Chrysler and Tata hook up... on computers
Chrysler has been on the look-out lately for dancing partners for anything from vehicle platforms to alternative propulsion, and the Pentastar has extended its outsourcing to IT services. Chrysler and Tata Consultancy have teamed up on a $120 million, multi-year contract that sources Chrysler's dealer website work to India. The deal effectively continues the partnership formed between Tata and Chrysler in 2002, but the new deal means even more work goes to India.
Chrysler points out that the IT services were previously performed by contractors that weren't Chrysler employees, but the Auburn Hills automaker declined to mention which company lost the work. IT workers at Chrysler are still nervous about the possibility of more IT outsourcing, however, and it's hard to blame them. Chrysler is strapped for cash and looking to free up money for new products, and IT isn't exactly a core automotive function. It will be interesting to see if Chrysler and Tata will one day expand the partnership to include more vehicles, but this time it's just bits and bytes.
[Source: Detroit Free Press]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
cowboy bob 9:17AM (2/22/2008)
I have had to talk to Dell on a number of issues in the past. They also have "farmed out" their I.T. network overseas. It is exasperating to talk to someone that has strongly accented english, and very hard to understand when on the phone. I have a major problem getting anything fully resolved with this language issue. I might as well try to sing rap music with a person using "eubonics" as a means of communication. This is not ment to be racial, but come on, can YOU really understand as good as when you speak with someone from your own area?
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jon 9:58AM (2/22/2008)
I understand what you are saying but in this case it looks to be work related to website work, not thier customer service line.
I hope this does not reduce the quality of the websites as they have won recent awards for the quality of the Jeep website.
Injun Joe 12:50PM (2/22/2008)
CB-
Your comment, "I might as well try to sing rap music with a person using "eubonics" as a means of communication," may not have been meant to be racially motivated, but your choice of example might be viewed by some as just that. Especially, by those readers of the African American community.
Your statement might seem to suggest that persons living in our cities urban areas are not capable of speaking Standard English. Although, you and I both know that is not the case, nor do I believe you meant it that way. And I did understand the meaning of your comment. Overcoming language barriers always present a challenge.
Other than that your position was "spot on."
Dolemite 1:53PM (2/22/2008)
"can YOU really understand as good as when you speak with someone from your own area?"
No offense bro, but perhaps the language problem is on your end. I have noticed that those who complain about having such communication problems when talking to foreigners are quite often practically illiterate themselves. While you seem to have a reasonable grasp of english, I think even you could use a couple lesson from Hooked on Phonics, so as not to say things like "understand as good".
Also, you should learn to be a bit more open-minded and challenge your biases. If one finds so many variations of english within the different regions of the same country, whether America, Canada, or England, differences between the english of different states should be expected. Besides, I am pretty sure that there are more people who speak the Indian form of english than the American form, or any other form for that matter.
I have had to speak to the Indian tech support occasionally, especially with regard to my router and ISP support, but my experience has not been that bad. They do tend to have trouble with pronouncing names, but not numbers. Go figure. :)
cowboy bob 4:45PM (2/22/2008)
As I said, I ment no offense. My reference to rap with eubonics was in reguard to the so-called music, however, a good command of ANY language is key to understanding those using it. Dolemite- I am aware that it should be "as well", and I am not sure where your feelings that I am "biased" and am "closeminded" come from within this particular blog. My point was all about communication difficulties. If you are a perfectionist to this degree, I defer to your superiority.
010111 10:28AM (2/23/2008)
talk about "communication difficulties"...
"eubonics"? maybe you are referring to "ebonics"?
"reguard"? like you were guarding something then left and decided to come back and re-guard it?
tekdemon 3:33AM (2/25/2008)
Dolemite makes a good point...I think people need to put in a little more effort to improve their English listening skills so that they can understand a variety of accents. I've heard people complain about their bosses' English because their bosses were from some other country, or a professor or teaching assistant had a heavy accent. But the truth is that I've understood all those accents because I put some effort into my listening abilities.
