Thursday, September 30, 2010

Top Five Buzzwords in Call Center Outsourcing

  • BPO (Business Process Outsourcing)
Business process outsourcing is important for business organizations that need to contract a particular business-related task to third party providers. Basically, BPOs are used to save on operational expenses and in-house resources but this strategy is not used in order to become highly competitive in the market.
  • Globalization
This particular term refers to the dispersal of services as well as technologies all over the world. For call center outsourcing, globalization is typical especially those opting for call center offshore outsourcing.
  • SLA (Service Level Agreement)
SLA is basically the contract agreement between the company and the service provider.
  • Core Competency
Core competency refers to the field of expertise of a particular business. In call center outsourcing, majority of the companies often outsource the not so important areas of their business in order for them to focus their resources on their own core competency for further development of their businesses.
  • E-Outsourcing
E-outsourcing is fast becoming part of some major business entities. This particular activity is when a particular business entity purchases their required IT products or services using the internet instead of using their in-house resources to satisfy their IT requirements. For More Info Visit Our Site: http://www.inso.us

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Buzzwords in Call Center Outsourcing

Call center outsourcing is fast becoming popular nowadays and if you are planning to venture in offshore outsourcing for call center services, it is important for you to understand at least the top ten most popular buzzwords in the industry.
  • Near Shore Outsourcing
Near shore outsourcing is when a call center outsourcing company outsources their services within its neighboring countries. Basically, near shore outsourcing provides quite a number of benefits for an organization because of the strategic geographical propinquity reducing travel costs and communication expenses on the part of the company as well as the outsourcer. There will also be a great advantage with communication because it will be more likely that the people involved in the venture will all be speaking the same language which also reduces the need to train the staff on using a language foreign to them.
  • Onshore Outsourcing
Domestic outsourcing or onshore outsourcing is when BPO requirements are being fulfilled by a particular company which is within the same country. As compared to other outsourcing opportunities, onshore outsourcing is a lot more expensive especially when it comes to labor costs, taxation, and other related aspects of the business.
Offshore outsourcing on the other hand refers to the outsourcing opportunities on other parts of the world where there is a much cheaper labor cost and lower tax expenses on the part of the company requiring for an offshore outsourcing for call center services.
  • Virtual Call Center
Virtual call center is a simulation of a call center environment but the only difference is that call center agents are not working on the same premises.

  • TCO (Total Cost of Outsourcing)
TCO typically directs its focus on the total cost of the outsourcing opportunity which includes the labor cost, tax rate, and other expenses included in the business venture. For call center outsourcing, TCO is very important because this alone can determine whether outsourcing will be advantageous on the part of the company that needs it or not.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Customer Service Call Center: An Outlook

Customer service call center is a way to effectively solve the problems incurred by clients/customer with their products and or services.  Any company – whether big or small – should have a customer service call center to generate and assist customers with customer support and efficient services. A lot of businesses are taking advantage of offshore outsourcing services – this way; they can focus on their core business and cut down on overheads.

A lot of companies have actually streamlined their approach to partnering with offshore outsourcing services. Companies should first decide on their needs before they opt for a customer service call center. A lot of companies look for budget solutions to suit their needs –this way they can easily solve their customer’s needs and also take care of their expenses. Technical problems are consistently arising after the product-sale and the business itself can justify the services.

It is no secret that companies are searching for low-cost customer service call center solutions to create a better customer services – thanks to offshore outsourcing services, this is possible. 

Retaining customers is a must, and having a customer service call center is one way to do it. If companies fail to retain present customers, they will definitely suffer in the long run. Companies that are able to support their customers by taking advantage of offshore outsourcing services will win the hearts of their customers.  Customer service call center might seem like a small activity but it can earn a huge applause and guarantee colossal returns. Customer service call center activities retain old customers and help build future customers/clients.

Customer service call center representatives have to be very smart, talented, genuine and highly skilled in handling difficult customers (every business has difficult customers). A couple of offshore outsourcing services hire employees that are not only  great at helping out customers, but are also very great at handling cantankerous customers as well. Many offshore customer service call center outsourcing solution also employ state of the art technology and sheer professionalism in order to create an environment that will meet the various demands of valued customers/clients. Another great quality of offshore customer service call center services is their commitment of time and completion of tasks.

