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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Technology Report. |
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For years, many western companies |
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have sent important business services to India, |
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where they can be done at lower cost. |
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This is called outsourcing, |
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and it has brought jobs to India. |
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Other countries have seen the economic benefit of outsourcing |
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and are seeking to copy the Indian model. |
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For example, officials in Uganda |
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have opened an outsourcing centre |
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to train people in Internet technology. |
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Their aim is to create jobs for Ugandans. |
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26-year-old Flavia Aliteesa studied information technology in school. |
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Today, she is happy to have a job |
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but does not perform high level IT work. |
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She says, many of her former classmates |
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have been unemployed for years. |
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"First of all, I was given an opportunity to start working, |
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otherwise I would have been seated back home doing nothing. |
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At least it has given me a sense of independence, |
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since I earn and I can do something on my own," said Aliteesa. |
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Flavia Aliteesa works for a company called Techno Brain, |
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it offers business process outsourcing, |
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or BPO, to foreign companies. |
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The Ugandan government hopes more companies like Techno Brain |
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will begin operating in the country. |
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Uganda supports its small but growing BPO industry |
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by giving free office space and Internet service in Kampala. |
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The government has trained hundreds of people |
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in the skills that BPO companies need, |
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and plans to train thousands more. |
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Many people in Eastern Africa speak English, |
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and the area is in the same time-zone as Europe. |
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So countries there could be good places |
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for call centers and data processing. |
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And says Rogers Karebi, |
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the head of the Uganda BPO Association, |
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labor costs in other countries are growing. |
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"Quite a number of firms in India, |
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Asia and the Middle East have stepped up their prices, |
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so the cost of outsourcing to the initially indigenous |
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BPO destinations is on the rise. |
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So, quite a number of firms in the demand markets |
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are actually looking for alternative places to outsource to," said Karebi. |
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But there are big differences between Uganda and India, |
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one of the most important is the cost of Internet service. |
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Most experts agreed that the cost of Internet service |
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in East Africa would eventually be lowered, |
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but even this might not be enough. |
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Stephan Manning is an outsourcing expert |
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at the University of Massachusetts. |
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He says, East Africa might not have anything special to offer. |
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"These services need to be distinct enough |
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so that they don't enter price competition. |
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And that's exactly the problem. |
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In Kenya, if you provide English-speaking call center operations, |
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then you do nothing different than the Filipinos or India, |
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and there's no way you can compete on costs," said Manning. |
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He says it might be better for African countries |
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to offer their services to neighboring countries. |
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That way, he says, they would not being competition with Asia. |
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And that's the VOA Special English Technology Report. |
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I'm June Simms. |
