Have you considered customer service outsourcing as one of your business strategies?
If not, then you should put it on your list. This is a must-have business procedure especially when your company is growing steadily and has to keep up with the demands of the customers whose satisfaction and experience are top priority to retain them.
What is customer service outsourcing?
Zendesk, a customer support solutions provider based in California, defines customer service outsourcing as a business practice of subcontracting or farming out certain areas of your customer service operations to a service provider or a third-party vendor.
Many of these external providers are business processing outsourcing (BPO) companies that understand your policies, services, and product. The BPOs can efficiently address customer concerns, issues, requests, or feedback for you.
Customer service outsourcing helps your company to get to the next level. But before deciding to hire the services of a BPO company or a managed service program specialist, you should research your potential partner’s capability and reputation, among other things.
Benefits of customer service outsourcing
Business magazine Forbes says outsourcing, in general, is an ideal means to support your business as it progresses. You will find that it’s more cost-effective to outsource the work than hiring additional regular staff.
You can also nullify or end an outsourcing contract without having to directly lay off employees.
It’s a strategy that enables your organization to focus more on its core task while letting a competent outside professional team handle your company’s other important functions.
The New Jersey-based online media adds that outsourcing enhances brand loyalty. In particular, a BPO with extensive management experience and a well-trained customer support workforce provides your current customers high-quality service that will keep them buying your product or service for a long time.
The expertise of an external provider will save you the time and effort of delivering excellent customer service experience and satisfaction.
5 customer service outsourcing stats
Here are five outsourcing trends in 2022 and beyond showing that customer service outsourcing is here to stay. The information below (trends 1-4) is based on the article on the financial resource website Fortunly.
1. Cost-saving will be a top priority for outsourcing
Having extra financial resources to strengthen core business operations is the biggest motivator for outsourcing certain business functions, particularly the information technology (IT) aspect, at 49%. Roughly 45% of organizations farming out their IT function view that this effort will save money.
Approximately 46% say business processing outsourcing (BPO) companies enable them to acquire skill sets that are inaccessible internally.
2. Outsourced customer experience market to reach by almost $82 billion before 2023
The projected worth of the overall customer experience market translates to a 3.51% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in a five-year period. This type of global industry was valued at $75.1 billion in 2019. Customer service is one of the largest outsourced functions for corporations, financial institutions, and large enterprises.
The big portion is attributed to the companies’ main emphasis on customer experience and satisfaction
3. The global financial services outsourcing market is valued at $130 billion
Studies show that outsourcing in the financial services market will keep on increasing by nearly 7.5% every year.
Financial organizations, such as banks, brokerage firms, and insurance firms, will continue to seek the services of third-party vendors and BPOs despite the perceived risks associated with it. The financial BPO is seen to hit the $400 billion market by 2027, with a CAGR of 8%.
4. Almost one-fourth or 24% of small businesses outsource to boost efficiency
Efficiency is the name of the game, at least for many small business owners. They lack the financial and human resources to form their own customer service team, unlike their large counterparts.
Statistics also reveal that 18% of small enterprises resort to outsourcing because they want the external provider’s in-depth knowledge and assistance.
Even in the post-COVID-19 business setting, 52% of the small businesses will still depend on outsourcing their non-core operations.
Based on the study by London-based research firm Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, there are 31 million entrepreneurs in the U.S, accounting for 16% of the adult workforce.
5. The worldwide managed service provider (MSP) industry is seen to hit $41 billion by 2022
An article on the online personal finance resource Capital Counselor website says outsourcing security functions is the main reason why the MSP market continues to rise until next year.
The most vital cybersecurity services that companies should outsource are security operations. Organizations of all types need round-the-clock monitoring and hiring a third-party security team will help in forming a security strategy.
External providers will also manage critical data, including databases, websites, and communication channels.
Office phone systems: a key to successful customer service outsourcing
Customer service outsourcing helps your company to get to the next level. But before deciding to hire the services of a BPO company or a third-party provider, you should research your potential partner’s capability and reputation, among other things.
Among the capabilities that need scrutiny is their office phone systems. You should look into how the phone systems work.
BPO companies like Unity Communications have the latest phone network that allows its customer service staff to collaborate better and improve customer experience leading to higher productivity.
According to an article from Call Flow Solution, having an effective phone system also helps the external provider to operate a seamless call flow process.
This internal procedure of BPOs should also be considered when hiring a provider because the process essentially shows you the sequence of communication between a customer service agent and a customer or caller. Call flows let agents know what to properly say, ask, and do during a call.
Today’s office phone systems are complex but technologically advanced. Many businesses use the latest communication technology known as voice over internet protocol (VoIP) for their daily communication needs.
Offices rely on VoIP-enabled phone systems that offer more features than the traditional telephone networks. VoIP enhances business operations. For instance, business technology resource Business 2 Community notes that this technology has call screening and auto answering rules features that enable you to have total control over who can call your company.
Call screening functions can block numbers or ensure certain callers always contact your office while auto answering rules handle particular and crucial calls at different times of a specific period.
