Grow Your Business through Contact Centre

Outsourcing

Fanny VazDirector, Personal Market Unit,CTM

• Balancing the benefits and concerns

• Steps to successful outsourcing

• Choose a strategic partner to grow your business

Agenda

People management

Operational procedures

Technical infrastructure

Marketing support

Management expertise

What should an outsourcer offer ?

Reduce your unit costs Increase your service offering

Access new markets

Approach more customers

Improve quality

Focus on your goals

An outsourcer should help you to

Balancing Benefits vs Concerns

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Reasons to Outsource• Improve, or focus on core competencies

• Gain access to “expert” capabilities

• Reduce and control costs

• Gain access to resources not available internally

• Need to implement change

• Regain control of difficult functions

• Need to reduce risks

Potential Benefits of OutsourcingCost reduction– Experience between 10-30% savings over do-

it-yourself

Potential quality improvements– By your own metrics, between 10-30%

Competitive Advantages– Time to market, flexibility, out of hours

coverage

Access to Expertise– Technology, tools, structured methodologies,

procedures, experience…..

Reasons not to Outsource ?

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Anticipated supervisory problems ?

Concerns

• Outsourcing company does nothing but focus on call centre management, can provide you with better control, more analysis and reporting and better service

Existing operation in place ?

Concerns

• Existing call centre does not mean that requirements are / can be fully met

• Financially difficult for internal call centre to run short term / ad hoc programmes

Confidentiality ?

Concerns

• Depends largely on applications

• Good use of technology will ensure data security

• Careful selection of staff and use of confidentiality agreements can also overcome most of the concern

Skills ?

Concerns

• Recruitment with appropriate skills

• In-depth product training in conjunction with the client

• Skill level requirements for most of the applications are not high especially for temporary programmes

• Use of sophisticated technology can help to fully guide the agents to handle calls in a consistent manner

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Quality Issues ?

Concerns

• Extensive monitoring of agents

• Best practice management

• Service levels guarantees / agreements

Steps to Outsourcing• Define the strategic and

tactical reasons to outsource• Determine your objectives• Evaluate potential benefits• Evaluate supplier competence

carefully• Form a partnership with your

supplier• Be aware of your role and

responsibilities• Be aware of the limitations

Evaluating a Partner

Partnership - the three “R”s• Reputation• Existing Relationship• References

The Details• Agents• Operational procedures• Quality• Technical infrastructure• Management

Evaluating a Partner - Agents

• Agent selection, recruitment criteria and proceduresYour involvement in agent selection and recruitment

• Training programmes, frequency, quality, purpose Your involvement in training

• Employee motivation and incentive management

• Employee terms and conditions• Employee satisfaction• Supervision and supervisory procedures• Use of employees in client focus groups

Evaluating a Partner - Operations

• Operational procedures• Extent and efficiency of workforce

scheduling• Efficiency of operation, agent utilisation,

service levels• Flexibility of workforce management• Resourcing• Quality assurance procedures and tools• Type and frequency of call monitoring

Your involvement in this• Escalation procedures and corrective

actions

Evaluating a Partner - Technology

• Technical infrastructure• Resilient, high availability

architecture• Flexible design• Capacity• Innovative use of technology• Integration capabilities• Backup, contingency, disaster

recovery

Evaluating a Partner - Account Management

• Project management• Account management• Reporting

• Service level• Quality• Contact reporting

The Clients ROLE

• Setting your objectives• Clarity ! Define your

requirements and share your problems

• Define measurable criteria for cost and performance

• Aim to build an ongoing and mutually successful relationship

• Ensure enough resources to properly manage your relationship

• Ensure your fullest participation where it is required

Thank you !

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