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Business Process Outsourcing
Undoubtedly, outsourcing has fundamentally changed the global business landscape, and is no longer viewed as simply a means of reducing operational costs, but, as competition increases and budgets wear thin, is adding value beyond lowering costs. A recent Duke University study of 100 companies in the Fortune 500 found that respondents were overwhelmingly satisfied with their outsourcing operations. Seventy-two percent said their implementations met or exceeded expected savings. Five distinct factors companies consider when electing to outsource are: Lower Costs Reducing cost remains the most important reason driving enterprises to outsource. According to industry analysts at Gartner, 80 percent of companies name cost cutting as the main reason for outsourcing. Cross and Upsell Opportunities The days of sales calls in the middle of dinner are over. Outbound calling is intrusive, disruptive, and ultimately damaging to the customer relationship, while inbound calls are a powerful and productive way to generate revenue. Companies leave a great deal of potential revenue by not cross and upselling at the right moment during in-bound interactions. The financial services industry is surprisingly sophisticated when it comes to the benefits of cross and upselling. One of the world's largest investment banking institutions decided to tap outsourcing to meet three primary objectives: drive additional revenue in sales campaigns; create lead generation for a growing offering; and manage customer inquiries related to credit card services. The company successfully met these objectives, upselling $50 million in balance transfers, ranking first among all service centers in customer satisfaction, and generating an additional $600 million in revenue. Retention One overlooked benefit of outsourced customer care is the ability to generate higher retention rates. The combination of creative programs, informed and talented agents, and timely execution can lead to dramatic increases in customer retention. Agents need to think of every customer interaction as an opportunity to increase satisfaction and retention, saving revenue by turning a cancellation call into a retained customer. As satellite radio is proving, entire industries are now upping the stakes by giving away their service for a given period of time. These companies rely on talented customer care associates to make sure the customer starts paying for the service when the trial period is over. Customer retention is a central part of the company's business model, making outstanding customer care a critical part of the company's ultimate success. Scale One of the biggest benefits of outsourced customer care is flexibility. Partnering with an outsourcing company with a deep stable of agents worldwide enables a company to quickly scale up or down based on demand. Two of the biggest drivers that create this demand are seasonal spikes (Christmas, Valentine's Day) and marketing promotions. One consumer company that outsources its holiday calls experiences a volume increase of more than 500 percent, requiring several hundred temporary agents. Diversification Some companies want to keep part of their call center operations internal and outsource other parts, often because they have experienced success running their operations internally, but are looking to supplement the program with outside expertise or geographies. Diversifying call center operations in this manner is an excellent way for companies to keep internal benchmarks in place to maximize the outsourcing results. One rapidly growing financial services company turned to outsourcing for its prepaid debit card products and services. This company sees customer support as its most important competitive differentiator. Our services include:
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