Contact Center Trends
The 5 benefits of contact center BPO
By Lídia Dias
0 min read
Is outsourcing your contact center operations on your mind? Learn more the benefits of contact center BPO and see our recommendation for a “best of both worlds” solution.
As the frontline for many businesses, contact centers have become even more important these days. At the same time, customers expectations are rising and quick, effortless customer service is essential for companies to thrive.
It can be costly to deliver a high level of service to customers. That’s why many companies are looking to outsource their contact center services to lower costs and scale customer service.
In this blog, we’ll go through:
What is a contact center BPO?
Business process outsourcing (BPO) refers to the process of contracting third parties to handle front or back-office functions. BPO can take many forms, including updating online and offline data, managing payroll and billing, or handling contact center operations.
A contact center BPO is a third-party vendor that manages inbound and outbound contact center functions. It has gained a lot of attention recently as more companies leverage contact center outsourcing. The external service provider typically takes care of hiring and training agents, maintaining the software and infrastructure, and managing day-to-day operations.
Companies can outsource a segment of their contact center operations (like support, sales, etc.) or outsource the entire contact center. Once the decision has been made to outsource and the contracts are signed, many companies take a hands-off approach to overseeing operations and trust that their service provider will take the reins.
The benefits of contact center BPO.
We understand that the decision to outsource part, or all, of contact center operations to a third party is delicate and specific to each business. Usually, there are two occasions where the decision to contract a contact center BPO is a good call:
- When your contact center operations are already at full capacity and customers are waiting too long to get their questions answered.
- You have other areas of the business that need focus before building an in-house contact center.
If you’re facing one (or both) situations above, you might need to evaluate outsourcing the contact center operations. To help you making a decision, we gathered the 5 benefits of contact center BPO.
These are the 5 benefits of outsourcing your contact center operations:
1. Lower costs. When call center operational, infrastructure, overhead, and labor costs are significantly reduced (or being handled by an external service provider), the savings can be significant.
2. Eliminate staffing issues. External service providers typically handle all of the hiring, training, scheduling, and managing of a team of call center agents. This can save your company time, money, and headaches.
3. 24/7 customer service for a fraction of the price. Outsourcing call center functions often allow companies to provide 24/7 customer support at a price point that won’t break the bank.
4. Easily handle the overflow call volume. Outsourcing part of your call center operation to a service provider (that is only responsible for answering overflow calls during periods of high call volume) can be an invaluable solution to a costly problem.
5. Increase business continuity. It’s easier to have 100% uptime with a call center provider that has servers located in multiple geographic locations and staff dedicated to providing round-the-clock service.
WEBINAR
Delivering a modern customer experience with cloud based contact centre solutions
What to choose: BPO or in-house contact center?
If outsourcing your customer service operations to a contact center BPO provider seems enticing but not worth the risk, you should consider a simpler, more cost-effective solution. Hiring a team of global agents who work remotely can be a “best of both worlds solution”.
With a cloud-based contact center solution, you can easily maintain a global workforce for a reasonable price. All that agents need to make and receive calls is a computer, headset, and an internet connection. They can work from home, undergo all training online, learn how to use the agent dashboard in minutes, and start making and receiving calls on day one.
Another critical advantage of hiring global at-home agents is that you have a larger applicant pool as you are not limited by geographic location or transportation issues. You can also select candidates based on cultural fit with your company, industry expertise, language and communication skills, and other factors that you deem important. Thus, by expanding your team globally, you can see an increase in the quality of the workforce.
In addition to hiring more skilled agents and giving them the freedom to work where they like, a cloud-based contact center also allows for managers to keep a close eye on their global workforce and provide real-time feedback when necessary. Managers can listen and drop in on live calls and whisper coach the agent without the customer knowing. They can keep track of agent performance using real-time and historical reporting and keep their entire team on the same page with real-time updates, automated tasks, integrated customer relationship management (CRM), and helpdesk software.
Managers can also ensure that the calls are routed to the most appropriate agent (e.g., the most tenured, one who has specific industry/product expertise, etc.) and provide a better customer experience with an interactive voice response (IVR) system and call queues. Additionally, with pay-as-you-go options, the ability to add and remove agents in seconds, and maintaining high SLAs that guarantee call quality and uptime, you’ll have everything you need to provide quality service at an affordable price.
Contact center cloud platforms are a simple, more cost-effective solution to hiring and managing a team of global agents. It is a “best of both worlds solution” to a problem that has garnered a lot of attention and has industry giants taking a stance.
To wrap things up.
Just to be clear, there’s no correct answer for whether or not you should hire a BPO provider. There are pros and cons for both options and you should consider what suits your company better.
Choose a contact center BPO provider if you want to:
- Cut the operational costs of running a contact center.
- Eliminate staff issues.
- Seamlessly face overflow call volume.
- Provide round-the-clock call service.
Opt for an in-house, cloud-based contact center if you:
- Want agents to be versed in the company’s culture.
- Want dedicated agents.
- Consider department collaboration is crucial for your business.
- Are concerned about security and quality of service.
Whether you choose to have an in-house or outsourced contact center, Talkdesk helps you find certified talent that fits your needs—through our curated network of BPOs or hiring in the industry’s first gig economy platform for the contact center.
