How to Make the Most of Call Center Outsourcing

Call center outsourcing is the practice of engaging an external company to handle contact center or customer support operations on behalf of your business. These companies are known as business process outsourcers (BPOs) or in short, ‘outsourcers’. But why should you be interested in hiring the services of an outsourcer? And what’s the best way to engage one?

Why should you consider call center outsourcing?

Here are the six most common reasons.

1. Flexible customer service

Organizations with workloads that vary significantly by time of day, day of week, or season inevitably face challenges in matching staff supply with customer demand. Outsourcers can help relieve the pressure by offering extended opening hours or even 24/7 service. They can handle overflow during peak times and seasons, ensuring consistent customer service while helping prevent employee burnout.

Even in normal day-to-day business, new requirements can arise at short notice that overwhelm internal processes. BPOs are highly proficient in moving staff between campaigns and thus covering short-term peaks, by leveraging economies of scale.

2. Scalability

When business is going well, customer service must keep pace. For in-house call centers, this often means time-consuming and costly recruitment, workplace provision, additional technology investments, and process adjustments. BPOs take care of all these issues ‘out of the box’. Call center outsourcers typically have ready-to-use infrastructure with available workplaces and trained staff, which enables rapid scaling and deployment without lengthy setup times. Just as importantly, when business ramps down, the client simply reduces the amount of work outsourced to the BPO without the challenges of site closures, staff redeployment or staff redundancies.

3. Rapid upskilling

Providing professional customer service is a challenge, especially for smaller, rapidly growing companies and when customers expect to be served on new channels. A lack of know-how and process competence can disrupt the customer experience.

But that is precisely the core competence of contact center outsourcers. Expert knowledge is much easier to buy than to build in-house.

4. Leveraging new technologies

Whether it's a new communication channel or supporting technology, contact center outsourcers are among the fastest to adopt new technologies. This also benefits their clients, since BPOs often implement transformative changes in customer service that internal teams would not have prioritized.

5. Focus on core tasks

Call center outsourcing allows companies to focus on their core competencies and leave customer service management to specialized BPOs. This is especially important for brands where customer service is not a primary business function.

6. Cost reduction

Let’s not forget the elephant in the room. The most frequently cited reason for working with an outsourcer is cost reduction. The outsourcing business model relies on the fact that a BPO can often offer a more cost-effective solution than internal operations due to lean administrative structures and lower operating costs. But BPOs also find technological ways to minimize fixed costs and thus offer a cheaper service than could be achieved internally.

Call center outsourcing: partnership v. transactional

When companies engage with a BPO, they can choose between a transactional, customer-supplier relationship model or a partnership model. If the engagement is certain to be short-lived and the tasks to be outsourced relatively simple, the transactional model may be appropriate. On the other hand, the partnership model typically leads to a more successful and sustainable relationship, for various reasons:

Alignment of business objectives In a partnership model, the BPO aligns closely with the client’s strategic goals, becoming more than just a service provider. They are invested in the company’s success and committed to helping achieve its strategic goals. The BPO understands the client’s culture and customer service strategy. Conversely, a transactional model focuses on short-term tasks without taking the bigger picture into account.

Better customer experience The partnership model encourages the BPO to acquire a deep understanding of the client’s portfolio, brand, customers, culture, and priorities. The effort involved is justified because the client has committed to a long-term partnership. Outsourcers operating as partners are more likely to go ‘above and beyond’ to ensure that customers receive excellent service. On the other hand, in the transactional model, the focus is on simply satisfying the SLA at the lowest possible cost.

Higher quality of service A partnership encourages continuous improvement and innovation in service delivery. The BPO is motivated to proactively suggest process improvements, technology upgrades, and best practices that drive better outcomes for the client. This isn’t driven by altruism, but rather the goal of adding so much value that the client will be reluctant to replace the BPO with a competitor.  In a transactional model, the focus is usually on complying with the letter of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) and no more, with no expectation of a long-term commitment on either side.

Enhanced collaboration The partnership model fosters open and regular communication between both parties. This leads to stronger collaboration, allowing the client and the BPO to work together on solving issues, optimizing processes, and responding to evolving needs. The transactional model typically includes standardized reporting at intervals and little more.

Greater adaptability A partnership allows for greater flexibility in adapting to changing market demands or customer needs. A BPO that operates as a partner is more willing to rapidly adjust service levels, introduce new technologies, or pivot strategies to align with the client’s evolving priorities. With a transactional model, the scope of work is often rigid and predefined, with any changes being subject to renegotiation.

Shared risk In a partnership, the BPO shares responsibility for outcomes and feels a sense of ownership in the client’s success. This leads to shared accountability, where both parties work toward common goals and handle risks together. A transactional relationship often leaves the client to bear most of the risk, as the BPO provider is simply executing tasks to an agreed minimum standard without a stake in long-term outcomes.