Why outsource?
Many companies are choosing to outsource their business functions to other companies to save and be able to deliver the increasing needs of their customers. This trend is driven by practical business sense. First, there is no way to dismiss the cost savings they get on outsourcing; second, it is not just simply about labor cost but the need to do it in order to survive in the industry; third, there is the fact that they need to deal with the shortage of skilled and expert individuals who can increase their company’s productivity; and lastly, these companies see the potential to significantly expand their business specifically through offshore outsourcing to countries like the Philippines and India.
In 2001 Keith Dawson in his book, "The Call Center Handbook: The Complete Guide to Starting, Running and Improving Your Call Center" predicted that Call center agent outsourcing in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) will grow significantly over the next five years, as companies look to outsource non-core competencies according to a report from analysts in Data monitor. True enough this has been the trend for the past seven years.”
Nowadays, Philippines, India, Singapore and China are the core big players of offshore outsourcing worldwide particularly in the ASEAN nation geographically and strategically. Among these countries, the Philippines remains to be the main choice for English voice-based work for the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia for many Filipinos are known to be competent, highly fluent English speaking and western culture inclined individuals. Filipinos are recognized as those who worked harder, easier to train, with better language skills, and more devoted in their work.
The practical reasons for outsourcing
- Cost-saving
If you would compare the labor costs between in-house staff and outsourced manpower, you can save more if you choose the latter. Moreover, your company can save a lot on recruitment costs, infrastructures, and other expenditures since there is an outsourcing service provider that can offer the services you needed at a lower cost but with the same level of quality and efficiency you like.
- Increase productivity and efficiency
Outsourcing provides the freedom to define and concentrate on the specific needs of a company. Since offshore outsourcing saves you a lot on labor cost, you can have more individuals working for your business through your outsourcing partner and this increases your business productivity. Moreover, work efficiency also increases when you outsource since outsourcing providers have greater resources and expertise than your company on that outsourced function. And this trend of increasing efficiency will continue due to competition among outsourcing providers.
- Gain a competitive edge on better technologies without capital investment
Not all companies are able to cope up with the fast changing technology, however with outsourcing you can benefit from better technologies that an outsourcing partner uses in providing their services. Since they specialize on specific service, they see to it that the service they provide is inline also with the latest technology to increase the quality and efficiency of the services.
- Higher flexibility
It is true that cost saving is a one great deal why a company should outsource, but there is more to it than that. Outsourcing gives you the freedom to control and get the service immediately whenever you need it. It can be a project based agreement. You do not need to hire additional staff if you only need them in a certain span of time. For instance, you just need additional customer support every Christmas season to cover the bulk number of calls during that season. With outsourcing you have higher level of flexibility to define your manpower depending on your business needs.
- Focus on core business functions
When companies outsource, the time, effort and cost that should be for non core business functions could be allotted to more important aspects of their business. They can continue to operate effectively while they are well focused on core functions.
What should you be looking for in your outsourcing provider?
After considering the reasons why it is great for your company to outsource, the first step you need to do is choose the right outsourcing provider. It is a smart choice to outsource, however failure to choose the right outsourcing provider or partner can hurt your business. You have to be careful and should consider the following important aspects.
- Trust. In business trust is a very important matter. When you outsource, it is the same to entrusting your business to your provider. The provider must be trustworthy enough to make your outsourcing successful.
- Quality and Efficiency. You do not want the second best of course like everyone else in business. If you want to be the best in what you do, choose a provider that can help you make it happen. Choose the outsourcing provider that provides the quality and efficiency you wanted. You have to consider their ability to offer this quality assurance.
- Cost-effective. The outsourcing services they provide must be cost-effective. Although low cost matters what important is that their service itself is fair and worth paying for in terms of service quality.
The abovementioned aspects should be present to an outsourcing provider before choosing them to be your partner in achieving your goals in business.
For your outsourcing needs, Call Com Inc is just the right outsourcing partner for you. Inclusive of our services are the following:
- CRM (Customer Relationship Management) Assistance
- Technology Infrastructures/Web development
- Multimedia Design and Development
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization) AND SMO Solutions
- Lead Generation
You may contact our customer support for free evaluation of your business needs or inquiries about our services through phone at 1-866-921-9812 or send us an email to support@callcominc.com.