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Why Outsource Customer Service to Reduce in house Workloads

Outsource Customer Service

By ameridial usaPublished 2 years ago 3 min read
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With remote working becoming the mainstream in the corporate sector, most organizations are venturing out options to reduce their in-house workloads and operational expenses either by hiring freelancers who provide remote support or by choosing to outsource customer service to an external firm. BPO services usually comprise tasks that cover customer care as well as back-office functions. Nonvoice services include email marketing, chat support and back-office functions like payroll assistance; MIS report making; document validation and processing; inventory management; data mining and appending; data entry; transcription and coding. Voice functions include answering support and telemarketing. In addition, many contemporary and digital call centers also offer social media marketing, search engine optimization as a part of digital marketing and online reputation management.

While it does seem like a good decision to invest in freelancers and promote a virtual office environment, it is laden with many risks apart from time-consuming training and monitoring. A wiser decision would be to outsource customer service rather than putting important customer and business information in the hands of freelancers who can't be held responsible for anything wrong that happens afterward. At the most, you can terminate them from their duties. Any SLAs do not bind them, and that's why the term 'freelancers' is being used.

How is an outsourced workforce better for your business?

There are several reasons why outsourcing back-office processes serve as a better option than relying on freelance employees. Here are some of the reasons why:

24/7 presence

Although, on average, freelancers work for a longer duration than your in-house employees or an outsourced team, it is also a fact that they handle too many works from different clients at the same time. So, asking them to give more time to your projects is futile. Besides, there is no way to be sure about their availability 24/7. It can be ruinous in a position when a client or a regulatory entity is at your office, asking for information, and the employee handling the critical information can't be reached by phone or by any other channels at that moment. There is no way out to convey to the employee about the urgency of that call.

On the other hand, you would always be sure about the availability when you outsource customer service as the outsourcing firm is responsible for 24/7 assistance. There will be a team working on your project and not any single person. It ensures someone or the other is available all the time to respond to their client's demands and urgent requests.

Less liability

Your in-house customer service team needs fringe benefits and all privileges that your direct employees get to enjoy. On the other hand, you get employees who work for you but under a different parent company altogether. The duty to provide benefits lies with that outsourcing firm and not you.

Information and data security

Freelancers work from home. So, you do not know what system they use, do they have internet firewall protection, or anything that assures data security and information confidentiality. One of the most significant advantages of partnering with a BPO to outsource customer service is that your customer and company information remains in safe hands. Your partnered agency is responsible for complying with Data security protocols and regulations like PCI DSS and HIPAA.

Final words

While there are perks of just having your team or hiring a freelancer when needed, safety, reliability, and performance are not guaranteed. If you plan to set up your internal customer support team, be ready to invest money and time for training and infrastructure. On the other hand, if you hire a BPO, you have to do your legwork. Once you sign the SLAs, the rest is handled by the BPO provider. So, decide what is best for you.

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