There is one reason as to why the BPO industry is booming nowadays – it works.
From a financial standpoint, hiring external services will reduce a business burn rate as it would no longer have to spend resources to set up or improve its in-house team. Savings would include factors such as rent and electricity, as well as equipment, software and obviously manpower.
From an HR standpoint, hiring managers can focus more on hiring people to be placed in core positions, unlike those in customer support roles where turnover rates can be high. In relation to this, any credible human resource manager can tell you that replacing an existing employee will have high costs as well as opportunity losses.
Startup companies are often reluctant to incur such expenses, as resources are more likely to be distributed for sales and development departments. Aside from that, training an in-house team can be a difficult challenge due to lack of experience.
With an outsourced customer support team, companies can be released from such concerns.
Outsourced customer support has been popular solution for many years now. These days it is considered as a benchmark rather than something new or trendy.
However, even now, many companies who need outsourcing services are still adamant in embracing this option. Most of these apprehensions are simply due to misinformation with regards to how outsourced customer support can affect business operations. Here are some falsehoods that you may think about outsourcing services as well as the arguments that debunk them.
Quality is an Issue
Some companies think that customer support outsourcing is of inferior quality when compared to a team that was developed, managed, and handled in-house. This, however, can’t be farther from the truth. In reality, experienced customer support outsourcing providers have better experience, knowledge and resources than their clients to setup professional teams.
In addition, as the demand for BPO services increases and as more companies serving the same industry pop up, the competition will become very stiff.
As a result, BPO companies who want to gain more relevance will definitely up their ante by providing better and better services, which would, of course, translate to bigger benefit-against-cost returns to clients.
Control is an Issue
Many companies feel that they are turning over management and control whenever they think of customer service outsourcing. While it is true that an outsourced team will be working from a remote location, there is no truth to the notion that you will have no control over their performance.
First and foremost, you have absolute control over the team’s performance. The team will work according to the client’s instructions and procedures. Technology has advanced to such a degree that communication no longer needs to be face to face.
Any instructions or required information can be requested or communicated through various means that will most likely save great deal of management time.
In addition, companies will have access to reports and other information that will be relevant for your organization to see how your outsourced customer support team is performing. These can come in the form of reports that details such as the number of calls, number of escalations made, customer feedback and more. The data provided can then be used to make decisions on what to adjust in your customer support procedures and policies. Of course, the client will be directing all of this, and the customer service outsourcing provider will follow.
Language is an Issue
If you have traveled to countries such as the Philippines, you will know that this myth is simply not true. Many countries that host outsourcing companies hire people who are near-native when it comes to fluency and accent in English.
While some companies may think that having a customer support team that has English as a second language would result in poor performance, many organizations who have utilized such teams can definitely say otherwise.
Final Words
While you may have some concerns about setting up an outsourced customer support team, know that this decision is a very wise move assuming you choose a professional supplier. You are expected to achieve better scalability and flexibility for your customer service department as well as significant reduction in cost. Strategically, it will provide you with ample opportunities to further grow and expand by being able to focus on things that matter the most to your organization.
