During the mid 1990’s there was a boom in the business process outsourcing industry. Around this time companies were fighting for advantage within every sector. If they were to stay competitive they needed to outsource at least some of their non essential processes. To this day, one of the most commonly outsourced processes is customer services.
Customer services are perfect for outsourcing. Often the issues that are dealt with in these departments, whether it is through the phone, email or a website, are fairly non specific. This means that with a little bit of training a customer service outsourcing (CSO) company is able to deliver this service to a very high level. For the business doing the outsourcing they can enjoy significant reductions in costs as they do not have to provide the facilities or training to manage the service in-house. Also, specialist outsourcing companies will often be able to deliver an improved service to their customers owing to the fact that the people providing their customer services are specialists in the field.
Most businesses need some form of customer relations services. For many this needs to be handled in house. If the needs of their customers are very specific then it is important that they speak to someone with adequate experience and expertise. For companies with less specific customer service requirements however, CSO is an option which could present them with significant decreases in their costs as well as a greatly improved service. CSO is suited to businesses from many varied sectors, these include: retail, utilities, financial services, travel and leisure, media and telecom, public and citizen services and logistics and transportation.
If you feel that your business could benefit from CSO then you will need to choose between the many companies within this crowded sector. This can be a daunting task, especially as they all seem to claim the same things. In order to choose the right company you need to pay attention to a few key aspects.
A company that specializes in customer service outsourcing should have resources at its disposal across the globe. Different customer service requirements will call for different solutions. You need to be sure that the company you choose has sufficient resources to ensure that you get the best value for your business. Another critical element to choosing the right company is their expertise and experience. Before committing to a customer service outsourcing company they should be able to show you a portfolio of outsourcing solutions across a number of varied sectors. They should also be able to show you the results that these solutions achieved. By being mindful of these two critical elements you should manage to find a BPO company that will provide both you and your customer with real added value.
