International Dilemma
Businesses are moving outsourced call center operations back to the United States due to the ability of domestic providers to reasonably reduce costs while maintaining the highest quality of customer care. Domestic call center providers like ProLog have lower employee turnover, which is often a key contributor to delivering a quality customer experience. The continuity and greater stability of the domestic workforce proves more important in the long run than the initial cost savings frequently presented by foreign call center providers.
When choosing a foreign call center provider, businesses increasingly encounter issues caused by the lack of cultural affinity of the individuals working within the call center, including those managing the organization. It’s generally considered important to have individuals who have an intimate and personal understanding of the American consumer and/or business in order to provide optimal service.
Businesses are more likely to use domestic call center partners for all their needs, including higher priority customers or more technical information requirements, due to the comfort level with the quality provided by the domestic partner. Some of the benefits of outsourcing are lost when companies find that they can only outsource certain transactions and customers to a non-domestic provider, but must maintain responsibility for the more sophisticated or difficult transactions. This adds complexity and costs that often offset the apparent upfront cost savings offered by foreign call center operators.
Political stability is also a key cause for concern when selecting non-domestic partners for call center operation. The political climate in many countries is unstable, which makes a decision to partner with businesses in these regions a high-risk investment when viewing the relationship from a long-term perspective.
Foreign call center providers are also more difficult to manage from a client perspective. The physical distance to these locations means senior management must commit significant time and expense in traveling to the foreign provider’s location, whether it is for a business review, training or any other purpose. The hours of operation for key call center management are often difficult to coordinate due to time zone differences, which frequently results in unnecessary delays and lost opportunities. E-mail and CRM applications supplement personal communication, but do not replace the need for it entirely.
Businesses are recognizing the sensibility of outsourcing certain “non-core” functions due to the related savings and efficiencies. However, “non-core” does not mean that it is acceptable to sacrifice the quality of the customer interaction and experience. In order to balance the conflicting priorities of reducing costs and improving the customer experience, domestic providers such as ProLog provide clients the ability to strike a balance among these requirements and in turn meet all of your call center requirements.