Customer Service Outsourcing - Service Or Disservice?
Is customer service outsourcing the solution to lowering support costs without degrading customer satisfaction?
When faced with rapid growth or a significant increase in the customer base, company owners may be faced with the dilemma- to outsource or not to outsource customer-facing services? Outsourcing customer service and support is a trend in business process outsourcing (BPO).
What it means is that calls and inquiries are directed to people that specialize in handling large volumes of queries. Sometimes, companies hire their own employees to deal with customers, to help with customer service issues, and to offer advice and support, but when companies become too large or encounter volumes of inquiries that they can't handle, they turn to outsourcing as an option to help them deal with the onslaught.
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1. Outsourcing Call Center Customer Service Practices
While there is no distinct cut-off point when companies should begin to implement this option, several situations may dictate that customer relationship management, CRM outsourcing might be considered.
Significant company growth may mean a swelling customer base and outsourcing may reduce the stress of hiring any new employees. The desire to save money- because increased call volumes mean that companies have to invest in greater capital, perhaps in the form of new employees, a new call center space, or customer relationship management software- may mean that the cheapest option is to outsource offshore.
Learning and experimenting for new and developing companies may mean that before investing in sophisticated call centers and elaborate phone systems, companies can use contact center outsourcing to learn the ins and outs of customer service. Additionally, unpredictable call volume may be very difficult to plan for, in terms of hiring employees, and outsourcing companies provide consistency for companies- regardless of the volume of calls.
2. Is Outsourcing The Solution?
However, much as call center outsourcing may benefit companies in certain situations, it is by no means a panacea for companies to deal with customers. Those businesses that have very uncomplicated and clear-cut transactions and support may greatly benefit from this resource. But the cases of products with multifaceted and complicated sales cycles and customer support issues that necessitate thorough and comprehensive troubleshooting generally do not fare well with outsourcing.
There are also other issues associated with customer service outsourcing. By and large, when companies implement this resource, the employees who are handling the calls are from overseas countries. Although there are many reasons for offshore outsourcing, the most common of all is that employees from foreign countries are much cheaper to employ than those from home.
They are willing to work much longer days for much lower wages and the amount of money being saved is too tempting for many companies. This is despite the fact that consumers aren't very fond of the fact that fellow citizens are being passed over for these jobs. Another issue that irks customers is the language barrier- it's very frustrating to attempt to handle a product malfunction with someone who is unfamiliar with both the product and the language.
Yet another concern of customers and company decision-makers is that when hiring employees who are not loyal to the company itself, they have little knowledge of the products and little concern for the customer base. Customers who call these outsourced service employees may find that the person on the other end of the line is reading from a script and invests no effort in making the customer feel more at ease or relaxed about his frustrations.
3. Summary: Pros and Cons of Customer Service Outsourcing
While there may be major cost benefits in outsourcing customer service, especially to offshore call centers, the ultimate yardstick is customer satisfaction. There are issues associated with business process outsourcing, some of them negative, and it is important to recognize them. It is important for companies to weigh their costs and the benefits of utilizing outsourcing rather than hiring their own employees. Customers and their needs should be primary and in some situations, outsourcing may be best kept at home with employees who are loyal to the company and its products.
