The Pros and Cons of Call Center Outsourcing

A call center is a vital part of any business, but when you're operating on a tight budget and trying to maintain your company's reputation, outsourcing some or all of the work can be an attractive option.

Call center outsourcing is the strategic business decision to outsource your call center and customer service activities to a third-party organization, often known as a BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) firm. This is a cost-effective, practical way for companies to take advantage of the expertise and economies of scale available to larger organizations providing customer service.

There are many benefits to outsourcing your call center: You'll save money by hiring remote workers who don't need expensive office space and equipment; you'll have more time to focus on other aspects of your business; you'll have greater access to skilled people around the world - but there are also cons that come with this decision. Be sure to weigh the pros and cons before outsourcing your call center.

The Pros of Call Center Outsourcing

Lower Costs

It's almost always more expensive to hire and maintain a call center in-house than it is to outsource your call center. When you work with an agency, they will usually take care of all the costs involved in hiring: conducting interviews, testing candidates, setting up new hires, providing training, paying salaries, providing benefits, and more. And the cost of managing a call center is considerable - when you work with an agency you can have all that managed for you as well.

Faster Response Time

When you outsource your call center, there's no time spent or costs incurred on training employees to handle inbound calls from customers. Agents working for an agency will already be skilled at what they do: taking customer service calls in English, handling billing concerns, or order-related questions from existing or potential clients. They'll also likely be able to handle multiple languages. Working with agents who are experts in their field means faster response times and better overall customer service.

Increased Flexibility

If your needs change, either because business increases or decreases, or you simply want to take a break from inbound calls, you can switch your contact center staffing without hiring new employees. For example, if you decide to run a special promotion and need more agents for the holidays, call centers with flexible staffing can increase their numbers so that they can handle the increased workload.

Cost Savings

By outsourcing your customer service department to a call center rather than keeping it on-site, you'll save yourself money on office space as well as utilities such as electricity and phone services. Plus you won't have to pay benefits like health insurance or matching 401(k) plans for any agents working for an agency who aren't full-time employees of yours. When companies outsource these kinds of departments as well as payroll processing to third-party providers, they can save up to 30 percent.

Experience with New Technologies

Businesses are constantly evolving both technologically and in the way they conduct business. When you hire a call center company, you'll have access to any new technologies that your agency might make use of. And because these companies work with many different types of business such as retail or travel agencies, you'll be able to learn about all kinds of other industries and their respective customer service trends too. Some even offer training for their virtual agents so that they know how best to handle customers during peak hours.

Call Centers Help Small Businesses

Smaller companies often don't have the budget for their large staff like larger corporations do or even small divisions within these companies. Outsource your call center needs instead and you'll gain access to all kinds of valuable services that might cost more if you were trying to run them in-house. You might not think about getting help with data management or product development but these can be some of the most important things call centers offer to their clients.

A large group like this is perfect to handle customer service issues because they're trained and experienced in dealing with these kinds of questions, unlike individual employees who might not know how to answer technical questions as well as a larger group would. This saves your company money on training costs and keeps customers happy knowing that there's someone there who knows what they're doing when they have an issue.

Call Centers Save Time

Customer service isn't something you want to let slide, no matter how much you outsource it. Call centers are supposed to take care of your entire customer's concerns quickly so that they don't have time for complaints and you don't have to worry about it. This saves your employees the hassle of dealing with these complaints and lets them focus on more important things.

While you may think that outsourcing customer service would take away from the training process, this isn't true at all. Outsourced customer service is typically trained in your company's policies and procedures so they have a better understanding of what to do when they answer questions for customers. After a while, they can handle just as many situations as an individual who was employed by your company.

The Cons of Call Center Outsourcing

While outsourcing call centers does have its benefits, it isn't for every business. To determine if this is the best option for your company, you should consider these disadvantages of outsourcing customer service:

Time Zone Differences

If your customers tend to live in different parts of the world, then time zone differences may cause issues with communication. You'll need a large number of representatives available to help at all hours.

Language Barriers

If your customers speak different languages, then language issues may arise when communicating. You'll want local representatives able to handle all the diverse languages spoken by your customer base.

Lack of Personalization

While you can provide 24-hour service with an outsourced call center, the lack of personalization can be frustrating for customers who prefer or require more personalized interactions.

Can't Offer Competitive Rates

Because there is so much competition in outsourced call centers, you have to offer competitive rates just like any other business that wishes to hire an agent. This may cut into margins and make outsourcing difficult for smaller businesses.

As you can see, there are definite pros and cons of outsourcing your call center. I hope this helps you make a decision about which is best for you and your business!