Effective Offshore Outsourcing

There is certainly no doubt that offshore outsourcing has truly become an essential business strategy in the hands of smart business men and women and various corporate organizations. As a matter of fact, as the global financial crisis hit every nation, more and more business owners began to embrace the offshore outsourcing as an effective way to successful cut down cost without compromising the quality of work, and thus maintaining a healthy profit margin as well.

For instance, call center outsourcing is the most commonly outsourced work, but it is very important to realise that cost effectiveness is really not the only reason many businesses choose to outsource. Many business owners choose to outsource if they need a particular skill set for a part of a project that is not available in their company and if the project is not an ongoing one (such as call center outsourcing project) it makes no sense to hire new employees – this is precisely where offshore outsourcing steps right in!

Although, partnering with an offshore outsourcing service is no piece of cake. So, in order to ensure that you get the best out of your outsourcing work, you will need to be cautious while selecting a provider and sustaining a professional and peaceful partnership with them.

How a Call Center can Boost Revenue ?

The most obvious way in which a call center can boost a company’s revenue is by providing top quality customer service call center. The provision of technical support services is especially important to companies that sell products like computers and electronics. A customer’s positive experience can turn into repeat business, and it will generate good word of mouth. Other ways that call centers can boost revenue include:

• Creating lead generation and sales by calling prospective customers
• Facilitating live chat and email to promote the company’s products or services
• Build customer loyalty

InSO International Call Centers offer not only the latest in call center technology, but staff dedicated to helping your company become more visible. Our performance has led to an established track record that puts us ahead of the competition. With offices in both the US and India, we ensure that our customers are always kept abreast of our operations.

All our agents are properly trained and possess the requisite dynamism and energy to help increase your profitability. Visit our website www.inso.us or call 625 531-6080 for a free quote. Let us show you the difference InSO can make to your bottom line.

Importance of Call Centers

The Growing Importance of Call Centers

The growth in the call center industry is largely based on the fact that despite their best efforts companies can’t do it all. Outside of the possible savings, offshore outsourcing call centers allows companies to focus on their core business. Calls centers can also be used as a way to brand a business and generate positive word of mouth. Of course, this can only happen if the call center operations meet certain standards. It is also important that the call center is capable of overcoming the inherent negatives from using an offshore entity to handle customer service issues.

The Negatives of Using Call Centers

When a company decides to use the services of a call center outsourcing it must be understood that as with everything else, there may be some hurdles in the beginning. Potential disadvantages of using call centers include:

• Customers are sometimes turned off by the idea of dealing with a third party. They may view the use of call centers as a way for the company to put some distance between themselves and the people who buy their products. 
• Using offshore call centers can come with the added problem of language barriers. The call center representative may not be fluent in English or their accent may make communication difficult. This can be detrimental to the possibility of repeat business or destroy customer trust and loyalty.
• A call center in a different time zone may not be the best fit for a company. A company needs to be certain that a representative is always ready to deal with calls.

Choosing the Right Call Center

Choosing the right call center not only erase disadvantages, but also work in the company’s favor. When looking for the right call center the company must ensure that:

• It has the necessary infrastructure for the job
• The call center has a proven track record
• The network is secure, ensuring protection of sensitive data

Call Centers – Generate Revenue by Satisfying Customers

As the world of business becomes more competitive, companies seek more ways to become leaner and more efficient. Many of them have realized the wisdom of using call centers as a means of providing reliable customer service. Good customer service call center aids in increasing revenue by helping to build customer loyalty.

Large companies are sometimes capable of creating their own call centers to handle customer service issues and to provide technical support services. This option is generally out of the reach of small and medium sized businesses due to the costs involved. For this reason the vast majority of companies, regardless of size will call center outsourcing operations. Financially it is a cheaper option than setting up a call center and when a good company I used customer service is not compromised.

