Four Ways Call Center Outsourcing Can Benefit Your Business

Call Center Outsourcing: Four Ways It Can Benefit Your Business

No matter what industry, business owners and managers know that customer service serves as the nerve center of business operations. Customer requests and feedback offer invaluable real-time data and information about what products and services are in-demand, and which aren’t. They let owners know where to innovate, and where to adapt existing products and services. And most importantly, they work both ways - loyal and existing customers are the best brand ambassadors you can hope for, especially in the age of social media.

For many businesses, handling customer service requests and inquiries is both an essential part of fueling future growth - as well as one that can be heavily draining on organizational resources. One of the reasons for this is simply that training and retaining good customer service staff is hard. Often, many businesses experience turnover among customer service staff that is both resource-draining and demoralizing for managers and operators. This also requires a significant HR investment, in hiring and training new team members, providing feedback and evaluations, and managing staffing to meet surges and recessions in demand, especially for businesses with seasonal demand cycles.

These days, more and more businesses are turning to call center outsourcing as an attractive alternative to building an in-house call center. But why would businesses trust the messaging of their brand and treatment of their customers to an external vendor? Well, here are four of the reasons that are driving this growing trend in outsourcing call center services in a variety of market verticals.

Reason #1: The cost savings

Quite simply, creating your own in-house customer service call center is expensive. Consider the various costs that are required just to create the infrastructure for your own call center:

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• Base rental rates for a facility are often $8-15 on average, and higher in expensive commercial real estate markets. If you need one hundred employees, each with a desk, cubicle, and amenities, some quick math reveals a sizable six or seven-figure investment just to rent the space or buy the building.

• Furniture and technical equipment for a workspace, to create an attractive environment for staff, could run between $1000-2000 (and more) per employee - even a 20-person center could cost upward of $200k in equipment expenditures.

• Staffing costs, for call center service staff and managers, on top of this.

Most medium-sized businesses (or larger) can reasonably anticipate upwards of a million dollar investment just to get your call center online, before investing in hiring and training. Meanwhile, outsourcing your call center removes this entire up-front investment - you are paying for staffing, but sharing the costs of infrastructure with other clients of the call center outsourcing service.

Reason #2: You can conserve valuable HR time and resources for other areas

For established businesses, managing staff in a variety of existing divisions can be stressful enough. Once businesses grow past 100 employees, professional HR services not only require their own investment and staff, but are also facing a full plate of needs and services that will command much of their time.

Adding a sizable number of new employees solely dedicated to a customer service call center can easily overwhelm, or at least strain, your existing HR department. This not only drains budgeting that could be deployed elsewhere (such as developing new products and services), but also opens you up to gaps in oversight over employee conduct and compensation that could expose you to potential liabilities that you are better off avoiding.

Why do call center outsourcing firms avoid this?

• They bring their own professional staff to every project, which not only minimizes the need to hire, but also delivers a higher caliber of trained customer service staff

• Call center outsourcing through firms like Canon ITS also handle training, evaluation, and meeting staffing needs, meaning you simply need to work with your call center service to scale up and scale down as needed

• Professional call center services also go beyond simply providing staff to answer phone - at Canon ITS, staff researches and learns the ins and outs of your business and brand, to serve as an extension of your business seamlessly

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Reason #3: You can easily scale your call center services up or down to meet seasonal demand

For businesses who cater to holiday shoppers, or offer equipment rentals that are in-demand during certain months or quarters, it doesn’t make sense to keep excessive customer service staff on the payroll year-round. Likewise, customers who were used to prompt service when you were overstaffed will be more frustrated than usual during peak surges, when staffing may not be adequate for your incoming requests and communications.

This is one of the unique benefits of choosing call center outsourcing - firms like Canon ITS can work with you to increase or decrease your call center staff based on your seasonal or predicted demands. This lets you maximize your customer service budget, by surging staffing to meet increased customer support requests during your busy season, while saving money by scaling down during slow periods. And all of this can be done without the hiring, firing, or layoffs required when managing your own in-house call center.

Reason #4: It’s one less thing for owners or managers to worry about

The final benefit of outsourcing your call center is quite simple - every business owner has plenty on their plate. From developing your core products or services to meet the shifting needs of customers, to planning marketing and advertising campaigns to expand into new markets or grow your brand, to hiring and training people in core business roles, the requirements of managing a business never dwindle.

That’s why call center outsourcing offers a common sense solution for any business owner who wants to ensure enterprise-level customer service solutions, while avoiding overtaxing themselves or their resources. While some elements of business growth (such as innovation and long-term vision) will always need to be kept within your core team, having experienced and professional customer service staff is something that can be handed off easily and effectively.