There are a variety of activities involved in a customer service call center and all of these activities are dealt with equal efficiency through reputable offshore outsourcing services. As a matter of fact offshore outsourcing services have to work according to their client’s specifications – but of course, small variations and modifications are allowed.

The various customer service call center services offered to doctors and lawyers are usually appointment fixing, query answering, registration, appoint reconfirmation etc. Your business does not have to be gigantic in order to take advantage of offshore customer service call center solutions.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Best Checklist for Inbound Call Center

References
Inbound or outbound call center services should be able to provide references. The references should be current and should be similar in size and function to your business. Find out if the previous customers are happy with the services provided by the proposed inbound call center.

Staff
A reputable inbound or outbound call center service do not hire any ole Okie from the Muskogee to represent your company, they only hire well educated, smart, intelligent, polite and English speaking employees.

What other support do they offer?
Find out what other type of services they offer. If you have clients who do not speak English, you should find out if the inbound call center offers other multi-lingual services as well.

Cost
How much will their services cost?  

Modus Operandi
Some inbound call center services offer performance based services and some offer services based on client’s requirements.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Inbound Call Center: Top Five Checklist

These days, the business climate is really competitive; business owners are doing everything they possibly can in order to reduce labor and infrastructure expenses. Outsourcing inbound call center services is very common today, because handling inbound or outbound call center service in-house can be pretty expensive and insufficient. Outsourcing a business inbound call center is a common practice and a smart way of doing business.

If your company is considering outsourcing inbound call center or outbound call center service but is finding it difficult in choosing the right inbound call center partner, below is a checklist to assist you in identifying a competent inbound call center –this checklist also applies for identifying outbound call center services as well:

1.    Quality Service
A reputable inbound call center can offer you cost effective services and will also assist you in reducing operating costs.

2.    Quality  Assurance Service
You need to understand that communication is the key to customer satisfaction and of course, retention.  These agents will be talking to your clients/customers, it s extremely important that they get it right.

3.    Technology
Find out if the inbound call center is using state of the art software, hardware and equipment. Many inbound and outbound call center services claim to use latest technology but they are not being truthful.

4.    Reporting
Find out if the inbound call center provides day to day reporting to track and measure performance. Also find out if the inbound call center answer 80 percent of their call in 20 seconds – this is the industry average. Is the company’s abandonment rate less than 5 percent? An inbound or outbound call center service average handling time needs to be within your requirements.

5.    Confidentiality
No business owner wants their business practices, methods, customer lists, leads or intellectual properties to get into the wrong hands.  So make sure that you find out if utter confidentiality is maintained. Does the inbound call center service offer a signed a non-disclosure agreement?

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Call Center Outsourcing Costs

Businesses that have been searching for ways to move beyond the typical customer service can now do so at a lower cost. Thanks to offshore outsourcing firms, call center outsourcing costs are very affordable.

While business owners and prospects are hitting the customer service mark with CRM (customer relationship management), they now the opportunity to cut costs and offer better services even in a recessive economy. This may actually appear to be absurd, but it is possible with InsO International Call Center – a world class call center outsourcing solutions. InSO offers prime importance to prospects by delivering problem resolutions and services according to customer requirements.

The call center outsourcing industry is basically all about effectively handling specialized customer service tasks. The call center outsourcing business will be non existent if all businesses could perform these tasks themselves. Since operating margins consistently continue to dwindle, it makes perfect sense for them to assign this responsibility to skilled vendors such as InSO.

Allow statistics to prove the benefits of call center outsourcing. A lot of times, figures (or numbers) do speak louder than words; you will find that this is true in the case of the statistics on the benefits of outsourcing. The ROI (return on investment) will need to be taken into consideration when it comes to charting the performance of the call center industry in general.

According to a survey carried out by Hewitt Associates, the findings give enough reasons why companies can benefit from call center outsourcing.

