4 Tips on Finding the Right Contact Center Outsourcing Provider Outsourcing the customer service segment of your business can help you cut down your operational costs. However, it is also important to ensure that outsourcing your contact center services doesn’t impact customer experience, and in turn, the prospects of your brand. Therefore, it is important that you diligently research all the aspects of an outsourced contact center solutions provider before arriving at a decision. Mentioned below are a few tips that will help you choose the best outsourced contact center provider.
Have a open discussion about the KPIs When looking for an outsourced customer care service provider, having an honest, frank discussion about the key performance indicators (KPIs) is of utmost importance. You need to set the right expectations with the outsourced service provider on all measurable KPIs including, average handle time (AHT), first call resolution (FCR), speed to answer, etc. You need to share your own KPIs with the service providers and ask them about what they will bring to the table.
Cultural compatibility When it comes to choosing a service provider, you should also take into account the issue of cultural compatibility. While call centers in India, Malaysia, and the Philippines offer less expensive customer service solutions to US companies, the differences in culture sometimes become a cause of concern for the customers. Countries, such as Canada, which share geographical and cultural similarity with the US, offer a viable option to businesses. Surveys conducted over the years (Read, 2003) have found that US companies prefer outsourcing their customer services to Canada than India and UK/Ireland due to higher quality of services. If
you are also looking to achieve a balance between quality of services and costsavings, outsourced contact services in Canada can be the right option for you.
Operation services When scouting for the right outsourcing partner for your customer service needs, it is important to understand the expertise of the service provider. In addition to discussing the KPIs and other operational tasks, it is important to gauge whether the service provider will be able to handle key organizational tasks. You need to get concrete information about how the human resource team is going to scout for the best talent for the organization. Keeping up employees’ morale, attrition rates, company loyalty — all of these need to be discussed with the service provider.
Industry Feedback There are a number of rating agencies that analyze the performance of the contact centers and reward those that have performed exceedingly well. Choosing a contact center with a stellar reputation and robust track record can help you provide the quality of experience your customers associate with your brand.
These were a few tips that will help you make the right decision when choosing the right call center service provider for your business. Although the tips mentioned here are not exhaustive, they broadly give you the information about the aspects you should be looking for in a long-term outsourcing partner.