subject: Why You Should Join The 60% Of Businesses Looking To Outsource More Call Centre Services This Year [print this page] Over 60% of businesses who currently outsource their call centre services are looking to outsource even more services this year, according to a recent report by the National Outsourcing Association (NOA).
The reason behind the growing confidence in outsourcing to support business activities has been placed on the cost-saving it offers. As businesses explored their cost-cutting options in 2009, many turned to outsourcing to maintain a high quality service whilst reducing costs.
Outsourcing your call centre services allows you to maintain essential business functions such as telephone answering and call diverting, but at a cost that is always smaller than doing so in house. With the average salary for receptionists currently around 17,000, outsourcing these activities is significantly less expensive.
There are other benefits to outsourcing too: it's a flexible option that can be increased or reduced to suit seasonal needs; you get access to experts at a cost that is far smaller than if you were to use their consultancy services in house and you can choose a company with multilingual staff to make conversations with international clients and customers easier.
It is essential to focus on the quality of the service when choosing an outsourcing company; cheap contracts are often cheap because the quality is poor. This low level of quality will result in a poor return on investment and could even damage your brand reputation. Martyn Hart, Chairman of the NOA, agrees. Speaking about the report he said: "It is not surprising that interest in outsourcing is continuing to grow. However, continued focus on cost above everything else means that many are pushing through higher volume low cost contracts, over shorter time frames. This short-termism can be dangerous and these kinds of contracts frequently fail.
One great tip is to think of outsourcing as working with the company; making decisions with the outsourcer, checking results of calls and even monitoring conversations will allow you to stay in the loop and monitor whether the company you have outsourced to is sticking to your agreed objectives and meeting your expectations. This way you can retain control over how you're being represented over the phone, whilst making essential cost savings at the same time.
