Outsourcing is not for everyone, and we have been very open about that, in fact, we did an entire episode on 10 reasons why you should NOT outsource. These 7 falsehoods though are topics that organizations that are new to call center outsourcing to think are reasons why they would NEVER outsource. This is a false narrative. This week we talk specifically about these seven excuses for reasons not to outsource.
Myth 1: You Will Lose Control
This is the scariest reason for an organization to not want to outsource. Never think outsourcing means you are losing control. Plus, losing control to a certain extent is not a bad thing. It is good to be hands-off with some aspects of your organization. We all know you don’t want to be doing the day-to-day service upkeep, the monitoring, and the organizing of your analytics.
Meanwhile, there are still plenty of things you still do not lose control over. Through any organization, BPO, or outsourcer that is worth their salt, you will get access to live dashboards. You can log in, see your stats, watch your agents, watch your service levels, and do all this in real-time. In the 90s, it may have been more common that call centers would fudge their numbers or lie about service levels and conversion rates. Those sketchy practices do not exist now, but if caught, they should be fired immediately. The real-time dashboards add a new level of accountability on our end, and security on yours.
Furthermore, have a good relationship with your client services manager. A lack of communication is the number one reason why a program might fail.
Myth 2: Quality Will Take A Hit
The number one misnomer is that you think doing something internally automatically means it will be better. Compared to any internal customer service department, and outsourcing partner will be better because:
A) This is what we do all day, every day.
B) We monitor for you and we have the analytic and QM software to gather any information you might need.
C) We have QM Managers that have been in the field for decades and have years of experience listening, monitoring, and coaching agents.
D) We know the culture we want to hire and we know the culture that will fit your organization.
Now, I cannot speak for offshore or nearshore outsourcing, but there might be some voice or language discrepancies you will have to deal with. All of them come with a different learning curve, but there will always be an increase in quality if you outsource directly from a U.S. provider. Customer service and customer care is our primary service.
Myth 3. You Will Not Be Able to Integrate Your Data Systems
You might think if you already have your own proprietary systems or your own CRM, that you will need to change your data to fit the systems your call center has. This is not true at all. We always say here, “You have to understand the F-word”: Flexibility. We can integrate anything. Whether you are using Salesforce, ZenDesk, Zoho, or a proprietary system, we can easily integrate that with our phone system.
In regards to data needs, obviously if it is in the cloud we can log in, but otherwise we can set up secure VPNs. If is our job, not yours, to be flexible with whatever system you have.
Myth 4: Your Program is Too Complex For an Outsourcer
If your program is complex, that is even more of a reason to reach out to an outsourcer. I guarantee they have seen much more difficult programs. High-end call centers are used to working with complex clients with different data sources on different screens, and different ways to train agents.
Myth 5: Agent Turnover Will Be High
It is understandable to be concerned that when outsourcing. You will think agent turnover will be high and you do not want to pay for all that training. First off, turnover while outsourcing will always be less than in an internal call center. Secondly, you should never have to pay for attrition training. When you are first getting started with us, you would pay for the initial training, but if in a year you lose 5 or 10 of your 100 agents, the outsourcer pays to replace them. This both incentivizes us to hire the best people for your program and guarantees you quality.
You will still need to ask those specific questions like, Who are my reps? What are the reps on my program being paid? Here at Expivia, we lean very heavily into the employee engagement and experience aspect of the job. We want people to love working with us, which gets them to stay. Having a culture of fun is very important to us.
Myth 6: You’ll Have Less Security
This is a legitimate concern. You need to make sure, even if your program does not deal with credit cards or any financial information, and maybe just password resets or package statuses, that your outsourcer is PCI Compliant.
Security should always be of utmost importance. Ask your outsourcer what security measures they have taken for their at-home workforce. I can tell you most USA contact centers are like Fort Knox. Badges, biometric locks, clean desk policies, cell phone and social media policies, computer lockdowns, and PCI Compliance are all implemented.
Myth 7: The Cloud is Not Dependable
This is simply not true. Our Uptime is at 99.999% constantly. We are on a stable platform; we use InContact, and our servers are almost never down. (Knock on wood). I understand the concern with old-schoolers. Systems like BPX and Mitel were rock solid because everything was a direct connection. Nowadays, if your internet is good, you are secure. If you are a BPO, then your internet is fully redundant; Fiber = solid.
It is important to think through what is real and what is not when you are looking to outsource. Do not live in your fears! Talk to the organizations you would like to outsource and drill them. Do not be afraid to ask questions and send out an RFP. You should feel comfortable with the decision you are making and be confident in the service and security.
Want more call center operations content? Head over to our weekly call center operations podcast “Advice from a Call Center Geek!” at expiviausa.com/call-center-geek-podcast/
