Some companies are not into outsourcing. I get it. Actually, I don’t get it, because when the most successful companies in most, if not all verticals outsource, there is a reason. A company can’t be good at everything. We all know the old saying “Do what you do best and outsource the rest” But why do most people have such a hard time with this simple concept?
There is a big difference between outsourcing personal tasks and outsourcing company departments such as customer service, marketing, IT and the like and yet we generally use the same thought process for both when deciding if and when to outsource. What causes this thought process? Why are we hesitant to focus on our core strengths and outsource the rest? It comes down to management’s fear of giving up “control”. It’s a trait most of us have grown up with from childhood and carried it into our adult working world. We try to give logical reasons as to why we do this:
- It’s easier to control in house
- Outsourcing won’t do as good a job as an in house team
- It’s too expensive; We can do it cheaper in house.
There is some level of logic to each of these thought processes and that is why it’s so tempting to follow them, however for most companies, nothing could be further than the truth. Here are some thoughts in the customer service / call center space that GuateCall, our near shore call center company, specializes in.
Let’s take the first objection, “It’s easier to control in house.” With the U.S. unemployment rate at an all time low and employee turnover constantly increasing, it takes a lot of effort to hold on to good employees. Employees aren’t just working for your business, they are working for their immediate supervisor. How much time and effort does a company need to train and maintain a management team working in the “trenches” that will embrace your company culture and maintain a staff of people under them to work the way the company wants. That alone should point to the difficulty that lies ahead for companies controlling everything in house. Add to that recruitment, training, meetings, technology and space for a changing number of employees. The monetary cost, the time spent consistently following up and creating continuous improvements is anything but easy.
The next objection is that an outsourcer won’t do as good a job as an in house team. From personal experience I know this to be false. Nothing beats having an experienced contact center that was created to focus specifically on servicing clients using the latest technology as well as time tested methods. A good outsourcing BPO partner has a management team in place with years of experience and a staff that has served multiple clients for years. A successful call center partnership creates an environment where the employees feel that they are working for the ultimate client, not the outsourcer. Outsourced call centers have consistently proven that due to their specific business focus, experience and constant improvements, they will outperform in house call centers in most instances.
The third part of the equation is it’s cheaper to run a call center in house. If looking at strictly an employees’ hourly wage, it may be true, however we all know that is only the beginning of the costs. The recruiting, training, management, liability, space, equipment, insurance, taxes, payroll, sick days, turnover, the list goes on and on. When you add up all that, outsourcing becomes a lot more attractive. In today’s global environment a business can also reduce costs by choosing a near shore call center, like GuateCall, over an on shore option. There are pluses and minuses to each option, but in general a high end near shore call center will offer on shore quality at a discounted rate. This gives a business a very attractive option for maintaining high service levels while controlling and even reducing costs.
The right outsourcing partnership allows businesses to focus on their core competencies and outsource the other work. If your company is in need of outsourcing customer service by phone, chat or email, reach out to GuateCall for high end service with affordable pricing.
This article was written by Perry Silber, COO of GuateCall. GuateCall is a Near-shore contact center provider of multi-channel bilingual English and Spanish call center services located In Guatemala, Central America. Whether through voice or chat, we can provide superior services to your organization. If you would like to learn more about GuateCall and Call Center services in Latin Ameri