The Top Ten Communication Problems in India

A Chillibreeze report

Communication provides the substratum on which outsourcing projects are executed effectively. Effectiveness with which a vendor captures the information, how well you communicate your requirements, how precisely you and the vendor understand each others’ ways of working/expectations – all these and more need to happen through some means of communication. Successful communication needs good infrastructure and proper usage of language. We have covered both these aspects and have itemized gray areas that you may face when dealing with an Indian vendor.

Infrastructure based:

1. Telephone lines not working: A few years ago this used to be a major issue. Things have changed now where there are a number of service providers – other than the Government run agencies like Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL). Airtel, Tata Indicom, Reliance Infocomm and Hutch are some of the other service providers. One way out is to ensure that your vendor has at least two different phone connections.

2. Broadband dysfunctional: Though optic fiber cables are being laid in all the major cities, break in broadband/Internet connection is quite common. Downtimes are a reality especially in cities that witness high seasonal rains. Unlike in many developed countries, the telecommunication lines are not laid totally under the ground. Normally companies have dedicated leased lines, but you will not see 100% uptime.

Oral Communication based:

3. Lack of clarity due to speed with which someone is talking over the phone: It is quite normal to expect an Indian to speak a bit more quickly than you would be used to! Possibly a cultural difference. It is not impolite to ask them to go over what they said a bit slower.

4. Lack of clarity due to the accent: Though English is spoken in all the regions of India: the usage and the accent are highly regionalized. The people working in the call centers are trained to use global English (at times too American!) – but the person in charge of sales or technical person you communicate with over the phone may not have undergone such training. Their language skills may be good, but what might cause a glitch is the accent. Here again it helps if you ask them to repeat if you have not clearly understood all that is said the first time.

5. Vendor not understanding what you are saying: Here again your accent and the terms you use might be different from what they are used to. The trick is to repeat what you want to communicate, if necessary. Following up a phone call with an email, reiterating all that was communicated over phone will be a very good strategy.

Email Communication related:

6. Very verbose response: You may find that Indians tend to be very elaborate in their responses. This may not happen all the time, but could be a problem.

7. Sudden change of guard: You might find that mid way through negotiations or the project, a new project manager/coordinator may take over. Turnover in manpower is quite common in India. There may be a break in communication or a feeling of lack of continuity. All professionally managed companies have proper systems in place, but this is a potential communication problem area to watch out for.

8. Time difference related: Communications regarding the deadline and online meetings should be reconfirmed with reference to the time and day/date in India too. As the time difference between different time zones in the US and India is varied, it is better to be very specific.

9. The vendor committing to ‘everything’ (this can happen over phone too): Generally Indians like challenges and feel that there is little that they cannot handle! If faced with a situation where they are not sure whether they do have the capability, they may prefer to say ‘yes, we can do all of it” and then worry about how to actually do it. They will hope to be able to finish it, but you can expect breakdowns. So, ensure that you get clear set of deliverables with the deadlines.

One General Communication problem area:

10. Not recording what is being discussed – and no follow up action: Never waste a phone conversation. Insist that a confirmation email be exchanged at the end of every oral communication. At times you may chat with your vendor over an Internet ‘Chat’ session. Remember that this too needs to be recorded and followed up on.

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