Organisations that consider cost reduction to be the sole reason for outsourcing contact centre operations are overlooking several other substantial benefits. In this article, I’ll review the most compelling reasons to employ a third-party provider to manage your customer care operations.

1) Lower Costs

Cutting costs may be the most often cited reason for outsourcing, yet reducing costs alone, when it affects customer interaction quality and the customer experience, can damage customer relationships and hence loyalty and sales. Leading service providers have the expertise to maximise customer relationships whilst minimising costs by creating a strategic global sourcing plan, emphasising process improvements and scaling up and down quickly in response to your organisation’s exact needs.

2) Increase Revenue per Customer

Customer care was once considered a cost centre but today many organisations realise that investment in customer segments opens up new possibilities of revenue and return and that the people who deliver and directly support the customer interaction are ultimately most able to maximise the customer value. A good service provider can work with you to generate revenue through your customer care operations by improving metrics such as first-call resolution, average handle time, customer satisfaction (e.g. Net Promoter Score) and upsell and cross-sell results.

3) Flexibility and Scalability

Top service providers have the capacity to absorb dramatic demand shifts through their existing technology and human resources, enabling quicker ramp-ups and ramp-downs than in-house centres. The ability to scale quickly can be particularly valuable for short-term programmes. During the Christmas shopping season, for example, some consumer products require a significant number of additional personnel to meet volume demands. In that case, top service providers can offer options for handling the increase, such as distributing the load among multiple contact centres.

4) Improve Compliance and Security

Outsourcing your operations means trusting your customers’ private data to a third party organisation, however, a good service provider will have strong precautions in place to prevent fraud and assure compliance with regulations such as PCI DSS. From thorough background checks during the hiring process to restricted internet access and prohibited mobile phone use on the contact centre floor to paperless work stations, most service providers are far more diligent when it comes to security and compliance than the average organisation.

5) Reduce Customer Churn

Every customer interaction is an opportunity to build your brand and strengthen customer relationships. A contact centre provider’s core competency is customer care services. Some providers have been serving customers for decades and have learned how to maximise customer relationships using creative programmes, highly trained agents and cutting edge CRM techniques and technologies. By providing consistent and accurate handling of customer contacts and incorporating strong tracking and reporting capabilities, contact centres can help you retain improve your brand loyalty and retain your most profitable customers.

Source:http://www.freshbusinessthinking.com/business_advice.php?CID=3&AID=5151&PGID=2

Despite its growing popularity, outsourcing has gotten a bad rap over the past few years. While there may be good reasons for it in certain circles, it doesn’t mean that such strategies aren’t a good idea for small to mid size enterprises.

In fact, I remain a firm believer that in order to run a successful business, some of the best talent must come from outsourcing. If a company doesn’t possess strength in one area, it’s imperative to find experts in that arena in order to capitalize on their expertise. While there’s certainly a cost saving metric to outsourcing in many circumstances, the more important benefit is in the value such professionals can bring to an organization.

At my company, TV Ears, we’ve attained great success because of the partners we’ve collaborated with to assist with various facets of the company. Here are four ways that companies can utilize outside services to help grow their business:

Manufacturing
Firms that build products for companies based on published specifications for a living do it more effectively and efficiently than others.  At TV Ears, we contract some of our products to be manufactured in China and others in California and Utah. Executives should take care here by ensuring that the partner is not only cost effective, but delivers products that meet specific quality standards..

Finance
Depending on the size and scope of your business, it may not be necessary to hire a full-time Finance Director and accounting team. Instead, a solid bookkeeping service along with an outside CFO consultant may be more effective for less money. For example, TV Ears has been extremely fortunate to partner with Grant Brisacher, CFO of B2B CFO®, who plays an instrumental role in analyzing and controlling our operational costs. These individuals can also provide added benefits by bringing with them best practices from other industries and companies to bear on your organization.

Marketing
Some organizations opt to incorporate an internal marketing and PR department. However, there are plenty of qualified individuals that are well versed in various industries that can help a company just as much, if not more so, than an internal team. A better solution might be to hire an in-house director that manages outside Website, advertising and PR services in a coordinated fashion. The result is a more experience staff for the same – if not less – costs than bringing all those disciplines in house. For instance, our Pay-on-Performance PR and Marketing firm, Stalwart Communications, has attained great publicity for TV Ears by successfully securing articles in various key industry trades. Just make sure to hold regular teleconferences and meetings with them to keep everyone on the same page.

Fulfillment
Orders can be processed using a “drop shipping” service; one that requires the company to hold little inventory on site, thereby tying up a great deal of its overhead in products collecting dust in a warehouse. It’s a solution that has caught in for many product companies over the last 10-15 years, and one that can add direct value to an organization’s bottom line.

Whether a company is looking to cut costs or just secure optimal professionals in a particular industry, outsourcing is still a popular practice among small and large businesses as it should be. Delegating certain responsibilities to skilled experts allows organizations to focus more on core aspects of the business. That’s our experience at TV Ears; where our team concentrates on customer service, sales, and product development as we assign new projects to other capable firms without lowering our standards for success.

Source:http://www.fastcompany.com/1585459/the-true-benefits-of-outsourcing