•    Beneficial findings: 82% of the companies that were surveyed stated that call center outsourcing has been visibly beneficial to them.
•    Achieve cost cutting goals: 62% of companies that hire call centers in order to cut down costs, ended up achieving their financial goals.
•    A better disposition toward outsourcing: 34% of respondents stated that they feel better about hiring outsourced call center services than they were a couple of years back.

Call center outsourcing services are actually more affordable than you think, for instance InSO offers performance based call center services this simply means that clients only get to pay when the call center employees perform. –this way, they will not be risking anything.

The great part about call center outsourcing is that business owners do not have to spend a single cent on acquiring state of the art software, hardware or other equipments in order to provide quality service to their customers or clients. 

The partnership between a company and call center outsourcing services is a great way to help a business stay ahead of the competition.

Take advantage of InSO call center solutions and achieve your business goals. http://www.inso.us

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Offshore Outsourcing: Trends and Techniques

Business owners will be glad to know that offshore outsourcing can help save their  operating  expenses, the latest trends and techniques in the call center outsourcing industry is clearly shifting from jus plain ole customer service to customer attraction/lead generation. It is common knowledge that many businesses consider offshore outsourcing to be the best way to get their call center tasks professionally carried out while saving a lot of precious funds in the process.  InSO International Call Center offers businesses the opportunity to enjoy world-class call center service.

InSO has as a matter of fact, ushered a major shift in the way companies view offshore outsourcing and conventional customer service.

With the introduction of up to date technologies, business owners are discovering that they can serve their clients/customers better by simply taking advantage of offshore call center outsourcing. Thanks to offshore outsourcing, companies no longer have to sacrifice monetary and human resources to perform these tasks in-house.

India is still the nation that completely stands out as the leading market in offshore call center outsourcing and is famous for having state of the art facilities and the very best infrastructure that is needed for setting up call centers. India is a country that has many reputable and certified call center outsourcing firms such as InSO – where companies are assured of having “24/7/365 days” service.

India is also known for its infinite pool of impeccable English speaking youth that can provide really high quality based service to clients/customers for really low costs per hour leading to huge savings for business owners. This is precisely the reason why a large amount of Fortune 500 companies choose to outsource to India which in turn has resulted in huge increase in call center work in this country.

The trends and technique in offshore outsourcing will definitely include wireless technologies and survey-based functionalities as well. Offshore call center outsourcing is proving to be really important in business branding.

Offshore outsourcing call center technique is simple; they just give clients or customers a reason to interact by offering them a convenient and valuable experience with every contact. Offshore outsourcing technologists such as InSO that combine social media and networking into their procedure have actually made amazing progress.

A lot of companies will be using web-based technologies in order to merge forces with offshore outsourcing firms.  In-house call center will handle the first level calls while the calls that happen to be of a marketing nature will be fielded by the offshore call center partner. The new trend in offshore outsourcing will involve business owners triaging call types to get qualified experts on the line in the shortest time possible. The outcome will be an improved resolution to issues and optimize customer attraction for marketing campaigns. 

InSO has been in the offshore call center business for over a decade and is the trendsetter for other call centers. So take advantage of InSO call center services and watch your business grow. http://www.inso.us

Monday, September 20, 2010

Offshore Outsourcing: A New Look

An offshore outsourcing call centers is an extremely economical solution for companies in developed nations. Companies can outsource certain tasks such as lead generation, customer service, help desk support and advice to reputable call center outsourcing providers. Offshore outsourcing firms can effectively handle both inbound and outbound calls for parent companies. 

A couple of years ago offshore call center outsourcing was frowned upon by many people; but now, business owners who fail to take advantage of offshore outsourcing will have problems keeping  up with the competition and may be out of business in no time.

In the old days, many businesses just send work to any ole offshore outsourcing provider, but these days, business owners simply prefer call center outsourcing providers that hire employees who are well versed in English and in other major languages as well. As soon as a contract is drawn between a parent company and an offshore outsourcing call center, some parent companies may have prospective representatives train at the parent country.

