Any business large or small that deals with a high volume of customers is bound to receive a constant flow of questions and enquiries. While your in house employees can generally handle the questions with ease, this will take up a significant amount of time and focus off of the core business activities. Utilizing a call center offers you an opportunity to outsource these processes to allow your business to keep running at a smooth and efficient manner.
An offshore call center is an effective solution that acts as an extension to your business. Some of the most common benefits you will notice right away are:
- It is cost effective compared to having a fully-fledged in-house customer service department.
- They bring in expertise and experience in providing superior customer experiences.
- There are options such as Inbound, Outbound, or a mixture of channel Call Center’s that can specifically meet your needs.
- It saves you time and money from virtually every aspect. Training, hiring, production, etc.
With the above benefits in mind, the next step is selecting one that will compliment your business. Here is list of factors to consider as you make that important business decision:-
Location
Most Contact Center companies nowadays have locations around the globe. You will hear terms such as Onshore, Nearshore, Offshore and descriptions of that sort. This is something that will need to be evaluated before you officially start “looking” for a partner in a Contact Center. While most Offshore or Nearshore companies have much lower rates than that what you would find Onshore, you may want to look a little deeper into issues such as poor government infrastructure as this could affect your call center’s quality of service in the long run. The other things to look into include the economy strength, exchange rate, environmental issues and culture.
Call center specialization
As you can imagine, there are numerous different types of call centers with very diverse specialties. It is imperative that the partner you ultimately select have a proven track record in performing the specific task or service that you are looking to outsource. For instance, if you are looking to outsource your Customer Service department and the Contact Center partner you have chosen has never handled this type of work, than you may see the negative side effects in your campaign’s performance.
Language/Accent
A growing concern/issue we are seeing with companies placing their work offshore is the feedback from our customers on the agent’s language or accent “barrier.” One of the most important aspects you need to make clear from the start to your offshore partner is that the quality of the agents who will be representing your brand and company be up to your standards. As the agent answering the phone or reaching out to a potential customer is essentially an extension of your brand, it is imperative that that agent sound and behave in a way that would make your company and customers proud.
Company Information Security
As always, security has to be an area of importance when selecting a partner. Before making the final decision, expect to dedicate a good majority of your time to ensuring that the partner’s IT security is in place and monitored, as these agents and your partner will most likely have access to vital company information.
Flexibility
The Contact Center industry is constantly evolving. Business processes and demands keep changing. Your partner of choice should have the flexibility to meet and grow with these changes as they are presented. As your business continues to evolve, you should expect the same from your Contact Center partner. Finding a partner who is willing and dedicated to making your process as seamless as possible is the ultimate goal.
Management Communication
The organizational communication structure of your chosen partner is another key area that needs to be evaluated. As this Contact Center and their management team will be handling your customers directly, you need to make sure that if there is ever an issue or if you want to ask a question about the operations, you aren’t going to be going through five different people before you get your answer. A partner with a clearly defined, effective, communication flow demonstrates that they are organized and experienced in handling issues in the way they need to be handled.
Reliability
In conclusion, the choice of outsourcing a part of your business to an Offshore Contact Center is a huge decision. These seven factors: location, specialization, accent, information security, flexibility, management communication, and reliability are just scraping the surface. I encourage you to dig deeper into the company history to make a wise decision and push your company forward. The right contact center can be a valuable asset to your business.
This blog was first published on LinkedIn.