While there are call centers based in the US, companies will typically choose an offshore call center for budgetary reasons. Whatever a company may choose, it is vital that it is able to monitor call center operations to ensure that their customers are getting quality service. Being offshore does not affect the quality service offered by a call center once staff is properly trained.

Onshore vs. Offshore Outsourcing

Today’s business sector is enjoying a massively changing and dynamic industry, particularly when it comes to subcontracting jobs. In the past, the conflict were between doing the job through in-house workforce or outsource it but with the rapid changes in the global economy, this has changed to whether offshore outsourcing or onshore outsourcing will serve the purpose of getting the jobs done. Onshore outsourcing refers to when the job is sent on locally based service or product supplier while offshore outsourcing is exporting the business process outside the country where cheaper labor cost is available. Both these types of business models have become largely popular even if each one has its advantages and disadvantages that can significantly affect the entire business.

Both onshore and offshore outsourcing is geared towards achieving the same goal and that is to minimize and significantly reduce operating costs while raising their productivity levels and reallocating the financial resources on other areas. Onshore and offshore outsourcing like inbound call center has a number of benefits, but if you learn more of these business models, it can help increase the potential of a particular business, it is best to also know the disadvantages that come with onshore and offshore outsourcing.

More often than not, onshore and offshore outsourcing models like most of the inbound call center today offer excellent deals for majority of companies opting to integrate this in their business operation. With onshore outsourcing, companies are able to take advantage of the proximity of the mother company to the organization where the business process is being outsourced. This means that there is no communication barrier to deal with and that makes traveling a lot easier than with offshore outsourcing. The only drawback to this is that the company has to deal with a much higher labor cost and various business regulations implemented locally. For example, onshore inbound call center has a much expensive labor cost compared to its offshore counterpart.

With offshore outsourcing on the other hand, the company can take advantage of a much lower labor cost because the operational expenses spent in business processing are largely minimized when it is outsourced outside the country. Most inbound call center opts to outsource the process out of the country because it is cost effective in their operation while allowing them to obtain qualified workforce at a fraction of the price when the business process is done onshore. Although there are additional operational expenses that must be considered in offshore outsourcing, companies are still able to compensate their losses from the cheap labor cost they can obtain outside the country.

The bottom line here is that as long as it can serve the business purpose for success and great profitability, onshore and offshore outsourcing is designed to perform effectively. It will all come down to the company’s decision on which of these models will allow them to enjoy the maximum opportunity for profits and ROIs while keeping their operational expenses down.

The History of Offshore Outsourcing

Offshore outsourcing is a term we often get to hear today, particularly when it comes to the industrial sector. But the truth is that offshore outsourcing is not a totally novice concept. Industrial companies who are contemplating of taking advantage of the benefits of offshore call center or are already taking part in call center outsourcing would certainly maximize their business opportunities by learning the full history of offshore outsourcing and how they can use it to improve their businesses today. What they say is true that experience is one of the best teachers because it can provide a better way to learn things and avoid the common mistakes that happened in the past.

Offshore outsourcing has been around since the latter part of the twentieth century when industrial companies started to outsource some of the minor aspects of their business to other companies who provide more specialized services. Before call center outsourcing has made a significant contribution in the industry today, business organizations had to handle most of the integral functions of their companies themselves. This kind of business model often leads companies to overlook the key parts of their businesses because their resources are often exhausted in less important matters, resulting in the inefficiency and wastage of valuable funds and company time.

Being able to learn from the mistakes of the earlier business models especially during the 70’s and 80’s lead to the inception of offshore outsourcing. And as the market demanded for more efficient customer service, call center outsourcing has become the emerging trend in business industries. Customer service call center is not the only major service that is being outsourced because companies that integrate offshore outsourcing in their business operations also sub contract some of the major aspects of their businesses including accounting, data encoding, payroll, and human resources to organizations that offer these types of specialized services.