There are many offshore outsourcing companies that hire talented, smart, well educated and polite employees – it is virtually impossible to partner with a call center outsourcing company and expect nothing less than perfect service.

Call centers contractually bind themselves with reputable offshore outsourcing centers. In return, they simply charge a small fee. A lot of call center outsourcing companies work on monthly payment schedule, some work on performance basis and keep their contracts completely free of obligation regarding tenure to parent companies.

There are a lot of advantages for businesses that take advantage of offshore outsourcing. One of the key advantages is the immense cutback of overheads. Employees working in an offshore outsourcing company may charge way less than what local employees charge. In addition to this, the call center outsourcing market is an extremely competitive one and many offshore outsourcing companies are really striving hard to provide excellent services to their parent companies. It is also a well known fact that offshore outsourcing companies can double or even triple the business of companies – employees who work in call center outsourcing firms are better at attracting clients/customers and get their business.

Although, the greatest advantage of offshore call center outsourcing companies may be the flexibility of time that they offer. Call center outsourcing companies work around the globe in nations with different time zones, which means that these companies work 24 hours a day. Many offshore outsourcing companies work night shifts and on weekends as well – this simply means better business growth after a period of time.

Today, when the words “offshore outsourcing” is mentioned, India is the country that comes to mind. India is considered the hub of call center outsourcing in the world, period.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Call Center Outsourcing: Trends and Techniques - 2010

As companies start to understand how call center outsourcing functions can help save precious operating resources, the newest trends in the industry is shifting from just customer service to lead generation. Many companies consider offshore outsourcing to be the best way to get call center tasks done professionally while saving loads of money in the process.

Call center outsourcing has actually ushered a drastic shift in the way business owners consider offshore outsourcing and traditional customer service. Thanks to the introduction of state-of-the-art technologies, companies are finding that they can serve their customers better by considering call center outsourcing – with offshore outsourcing, business owners will not have to sacrifice financial and human resources in order to carryout these tasks in-house.

Trends and technique in call center outsourcing in 2010 will include wireless technologies and even survey-based functionalities. Call center outsourcing is really proving to be an important spoke in the branding wheel. The offshore outsourcing call center technique is quite simple really – just give clients/customers a reason to interact by simply offering convenience and value with each contact. While this may actually sound “easier said than done”, many offshore outsourcing technologists that combine social media and networking into their processes have really made astonishing headway.

Business owners need to understand that the role that call center outsourcing may play in Business 2.0 will require the assessment of the challenges it faces. Business owners who are seriously considering offshore outsourcing services will need to understand that they will not be compromising on the quality of service if they choose to allow a third party vendor handle their call center operations.

For those companies that are hesitant about taking advantage of call center outsourcing outside the country; well, the hybrid approach is also a great alternative.  According to the Information Technology (IT) News India, a couple of businesses are employing web-based technologies to combine forces with offshore outsourcing centers. The in-house call center handles first-level calls, while the calls of marketing nature are fielded by the third party call center outsourcing operators. In 2010, business owners can triage call types in order to get qualified professionals on the line within the shortest possible time. The result is an improved resolution of problems and an optimized lead generation for marketing campaigns.     

The simple truth is that business owners who do not want to take advantage of call center outsourcing (in 2010 and beyond) but would rather handle call center service in-house are really placing themselves at a disadvantage. Why not consider removing the burden of call center operation off your shoulder? With call center outsourcing, you are sure of having professionals who have the expertise to effectively handle your call center needs, while you explore new markets and advertising areas.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Call Center Outsourcing: Fast Food

Now it’s the age of fast food outsourcing: Sounds yummy?

