Do you want to increase efficiency, improve service, increase sales/revenues, and reduce cost? Plus 7 more benefits of outsourcing
In the past companies have primarily looked outside their own organisations for outsourcing requirements to save costs. But it is very important to consider many other factors before going down the outsourcing path and to have a clear picture of what you are trying to achieve.
It may be that your company is growing at a rapid pace and you have simply outgrown the current office space and resources. Or you have a new project or campaign where the skills required do not currently exist inside your organisation. You may need to service your customers in different languages or find that there is a growing need for a new language offering in your customers’ demographic.
Benefits of outsourcing
Basically you have two choices:
Hire and train new staff internally
Partner with an outsource provider
I like to view the outsourcing model as a true partnership. In order to have a successful outsource partnership there must be a clear understanding of both parties’ roles, goals and objectives. Partners should be involved in hiring and training staff in the first instance to ensure the right fit and culture is achieved in line with your companies brand and policies. Regular collaboration sessions are mandatory for the success of these relationships, as well as regular and open two-way dialogue along the way.
The ‘right fit’ in an outsourcing partner is key to the success of the relationship. I have found that it is essential to have the right synergy with an outsourced partner to deliver the customer satisfaction, service excellence and an overall quality experience that you would expect of your captive contact centre representative. This in turn will benefit both partners and lay the foundations for a long successful relationship.
My top 11 benefits of outsourcing
- Outsource the headaches of workforce management so you can focus on your core business
- Engage with specialist contact centre operators
- Provide timely response for all your customer support at any time of day or night especially afterhours when it is needed most
- Skilled and flexible workforce, ability to ramp up for peak periods, overflow volumes
- Lower attrition rates in offshore locations than in head office country locations as call centre careers are a desired and attractive career path
- Centralised service offering consistency, standardisation and improved customer satisfaction
- Reduce staff and overhead costs
- Business continuity where your outsource partner can offer call routing to an alternative locations around the world to ensure minimal disruption to your business when an issue occurs affecting service to your normal location
- Leveraging comprehensive contact centre infrastructure
- Customer care solutions delivered with passion and enthusiasm at all times
- Uplifting work environment with top quality employees
Finally if you decide outsourcing is right for you the most important factors are shared vision with your outsourcer and on-going dialogue within a partnership approach. I will leave with one last tip. Plan a site visit before commencement of your relationship to ensure you have chosen the right partner for you. A reputable outsourcer will actually encourage this.