In the early 90’s, organizations only outsourced jobs to some of the local companies that offered the services they were looking for, but in the mid 90’s when the first stage of globalization started to come into view including the major developments in technology and communication, offshore outsourcing developed into a full blown business trend. Another reason why offshore outsourcing became the number one option for business industries is due to its cost effectiveness. Companies opting to outsource some of their business offshore enjoy a much lower labor cost without sacrificing the quality of trained personnel to handle some of the aspects of their businesses.

Offshore call center has also become an integral part of businesses that focus on customer service. This type of offshore outsourcing allowed them to develop better relationship with clients by being able to service their needs without neglecting the core responsibilities of their companies. And as more and more business entities start to take notice of the benefits they can take advantage of from this kind of business model, call center outsourcing and other types of business subcontracting models are expected to grow in the next twenty years or so.

Major Benefits of Offshore Outsourcing

According to recent studies conducted for offshore outsourcing, the single factor that affected call center outsourcing in the past ten years was labor deployment and that is the standard used by most companies when it comes to making decision on hiring workforce on a larger scale and where to send them where they can get a more profitable advantage for their companies. Before, the cost of labor was one of the most important determining factors in management decisions. The truth is that the majority of the offshore call center boom that happened in the 90’s was all because of the cost efficiency offered by call center outsourcing. But as the demand for offshore outsourcing rose dramatically in 2000 up to the present, the benefits of offshore outsourcing today does not solely focus on cost efficiency alone.

Without a doubt, labor cost is among the important factors why offshore outsourcing is popular in the business sector. Call center outsourcing allows companies to perform crucial jobs without the need to pay steep wages compared to doing it onshore. Providing training and sometimes education for the local workforce is a high investment risk for majority of the companies not to mention the wasting of company’s valuable resources on redundant job responsibilities. The core objective of the business is often neglected due to the fact that most of the workforce is preoccupied on minor things like answering customer calls and other related tasks. It really does not make any sense in paying priced wages on jobs that can be performed at a fraction of the cost when the company considers offshore outsourcing.

Another advantage of call center outsourcing is that your business can operate twenty four hours and seven days a week. This is a key benefit for the industrial sector whose main service is offering round the clock assistance for their clients and customer service is a key component, offshore outsourcing is certainly the key to success. By using a call center, companies are able to boost their customer relations allowing clients to transact business with them without having to waste time or wait in line for their turn. If customers have the convenience to quickly access the information they need, client relationship improves significantly. The kind of service provided by call center outsourcing can dramatically enhance the image of the company which in turn attracts more business opportunities.

Offshore outsourcing allows the company to obtain highly qualified staff without paying steep wages. The trained workforce provided for by offshore outsourcing is very efficient in handling calls, giving the kind of customer service a company requires in order to gain an edge and become competitive in servicing the  needs of their clients. Most companies opting for offshore outsourcing observe that they are now able to entertain double the number of calls than they used to before they got into customer service call center outsourcing. This is why most companies today are taking advantage of the benefits offered by offshore outsourcing, not only because it is cost effective for their business, but it becomes easier for them to manage vital statistics and other information essential to their business operation.

Offshore Outsourcing Services: Outsourcing Product Design

Advantages of offshore outsourcing product design

Outsourcing Product Design is the new buzz word in offshore outsourcing services. Sometimes finding the experts to do manufacturing or a specific aspect of design is the more profitable-route and ultimately economical.

Whether it is to cut costs, speed time to market, or get a new angle on a product design, many companies are outsourcing product design as a strategy to handle much of the work that was normally done in-house.
Offshore Outsourcing Services extends to manufacturing as well, but the benefits are different. Companies look to contract manufacturers to bear the financial risk since manufacturing internally requires a huge investment in production and test equipment and raw materials.
The point is once a company outsources they can focus on their own core competencies, devote more time to their customers, and move products out the door faster.