High speed, Dead Cheap, Reliable communication lines let the order takers in Colorado Springs converse with customers in Missouri and deliver the yummy burgers and tongue tickling pizzas.
People picking up their burgers and pizzas never know that their order traverses two states and bounces back before they can even start driving to the pickup window.
If your fast food business is starting to be flooded with huge volumes of calls from customers and suppliers alike, maybe it is time for you to consider outsourcing your call requirements to a professional call center company.
In about 40 of its fast food outlets across America McDonald's has been routing orders in California, Hawaii, Mississippi and Wyoming to a hi-tech call center located at Santa Clara in California via the Internet. Operated by Bronco Communications, call center employees from this company process the order instantly and relay it back to the respective outlets where the orders are displayed on the TV console for the caterers to attend to the orders and dispatch them and for the cashiers to collect the displayed amount.
Even if your business is on a shoestring budget and you have a shortage of manpower to handle all the calls that come in on a daily basis call center outsourcing is a less complicated and affordable way to create an efficient customer service to your loyal and or prospective clients
Make your small scale fast food business appear large through offshore outsourcing services that provides a lot of benefits because not only will you be able to provide an efficient round the clock customer service but your brand image also grows day by day.
A good call center outsourcing solution can render professional customer service and make your small scale fast food business look more like a large corporate business entity in the fast food industry.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Call Center Outsourcing for the Health Care Sector

Basically, call center outsourcing provides quite a number of organizational advantages for the health care sector. A good call center outsourcing can provide health care organizations the time to focus their attention on the more important aspect of providing health care services rather than spending half of the manpower on answering calls. When this particular task is eliminated, the organization and its entire human resource can generally focus their time on improving their competencies while providing a good customer service in a cost effective manner.
So if you understand your need for call center outsourcing, you must know that there are several vendors and outsourcing providers you can choose from. The number of options you have in the market will make it a lot easier for your health care organization to find the right provider that can offer a diverse range of quality call center services and using top of the line technology in order to make call center outsourcing more efficient cost effective both on the part of the provider and the client. But then again, it is also important for your organization to choose a company that can also offer a professional service using highly trained call center agents because health care is a serious business and it is important to find a provider that have qualified staff to handle the volume of calls that can be a matter of life of death.
When looking for call center outsourcing company, there are several things that have to be considered in order to ensure that the provider will be able to deliver the quality service you need for your health care organization. And since you are in the health care industry, it is highly important for the call center provider to have a vast experience in the health care sector. Although some vendors may actually claim that they are the right team for your outsourcing requirements, you must conduct a comprehensive evaluation with regards to the real capacity of the company to handle important calls and inquiries regarding the health care industry.
It would also be a major advantage if the customer service call center provider has major experience in HMOs and has worked with different pharmaceutical companies and other related business industries handling telesales or telemarketing services that can satisfy your inbound or outbound requirements with the help of top of the line technology in the call center industry. It would be helpful if you can get access to evaluate the track record of the call center provider so your health care organization can verify their rate of success in handling telemarketing or telesales services for different related companies requiring call center outsourcing.
Depending on your actual requirement for call center outsourcing, your health care organization can certainly find a good provider that can guarantee for a quality service that significantly uplift the job competencies of your work environment.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Call Center Outsourcing for the Health Care Sector

Basically, call center outsourcing provides quite a number of organizational advantages for the health care sector. A good call center outsourcing can provide health care organizations the time to focus their attention on the more important aspect of providing health care services rather than spending half of the manpower on answering calls. When this particular task is eliminated, the organization and its entire human resource can generally focus their time on improving their competencies while providing a good customer service in a cost effective manner.
So if you understand your need for call center outsourcing, you must know that there are several vendors and outsourcing providers you can choose from. The number of options you have in the market will make it a lot easier for your health care organization to find the right provider that can offer a diverse range of quality call center services and using top of the line technology in order to make call center outsourcing more efficient cost effective both on the part of the provider and the client. But then again, it is also important for your organization to choose a company that can also offer a professional service using highly trained call center agents because health care is a serious business and it is important to find a provider that have qualified staff to handle the volume of calls that can be a matter of life of death.
When looking for call center outsourcing company, there are several things that have to be considered in order to ensure that the provider will be able to deliver the quality service you need for your health care organization. And since you are in the health care industry, it is highly important for the call center provider to have a vast experience in the health care sector. Although some vendors may actually claim that they are the right team for your outsourcing requirements, you must conduct a comprehensive evaluation with regards to the real capacity of the company to handle important calls and inquiries regarding the health care industry.
It would also be a major advantage if the customer service call center provider has major experience in HMOs and has worked with different pharmaceutical companies and other related business industries handling telesales or telemarketing services that can satisfy your inbound or outbound requirements with the help of top of the line technology in the call center industry. It would be helpful if you can get access to evaluate the track record of the call center provider so your health care organization can verify their rate of success in handling telemarketing or telesales services for different related companies requiring call center outsourcing.
Depending on your actual requirement for call center outsourcing, your health care organization can certainly find a good provider that can guarantee for a quality service that significantly uplift the job competencies of your work environment. For More Details Visit ours Site @ http://www.inso.us

