At a contact centre conference recently I heard more than one speaker discuss various “cutting edge” strategies/approaches for handling and maximising value from different types of customer contact. For contact that was deemed “low value” a recommended approach was to try and automate as much as possible “or you could outsource it”. Simple, right?
I guess it’s understandable that a conference attended by lots of keen, focussed contact centre / CX folk may be a little off-hand about outsourcing. However around 35% of businesses with contact centres outsource at least part of their customer-facing activities
“Why?” You may well ask. Well here are a few of the most common reasons I’ve seen clients cite as the drivers for outsourcing.
- Cost Savings – this always comes first (main reason for 80% of companies who’ve outsourced say Gartner). This doesn’t always mean going offshore – if a contact centre has grown organically and not been invested in, then the business case for outsourcing can stack up pretty well without a location change
- Focus on your core. Not your washboard abs – you’re focussing on the “core” business – let a specialist organisation worry about the contact centre
- CX Transformation. Use the outsource providers’ expertise in developing the tools and strategies to improve CX. An outsourcer who can convincingly say “we use that technology, we can deploy it easily for you, so let us transform your contact centre and run it for you more efficiently and with better outcomes for your customers” can present a compelling offer.
- Speed. Resource on tap, managing peaks, driving change quicker than you can do internally. Maybe you have a 6 week peak in volumes that means your centre needs to increase from 100 advisors to 150. You can’t staff up for it easily. Outsourcers will be set up to recruit and train 50 advisors pretty easily – especially if the end of your peak coincides with the peak starting for another client
“How” is the next challenge:
- Deciding on the operating model
- How to select and contract with an outsourcer
- How to manage them well
There is no universal panacea, each business will have different routes to follow.
So, when someone next makes a throwaway comment that “you could just outsource it”, remind them it really isn’t that simple!
Akina Consulting helps organisations establish, improve and transform their customer experience and operational capabilities through pragmatic, results focussed delivery
- design and implement new CX operating models
- improve operational efficiency
- deliver better outcomes for customers
- leverage and maximise outsourcing projects
