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Article: Cloud over Silicon Beach: outsourcing in the Caribbean.(there is a booming outsourcing industry in Barbados in areas such as computer software, database maintenance, and health insurance claims, but the cost of telephone calls are proving to be a problem)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- March 29, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS
FROM a cruise ship off Bridgetown, the first view of Barbados is not sea and sand but an industrial estate where companies develop software, process health-insurance claims and maintain databases for North American customers. Almost 3,000 people now work in such back-office jobs-as many as grow sugar cane. However, this paragon of high-tech outsourcing has an Achilles heel: the price of telephone calls.
Barbados's outsourcing industry dates back to 1983, when American Airlines set up Caribbean Data Services (CDS) to punch in data from its ticket stubs. Nowadays, simple keyboarding is often done by computers using ...