We shall go where the talent is. It is not necessarily cost that will determine where we set up our centers. “Michael Dell, Chairman of Dell Inc. responding to speculation whether Dell’s commitment to India will decrease in the wake of competing destinations and rising cost structure in the country. Dell was addressing the media in a whirlwind stopover to inaugurate its third customer support center in India, at Mohali.

Dell corroborated his stand by adding that his company has recently set up customer support centers in Oklahoma, Edmonton in Canada and El Salvador. He had flown to Mohali (near Chandigarh, India) in his private jet enroute to China for a few hours. His presence, however short, sent out a powerful message–the strategic importance of India in Dell’s global delivery strategy.

Dell declared, “India is both a resource base for Dell as well a market for our products.”

In fact, Dell has been among the early players to bet on India as a global hub for its customer support activity. It set up the first customer support center in Bangalore as early as May 2001. Unfortunately, with the media’s penchant for hype and the sensitivity attached to the issue of offshoring,

Michael Dell Chairman, Dell Inc.

Dell made headlines for the wrong reasons. In November 2003, Dell was in the eye of a storm when it called back technical help desk support for two of its corporate computer lines from Bangalore. It created a disproportionate media furor more as a result of the backlash than the poor service delivery it was made out to be.

So minor was the job reshufflement that it did not affect even a single job either in the US or in India. However, opponents of offshoring had a field day blowing up the incident and waving it like a red flag warning the world about the shortfall in the quality of service delivery in offshoring. And irrespective of ground realities, it led to immense speculation that Dell might scale down operations in the country.

Well, that was then. Ever since Dell has been on the ramp-up mode, albeit a little quietly due to the Presidential elections. In December 2004, Dell set up its second support center at Hyderabad. In a bid to tap the talent across the country, Dell chose a relatively untapped city Mohali, Chandigarh to set up its third customer support center in India. Today the company boasts of over 7,500 employees in the country and that number is set to rise.