Outsourcing to India means crossing oceans and time zones -- even everyday speech.
When Bill Lenihan, director of IT at Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in Sacramento, Calif., called his Indian counterparts to order a "gross" of plastic six-pack rings, the request was met with silence. What the heck's a gross?
"I told them it was 144, or 12 squared, a dozen times a dozen, and they just could not understand the value," Lenihan says, chuckling. "Actually, when it was all over, I'm not sure I could, either."
Stefanie McCann was formerly editor at large at CIO Decisions magazine. To comment on this story, email editor@searchcio-midmarket.com.
This was first published in March 2005