While it might be easiest to understand your own accent, it's not like your accent is the only one in the world. Just in North America there's a huge variety of accents from French Canadian to deep south. It's really unfortunate if you can't understand English that isn't in your own accent, because the vast majority of English speaking people most likely do not speak the same accent.
And seriously? If you give it a little bit of thought I'm pretty sure you can figure out almost every accent out there. I've found it fairly easy to figure out English accents from everywhere from Spain to France to China to India. Ironically the hardest accent to figure out that I've ever encountered was in England-no I didn't have trouble with the standard London accent you see in movies, but some of the more rural English accents can really test your grasp of accents.
tekdemon 3:55AM (2/25/2008)
BTW if anybody wants to listen to a really unintelligible English accent (from England of course), just search Youtube for Yorkshire accents.
Here's a particularly hard to understand one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QN-lh3SeyB0&feature=related
There's others but some of them were a little too cuss-filled.
Mike 10:55AM (2/22/2008)
Gah! Chrysler has such nice websites. Check out tatamotors some time. This has fail written all over it.
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Brent 12:27PM (2/22/2008)
I don't see mention of any de-content plans.
VP 11:17AM (2/22/2008)
Is the target market of Chrysler's website and Tata's the same? It doesn't hurt to think once in a while, before you type.
Jeff 1:25PM (2/22/2008)
Tata will have little to nothing to do with the way the website looks or navigates. That is all done by Chrysler's advertising / interactive agency. Tata will be performing the back off webmastering and hard core programming work.
At least that is how it works in most corporate websites. While I can't say why, I do know what I'm talking about.... :-)
hunter_orders 8:59AM (2/23/2008)
Uh guys, these are two different TATAs. TATA motors is not the same as TATA Infotech. Chrysler contracted with Infotech, not motors.
Apparently, TATA was a state company once and it did everything. Now, it is private and has been split up. They have not been the same for decades.
Furthermore, many US companies use TATA Infotech for onshore and offshore outsourcing, including Aetna, E&Y, Morgan Stanley, National City, etc.
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JORDAN 2:54PM (2/22/2008)
domestic auto makers are going to be a very scary thing in the next ten years.
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Playdrv4me 3:20PM (2/22/2008)
Domestic EVERYTHING is going to be a very scary thing...
My employer (a major bank) farmed out first level tech support to India a couple of years ago and they are absolutely worthless. Not just the language problem, just the service in general is terrible. Im one of the local groups still based here in the U.S. and my users BEG me not to have to call the first-level helpdesk.
Polly Prissy Pants 7:17PM (2/22/2008)
Outsourcing to India is not what it used to be. You get what you pay for these days. Anyone moving to India today who realistically wants the same quality of work will likely pay about the same as they would in the States. The backend costs associated with training, turnover and remediation eat up any cost savings you gain in labor.
Erick 6:38PM (2/22/2008)
Alright, getting rid of more American jobs! Sweet.
Dell's outsourced tech support is worthless, my job's outsourced tech supported is worthless (we call them the 'no help desk'), and dealing with Indian contractors face to face (on other technical projects) is sometimes very frustrating.
I hope this venture fails miserably.
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Vik 4:34PM (2/22/2008)
It's funny to read how "dealer website work" suddenly becomes "customer service" in a lot of peoples' minds just so they can vent about their horrible experience with outsourced customer service. Focus, people.
And "cowboy bob"- if the way you write is any indication of the way you speak, I'm sure the feeling is mutual. ;)
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cowboy bob 4:52PM (2/22/2008)
Vic- Huh? Duz 'yo thnk I'm ignarant? Dat harsh fo po sukr lik meslf. U b my heero den.
Vik 7:58PM (2/22/2008)
cowboy bob- poke fun at yourself, that's a start, but it doesn't change the fact that you are actually the typical whiner. You complain about accents, and yet you are not exactly a prime English speaker yourself, and you probably have a southern accent many of us would have trouble understanding. The point is that most of those Indian tech support people are speaking the King's English (however accented it may be, this is a colonial remnant) and they probably have better grammar and vocabulary than the below-average Joe like yourself.