The concept of a business and its meaning has changed significantly in the last couple of decades. With the growing number of new technologies and competitors, it has become necessary for organizations to keep themselves updated and ahead of their competitors. Outsourcing helps organizations in doing so. However, it does not mean that you need not do anything once you outsource your contact center or customer care functions.
The main work actually starts after you have outsourced your processes. Now you have to monitor, manage and enhance a part of your business which you do not fully control.
Here are few tips for outsourcing contact center customer care functions
Look For An Experienced Vendor
When searching for a service provider you need to make sure that you are partnering with someone who is capable of offering flexible services. This would help you when your business starts growing and your requirements increase. You won’t have to look for a new vendor when your business grows.
Experience In Your Sector
It is always better to partner with someone who has the experience of delivering customer care services to clients from your industry segment. Such vendors would be well aware of your business functions and are likely to provide much better services than those who lack such experience. Further, the overall experience of your outsourcing partner also matters. For large organizations, it is better to partner with outsourcing vendors having at least 10 years of experience in international BPO services.
Start With The Simple Stuff
Organizations need to understand that it takes time to fully grasp things. Your contact center outsourcing partner would surely take some time to understand the process and so will the call center agents. It is better that you start with simple stuff and then move on to bigger things. This would also help you in determining whether they are good enough to outsource complex tasks or not.
Do A Thorough Background Check
This is a very crucial task as you do not want to get in a business relationship with a fraud company. Make sure that you get all the legal and personal details verified of the company. Check for online reviews about them. You might find some negative reviews about them but that is normal. Every company has some negative reviews. You should just make sure that there is nothing that implies that the company is a fraud.
Prioritize Software Proficiency
Today’s business operations are more reliant on software than ever before. Your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Integrated Voice Response (IVR) tools decide the efficiency of your entire call center operation. A CRM captures customer details and provides it to the agents whenever it is necessary. It simplifies the management of customer information and makes it readily accessible to everyone. Also, in a contact center, a CRM acts as a centralized repository for all customer contacts across all channels. Therefore, it keeps every department synchronized with customer call records. In the same vein, a quality IVR streamlines call routing. Cutting-edge IVRs provide additional options like secure information gathering e.g. PIN or credit card info through the IVR system. It is also possible to embed messages into the IVR system, so that customers are provided proactive information. With the right call center outsourcing services, you get access to premium software for performing your work in a better manner.
Look For One-Stop Call Center Solutions
Always look for a customer service outsourcing company that can offer you all the services that you need or will need in the future. When you outsource call center operations to different vendors, it becomes harder to manage them. You have to make separate trips to different vendor locations, which is not financially beneficial at all. But with a single vendor looking at customer care, tech support, order taking etc., you are able to reduce the transportation expense.
Partner With A Vendor That Prioritizes SLAs
In a call center outsourcing partnership, the SLA has a special place. If you get the work done exactly as per SLA, the burden on your shoulders and the risk associated with the process decreases considerably. SLA like call abandonment rate, call answering time etc. decide the fate of your call center. If the abandonment rate rises, customers will start losing faith in your services. And, if there is delay in call answering, then the whole integrity of the operation will be impacted. Customers who would connect after a prolonged delay will be enraged and much harder to handle. But an experienced partner that takes SLA seriously can ensure complete peace of mind in this regard.
Look for Scalability
For a growing business, the scalability of the call center is crucial. A scalable call center can meet your unforeseen requirements in the future. A specialist call center outsourcing company has access to a perennial supply of call center talent. Everyone wants to join such companies, which means there is never any shortage of qualified call center agents.
Recruit A Vendor That Offers Quality Facilities to Employees
Employee happiness is the key to sustained success of a call center operation. And hence, it is crucial that they are provided the necessary facilities including transportation, seating space, meals etc. An accomplished call center company provides the best facilities to its employees because it knows that satisfied agents mean satisfied customers.
Check The Credentials of Managers
Agents come and go in a call center operation, but the managers stay for a longer time. And, it is the managers who shape the agents into assets. So, if you have the right TLs, QAs, trainers and floor managers; it becomes easier to groom talent and keep it motivated for the difficult task at hand. Before outsourcing, it is not a bad idea to have a chat with managers or look at their credentials.
Put Security Of Information At The Highest Pedestal
No matter how good a call center is, it would do more harm than good if the security of information is compromised. Just imagine bank account information being lost to hackers. It would be a DPA breach and your whole operation will be impacted.
Outsourcing contact center customer care services can be very beneficial for you if done in the right way. The above tips would help you in making the right decision while outsourcing your customer care functions.
Bluechip Call Center is a premier destination for call center outsourcing. Apart from inbound and outbound call center services, it also specializes in back office services.