Offshore Outsourcing Product Design: Nitty gritty details

• "Typically you have to keep a couple of months of inventory in stock to draw from in order to manufacture your product," says Freid of Contract Manufacturing Consultants.
• "A contract manufacturer doing that for you, you just put in an order for a product, which you can immediately turn around and sell."
• Time to market is also an appeal for start-up companies. By outsourcing production they can get product rolling out the door faster.

Offshore Outsourcing Product Design: Is it for every one?

Says Freid of Contract Manufacturing Consultants “But contracting manufacturing is not for everyone”, who offers feasibility assessments for his clients.

"If the outsourcing value is small relative to the number of mechanical assemblies, that's not a program that's going to be attractive," Freid says. OEMs should also think twice if a product requires lots of changes or complex systems manufacturing.

Another consideration is the additional material cost. In order to meet their objectives, contract manufacturers need to mark up material costs by as much as 10%, according to Freid.

When should you outsource product design?
Freid says that companies tend to favor outsourcing product design and development

• If the design is for a low-end product relative to their other offerings,
• If the product requires design for manufacturability tests that are not available in house, or 
• If a design falls outside of its core competency.  

Now outsource product design and ring in a different point of view; a different style." to your products- Best of luck!

Advantages and Disadvantages of Offshore Outsourcing

With the ever changing global economy and the growing expenditure of maintaining in - house resources for minor business functions, lots of businesses today, either small or large, often opt for offshore outsourcing in order to trim down operational expenses and still enjoy excellent ROIs. Although some critics may contend that this type of business model can kill the local economy due to the massive reduction in inshore jobs, but in order to succeed in a cutthroat business, companies need to balance the needs of their customer and growing market demand and still be able to enjoy a profitable venture. And with the growing number of companies offering competitive offshore outsourcing services, even small scale businesses have no choice but to consider their options in offshore outsourcing.

More often than not, most of the countries where offshore outsourcing abounds have fewer regulations to meet, not to mention the lower costs of labor as compared to inshore workforce. But with all the advantages offshore outsourcing has to offer, offshore outsourcing services some major disadvantages. The disadvantages of offshore outsourcing services are among the reasons why offshore outsourcing is not a business model for all. For one thing, offshore outsourcing can significantly damage an economy and in the U.S. alone, several jobs are permanently lost and there are a growing number of skilled workers that need to learn new skills and obtain a new field specialization in order to qualify for the other types of jobs left intact by offshore outsourcing.

And because of the introduction of affordable yet highly competitive overseas workers in the job market, wages significantly decreased so in essence, local workers need to compete on a global scale and so do other small businesses that rely on subcontracted jobs of other much bigger corporations.

For large corporations that rely on offshore call center outsourcing services, they have to bear with decreased quality control and reduction in product development. When a company is into offshore outsourcing, the business no longer has control in the quality of materials used on a particular product, as well as the quality of its workmanship. In the United States, this can increase the company’s potential for various product related lawsuits and liabilities which can also potentially damage not only their names but their entire business structure as well.

The communication gap between the country where the service is being outsourced and the company that required the service can also negatively impact the business. This is considered as among the biggest disadvantages of offshore outsourcing and while the growing innovation in technology significantly helps in reducing this drawback, still companies have to properly evaluate their needs for offshore outsourcing and determine if they really need one or the local workforce can satisfy their company requirements.

Small Indian Offshore Outsourcing Becomes More Attractive

Offshore outsourcing in India has become truly successful due to the vast number of advantages offshore call center providers can benefit from. The truth is that there are only a few countries where offshore outsourcing is quite advantageous for call center services and this includes India among any other countries to provide more benefits making it an attractive business proposition for companies to invest in offshore call center services.

