Outsourcing has become an essential part of modern business strategies. Outsourcing critical areas of your business, such as customer service, may appear complicated and problematic for your company, but many benefits can result from such a move.
How Outsourcing is Keeping Pace with Growth
As a result of the internet and the prevalence of mobile devices, the
merchant-customer experience and relationship have evolved. For example,
consumers are now content with receiving support from 8:00 to 5:00, and they
expect to be able to get questions or concerns addressed from multiple channels.
Outsource providers recognize these and other changes and have evolved to
fulfill business needs without sacrificing customer satisfaction.
The best call centers have fine-tuned the services they provide. Some contact
centers specialize in certain types of customer communications. You can
specialize in taking orders or help desk functions. Others may become highly
adept in specific endeavors. Utilizing the latest technology can help manage
interactions for the highest customer satisfaction. Often, a center will do a
combination of these and other methods.
Today’s call centers have improved their offerings over the past decade.
Customer support outsourcing will continue to adjust to meet the needs of
customers and businesses.
Pros and Cons of Customer Support Outsourcing
Reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and expanding resources are advantages of outsourcing your company’s customer support. However, there are other methods to provide better risk management, such as:
- Third-party customer support allows you to scale and quickly handle fluctuating demands.
- Providers can offer multi-language support when needed.
- You can provide support for longer, rather than just during business hours.
- Outsourcing providers often have access to the latest technology and infrastructure.
- A call center with many agents may reduce customer service response times, which increases customer satisfaction.
- Many providers offer multi-channel support, including online chats, email, and social media.
Before outsourcing customer service, it’s also vital to consider pitfalls that may not be ideal for your business. For example:
- Lack of control is one of the most significant potential disadvantages since you are handing over a business function to someone else.
- An outsource provider may have insufficient knowledge of your company’s products/services, which can reflect in their support of your customers.
- The quality of service provided is different from what you want or expect.
- Restrictive contracts can affect your ability to change if something isn’t working.
With an outsource provider who is a strategic partner invested in your
company’s mission and committed to excellent service, these cons can be
addressed and alleviated.
At LOOP Contact Solutions, we’ve compiled five top business benefits of
outsourcing customer support networks.
1 - Cost-Effective
The most apparent benefit of outsourcing strategies is the significant cost
reductions. The outsourced area for your customer support will continue to
support the business. Still, you no longer need to allocate money, labor,
infrastructure, and other resources since the partner overseeing the outsourced
work will take care of it for you. There will still be some costs, but external
partners tend to have more affordable rates, particularly abroad.
Therefore, this, in turn, frees up your finances and available resources to
strengthen the core areas of your business. Improving the core components of the
company, particularly ones that enhance revenue, shows that you’re putting your
total effort into the company’s success, making them more eager to invest in
your business
2 - Increased Efficiency
Another fundamental aspect of outsourcing is improving your company’s overall
efficiency. You no longer must do everything on your own. Doing so will waste
time as you pass back and forth between different objectives.
So, it is essential to find the business processes will become much more
streamlined and efficient.
Similarly, outsourcing your peripheral areas, such as customer support,
decreases business complexity so that you no longer have to go through lengthy
processes when setting up new projects. Instead, you can dive right in, moving
forward with corporate goals more rapidly.
3 - Establishing Control
Avoiding outsourcing ensures that you have firm control over every part of
your business. However, that direct connection to the entirety of your company
can hinder your proper level of control over business procedures.
Balancing all the additional areas of the company can lead to neglect and
mismanagement over time.
By outsourcing some of your sectors, such as customer support, you can apply
stronger focus and control over your primary business objectives. Furthermore,
the third party that takes over the outsourced elements can provide additional
management support that you could not have given in a direct relationship.
4 - Expanding Your Resources
Aside from freeing up resources within your company, outsourcing enables your
business to invest in outside support. Outsourcing contractors often bring
specialized tools and knowledge that you and your staff could not otherwise
obtain. Therefore, this has long-term benefits for your business by allowing you
to pick up new skills to develop your company further.
Outsourcing is especially beneficial for smaller companies that need more
internal resources to handle incredibly complex projects in-house. With
outsourcing strategically targeted at specialized services, your business will
gain the capacity to successfully meet the workload of organizations more
considerable than your own despite your smaller size and in-house resources.
5 - Better Risk Management
One of the best benefits you can receive from outsourcing your customer
support is reducing the overall risk to your company. Due to their specialized
skills, outsource providers usually have vital insights on avoiding potential
hazards to your business, making it easier to prevent risks without having to do
it all yourself.
Furthermore, outsourcing creates general stability in your business’s structure
and thereby ensures that the company is at lower risk. The resulting risk
management makes the company a safer investment, encouraging investors to
support your business’s growth.
Why Outsource Customer Service?
Outsourcing services allow you to focus better on your core activities.
Therefore you can deliver superior output for your customers. There is no need
to spend time and money training new employees.
Paying their salaries and benefits creates an added layer of expenses. You also
improve business by permitting more capable workers to handle the customer
support workload.
Improved Costs
Call center outsourcing eliminates the need for an in-house call center. You
will not need to set up cubicles for staff. Therefore it will lower your
internal overhead expenses.
Exterior call centers already have everything needed to run your operations:
Computers, workstations, etc. The outsourcing call center will hire the
appropriate staff to fulfill your needs.
Nearshore contact centers have also been associated with reduced set-up costs.
They provide improved quality control techniques and state-of-the-art
technology. Therefore, nearshore call centers can provide additional savings.
Flexibility and Adaptability
Call centers are experienced in managing changes in call volumes, especially during peak times. Outsourced call centers, such as LOOP, have deep experience working with various campaigns. Therefore, this allows the call center to change with client needs rapidly.
Specialized Industry Knowledge
Call center outsourcing companies typically have specific knowledge of various industries. Agents manage multiple campaigns or just one. Clients receive an effective multicultural connection if a call center offers bilingual agents. LOOP offers multi-lingual agents and offers services in any language.
Experts and Quality Monitoring
Outsourcing companies record all calls and store transcripts of chats. The recordings are reviewed and scored on a schedule. Information is scored based on standards agreed to with the client. The scores are evaluated with agents for coaching purposes. They’re also shared with the client to review overall performance.
Reporting
Generally, companies provide clients with access to real-time reporting and daily, weekly, or monthly reporting. The client determines reporting requirements. Therefore, this provides the client control over data received and report scheduling.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
Call center outsourcing companies, such as Loop, manage many communication channel options. These options include email, voice, live chat, text, and chatbots. Businesses have discovered they can utilize outsourcing companies like Loop to provide them with considerable cost savings, but they also see a significant increase in customer satisfaction. You could be a more well-rounded organization by outsourcing than if you stretch yourself too thin by doing everything in-house. Therefore, this can lead to higher profits and more opportunities to expand the company.
Professional Business Solutions
Loop Contact Solutions provide fully managed call center services with your
goals in mind. We can use your existing processes and create new ones
established on your requirements. We are adaptable enough to allow you to scale
your enterprise quickly.
You will obtain a seasoned call center operations sales or support manager with
Loop Contact Solutions. Our extensive experience is continuing to launch new
services. We immerse ourselves in your business to build and launch your new
service exactly how you want it to perform. We manage the team as performance
ramps up to achieve great results reliably.
Contact us today to talk to one of our experts.