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Call Center Outsourcing for the Media Industry

Call center outsourcing and business process outsourcing (BPO) has become the most effective solution for every industry undergoing business expansion. Even in the media sector, call center outsourcing became the top solution.  Its purpose is to find a cost effective, quality based alternative to expand their extensive needs in the media industry. Basically, call center outsourcing served as the effective answer for inbound and outbound service requirements of the media
 industry and with the help of state of the art technology and the comprehensive training and qualification of call center agents, call center outsourcing has indeed became part of the core function of any business entities understanding the importance of outsourcing services.
BPOs and call center outsourcing often follow their own core values and corporate missions to ensure that their services will not be compromised by substandard services that can jeopardize their contracts with different clients from various parts of the business sector including the media industry. The growing demand in the media sector to have a more clear and strong relationship with the public and their other clients spawned their need to explore their options with call center outsourcing and with the round the clock customer service this can provide, the media industry will now have a better way of connecting with the public and conducting their inbound or outbound services.
There are quite a number of advantages for the media sector opting for call center outsourcing and other BPO services. The benefits not only lie in the cost efficiency due to affordable cost of skilled labor but simply because the companies are able to direct their focus on business growth and other important activities that matter to their expansion and not on entertaining calls. This is why with a good call center outsourcing provider, the media industry will have the opportunity to redirect their resources to further improve their services and allow the professional team of call center agents to handle their outbound or inbound requirements. By purposefully converging on developing core competencies, call center outsourcing also allows the media industry to direct their attention in establishing and achieving their long term goals and other company objectives that can and will determine the company’s continued existence in the future.
By acquitting the major resources of the media company from rigorous unrelated functions, the media company's core management will be able to pay more attention to other approach that can help boost their revenues and in turn increase their profits. There are various call center outsourcing services that can be taken advantage of the media company including basic customer services, telemarketing, market research, outbound / inbound services, IT management, and or financial portfolio management. Regardless of the purpose or requirements for call center outsourcing, the media industry can fully enjoy most of the possible growth needed by their sector by outsourcing some of their business processes so they can focus more their workforce in various aspects of the industry that requires close supervision.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Why Offshore Outsourcing?

Reliable, readily available technical support services through offshore outsourcing are demanded by consumers everywhere. With the competition among companies it is those who can provide the best customer support who will survive. While many persons may find the idea of offshore outsourcing technical support unappealing, there are good reasons to do it.

Five Good Reasons to Outsource Technical Support

There are many reasons to outsource technical support through offshore outsourcing.

Some of the most common reasons for not handling help desk support in-house are:
  • Cost saving: Companies that outsource their technical support services realize cost benefits in many ways. These include reduced costs and overheads for staff to handle their offshore call center services. The cost of not setting up a 24-hour hour operation is also important as it can result in loss of customers. Customers will often move on to companies that provide around-the-clock support.
  • Increased efficiency and productivity: When some customer service support services are outsourced, whether offshore or in the home country, greater productivity and efficiency generally follow.
  • 24-hour service: The availability of around the clock technical support services through an offshore call center is vital to the success of many IT companies and related businesses.
  • Improvement in customer service support: While some persons may disagree, if outsourced to a good offshore call center, customer service will definitely improve. This will happen as staff will be dedicated just to dealing with customer requests and calls for technical assistance. In addition, a contact center will have far better technology than most company run technical support service operations.
  • Greater access to technical support database: With a cadre of call center agents trained to handle technical and computer-related issues, the probability of someone being available to help is greatly improved. For More Info @ http://www.inso.us