What makes offshore outsourcing attractive in India is the relatively low cost of business operation expenses. A lot of major companies in and out of the state had been outsourcing most of their support services requirements for several years now and with the growing advantage business firms can benefit from offshore call center services, the majority of their BPO requirements have also been redirected to the small Indian offshore outsourcing sector in order to take advantage of the greater profits they can make, as compared to directing it to other nearby countries that are also known for offshore outsourcing opportunities. With the increasing cost effective advantage of directly outsourcing most of the back - end support services, the major principles behind this move also have been applied to most of the high end services that can basically improve call center outsourcing for most of the companies that generally require them for a smoother and less complicated business operation. With this strategic approach in business, this has allowed companies to save enormously on their operating expenses.

With a strategic approach in offshore outsourcing in Indian communities, call center services allowed companies to fully concentrate their business efforts in developing and fully managing the main core of their businesses. Generally speaking, offshore outsourcing often leads to reduction and significant cut backs in managerial efforts as well as economize on time and company resources as a whole. By having someone professional to handle their BPO requirements, the company’s manpower will now be able to focus their time in research and business development as well as further enhance their business core products or services. This goes on without saying that the more time you spend on the core of your business, the more you can guarantee a significant increased in your company’s profits.

The good thing about offshore outsourcing particularly in India is that companies are often presented with top of the line alternative hiring opportunities. When you opt to outsource your BPO requirements in cost effective offshore destinations including India in particular, you can enjoy a number of hiring options and you can also hire different types of services only according to what your company really needs. With BPOs, not all projects are the same and it is only vital for your company to have as many choices as possible when hiring qualified and highly skilled personnel.

With all these seemingly excellent benefits of offshore outsourcing particularly in India, business firms will now be able to have the opportunity they need to fully develop their businesses while having majority of their BPO requirements handled by a team of professional personnel. For More Information’s Visit @ http://www.inso.us

Top Risky Offshore Outsourcing Destinations

Although offshore outsourcing for call center services became widely popular for BPO providers, there are things that can make these advantages turn into a great disadvantage. Like any other offshore investments, there are several key factors that can determine whether or not offshore outsourcing will work for the company or not and these include the outsourcing destination and the government’s support of the country where the BPO requirements will be outsourced.

The risks posed by the outsourcing destination will all depend on the company’s views about risky investment. Aside from the risks brought about by the offshore outsourcing destination, legal issues also play a vital role in the success of the offshore outsourcing venture. So in order to avoid lapses and misconstrued judgments, companies are advised to follow all the regulations implemented in a particular country with regards to offshore outsourcing ventures. So, if you are still in the first stage of planning your offshore outsourcing for call center services, it is a must to know at least some of the risk - prone offshore outsourcing destinations around the globe. By doing so, this can give a clear idea as to whether continue your outsourcing ventures in these countries or establish a contingency plan on as how to face the risks presented head on.

Ten Risk-Prone Outsourcing Destinations
This list is not made according to the level of risk involved but the countries are only included so as the readers will have an idea with regards to the risks involved in offshore outsourcing in these countries.

• Bangkok, Thailand
• Bogota, Colombia
• Jerusalem, Israel
• Johannesburg, South Africa
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

These countries make it to the top five due to various reasons including; the instability of their currency, increased rate in personal crime due to the lower ratio of police force to the number of the citizens in the city. The threat of terrorism as well as local rebel uprising also plays a major part in determining the level of risks faced by offshore call center services and offshore outsourcing in general.
The following cities and countries also made it to the list of risky offshore outsourcing destination due to minor reasons including climate threats, various geo-political issues, corruption in government, organized crime, and other related issues. These countries include:

• Manila, Philippines    - climate threats
• Juarez Mexico    - corruption in the government
• Colombo, Sri Lanka    -geo - political issues
• Kingston, Jamaica    - immaturity of the legal system
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia    - environmental issues including pollution

Although the risks presented here do not encourage companies to turn down their plans for offshore call center outsourcing services, it is best to evaluate all the key details with regards to their business objectives and BPO requirements in order for their companies to fully understand the risks they will face and how they would deal with should they decide to continue their offshore outsourcing from these destinations.