on globalisation and its impacts and it suddently occurred to me that concepts of artificial intelligence make a lot of sense, from an orthogonal view. Though the connection between globalisation and AI is a little far fetched, I will try my best to give a flavor of how they can be compared.

The real question behind my analysis lies in this fundamental question.. What is productivity? How can it be improved? If you define productivity by the amount of (wo)man-hours spent in producing a given product, there is an area of vagueness in the definition. The missing factor is "how is the product made?". You can have a worker spending all his time into making a product in, say 1 day. His productivity is 1 unit/day. However, let us say he has a machine which can do the work in approximately 1 hr, the productivity has jumped up by 24 units/day. Ofcourse, there is a cost element to the equation. What if, you can get 10 people who collectively produce the same 1 unit output of the original man at 1/10 the cost. The productivity in terms of output per man-hour reduces. But, the cost/unit is still the same. What if you get 10 people at the same cost as the original man and they are all as productive as the original man. Now, the productivity increases 10 fold for the same cost. The point I am trying to make is that the absolute definition of productivity cannot be defined in simple terms from a black-box perspective of using man-hours. It is much more than that.

If you look back at history, you will notice that, the cycles of low-cost labors was in turn followed by a technology that obviated the necessity of such low-cost labors. The main question here is, if something can be done very repetitively by following a proper sequence, it can almost always be optimized by a machine. As industries mature, more and more of this keeps happening resulting in the need for a larger number of highly skilled workers who handle lot more than just a sequence of predetermined events. So, in a way, the machine has already taken over a lot of man's repetitive job. As optimizations in the form of machines take place, the resultant work force is left with higher and higher skills than the regular labors. One immediate solution to rising the productivity in this group is to find people who can do the same job at lesser cost. But then, the big question is, can we incorporate the knowledge of such a worker into a machine that can learn just enough to perform a specialised job function efficiently or atleast simplify the job of a skilled worker to a greater extent. If that happens, which is highly possible, may be in the next couple of decades, the so-called knowledge workers need to find even more competitive skills to cherish. Extrapolating furthermore, in the next century or two, machines will certainly take over most of the man's skills, and who knows, if they accrue intelligence of that sort and take their "own" decisions, they might take over the mankind....

'tis the time to shop

This holiday season, as a dutiful daughter & daughter-in-law I will be visiting my parents and in-laws in India. This statement is enough to give everyone a glimpse of what I will be doing during the weeks before I leave for India. My weekends will be spent buying gifts for all relations and friends. There are some you are close to and some that your parents know. If you are married you can double that number. Sometimes I get requests to get a gift for someone who has done my parents a favor. I don't have a clue who they are but still I spend a weekend afternoon getting gifts for them.

The first time I went back I was a novice at "India shopping" as many call it. I made a list of all my uncles, aunts, cousins and all. My gifts were personalized. I thought through what each one would like. I even went to the extent of gift wrapping each one of them. Soon after I went to India, I opened my treasure box surrounded by kith and kin with eager looks on their faces. I proudly handed out my gifts to each one of them as their face lit up. Even a felt pen or colorful pencil that is "Made in USA" is enough to lit up the faces of my dozen little cousins. But none know the stress I had to go through to see that smile. The next time I got smarter, I got several pounds of chocolates, almonds and pistachios for all my relatives. Along with that I took Ziploc bags for non-discriminatory distribution. It was my mother's task to fill the Ziploc bags based on the kids in the family & the relationship with the elders. Personalized gifts were only for parents and siblings.

Fast forwarding to current day, gifts from USA do not bring excitement to folks in India as it used to few years back. Almost every educated household has a representative abroad be it USA or Dubai. Most of the parents make an international visit once in a couple of years. When they leave their suitcases are stuffed with goodies that will last for 6 months after they go back. I could say that my parents do their holiday shopping in USA ever year. Either I do the shopping for them or they do it themselves. Added to this you get everything from Hershey's to Ferrero Rocher in India. This has made life easy for me. I just get sweets from Grand sweets or Krishna sweets when I visit my relatives.

Now for my parents. I no longer feel like taking shampoos, Facial Bars, Lotions, shaving creams, Handbags, Perfumes and that endless boring list. Not just me, my parents request me not to get any of the above as they still have stuff I got them last time + they are all available in India. Since they have been here a few time they know exactly what they want. That makes life easier for me. I will get just what they ask for. It makes better sense to buy my mom and nice Kanjeevaram saree and 22K gold Jeweler than a family size pert plus shampoo bought at Costco which will sit in the bathroom shelf until I visit next year to use it! I hope some day I will be able to visit India with just my carry on luggage. Now that is freedom in traveling.

Crowded last mile

I blogged my first marathon experience in srikris.blogspot.com, please check when you find some free time (it is bit long)

Hidden Traps

We all shop online. The sequence is usually to scan through all the possible websites which offer a product and choose the one with the best price and have a reliable background. Once we do this exercise couple of times, we end up with a preferred vendor with whom we trade often. As a preferred customer, we would hope that the vendor gives us reasonably good deals. But, that is not entirely true.

As I just heard recently, internet based online shopping companies use some dubious strategies to price a customer.One of the common method followed is that, the online retailer looks at your stored cookies to find out how many other similar sites you have visited for a given product. If they know that you have been doing a lot of searching, they try and give you the best deal. If not, they raise prices. Apparently, a customer who was searching for a product in "amazon" found to his surprise that the price dropped by 15% as soon as he cleared off his cookies in the internet browser. If you log-on to a vendor's website, you are the all the more sure to get a not-so good deal. This is one of the many tactics used by vendors as a strategy to do product pricing. I am sure there are many similar tactics used. So, make sure that you do a reasonably good comparison before buying a product online. A "preferred customer" might be the first one to get ripped off afterall...