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Inbound Call Center Outsourcing

An Inbound call center can also be defined as a call handling service unit. The main objective of such a center is to provide quick and effective client support. Some of the services they provide include: 
  • Order Taking: This service is outsourced to ensure that all the sales oriented calls care handled. These processes also help the client ensure that all the crucial information regarding the products purchased by the clients is properly stored on a secure server. 
  • Technical Support: This service is extremely crucial for all manufacturing and technological firms. The services offered here include providing relevant, on-time and effective technical support to the callers. Broadly, the services can be classified into the following categories – trouble shooting, product installation and repair, etc.
Customer support is an integral part of all the services provided by inbound call center. This is why these services require only seasoned or fully trained professionals, who will be able to tackle calls on behalf of the business clients. This will help the inbound call centers build a healthy and constant relationship between the clients and their customers.

Friday, September 3, 2010

Offshore Outsourcing Benefits:

It was quite some time back that someone had the bright idea of outsourcing their non-core jobs to developing nations like India. By doing so, they not only wanted to capitalize on a growing IT market but also make effective use of a talent pool that just keeps on getting bigger and better. Initially, this concept of offshore outsourcing was referred to as time-sharing and was meant to cut costs. However, over the years, the benefits only grew. Here are some of the common benefits:
  • Labor Arbitrage: This was the initial gold mine that attracted international firms to start offshore outsourcing. Developing countries have a very vast and talented workforce, which is willing to work at cheaper rates than their international counterparts. This is because of the highly competitive market in these nations and also due to the steep difference in currency values.
  • Infrastructure: Another reason for the competitive pricing of offshore call center services is that the overall setting up and maintenance of these call centers is pretty low as compared to their international counterparts.
  • Better Quality of Service: The major international call centers are characterized by their high quality of customer service. Some of them even offer the unique combination of onshore management with offshore services. This way the outsourcing companies are made to feel as if their work is being handled onshore rather than offshore.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Offshore Outsourcing Facts

Many companies have the misconception that offshore outsourcing of services is not in their vested interest, although all the market surveys point to the contrary. Probably this statement by Jack Welch, of General Electric, about outsourcing to developing nations like India will give a clearer view, “A truly global company will be one that uses the intellect and resources of every corner of the world. India is a developed country as far as intellectual capital is concerned.”
One fact that hinders many from offshore outsourcing is the idea of their project being handled by a foreigner. Now they no longer need to worry about this, with the innovative new feature provided by some of the best call center service providers. They call this feature ‘Onshore Management with Offshore Services.’ These call centers have their head offices in all of the developed nations, from where full control can be exercised on the outsourced service.
Another commonly misunderstood fact is that by outsourcing of a service, the company loses all its control over it. This can also be taken care of by hiring a call center firm that creates regular records on vital facts, such as calls made, effective calls, calls received, etc. This way complete control can be exercised on the project.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Key points to ensure in Call Center Outsourcing

What is the company’s level of experience? This is vital when choosing the entity that will ultimately provide offshore call center services for your company. Even if they have not been in the business for that long, they should be able to offer some services that are standard to the industry as well as something different. Questions you need to ask are: Do you offer email and chat support services, or inquiry handling services; these questions are important in your drive to outsource.
What is the quality of their infrastructure? Any company that offers call center outsourcing services must have the necessary tools for the job. This includes the latest telephone and computer technology.
The billing process: Some companies are unscrupulous in the way in which they handle business contracts. Your call center must be upfront about all associated costs to provide the service to your business to avoid problems later on. If the company is flexible with its billing plans this is even better.
Proximity and cultural alignment: While it is widely acknowledged that call center outsourcing often involves using a company in a foreign country, there should be a way to monitor its operations to ensure value for money. Some call centers have offices in their client’s country’s as well as their home country.
Qualified agents: The agents should have a reasonable command of the English language and speak in a clear manner so as to be understood. They should also be familiar with the products or services of the companies they represent.