Tips to Mitigate the Risks Associated with Outsourcing

For many business organisations the idea of availing services offered by inbound call centres is very lucrative. And why not; after all there is so much that a business organisation can gain from it. No matter how tempting this option is, there are some risks involved in availing outsourced services.

One wrong step in the selection procedure of your outsourcing partner can cost you and your business dearly. For example, you might be looking at cost saving while availing 24-hour telephone answering service, but if your service provider is not efficient and does not understand your business requirement, than you will end up incurring more expenses than saving. There are numerous stories making the rounds of internet that talk about big failures and blunders that have happened in outsourcing industry. There have been instances where the outsourcing partners were not equipped with equipment, technology and human resources to efficiently manage the scope of the outsourced project. In other instances, service providers who had made tall claims about their track record and quality failed to deliver on the needs and expectations of their clients.

In light of all these instances, it is advisable that if you are willing to avail inbound call centres services offered by third-party service providers and want to mitigate the chances of such risks, then you must implement the following preventive measures effectively.

1. Clear communication on critical issues:

The first step you should take to mitigate the risks associated with outsourcing inbound call centres function and availing 24-hour telephone answering service must be taken at the nascent stages. This first step involves having a clear communication with your outsourcing partner on all relevant and critical issues.

2. Sharing accountabilities and responsibilities: 

To improve the effectiveness of outsourcing inbound call centres function and mitigate associated risks, it is imperative that you and your outsourcing partner take the burden of handling the risks and share accountabilities and responsibilities to ensure effective implementation and management of the process. 

3. Ensuring accomplishment of goals: 

Nowadays, where businesses are more concerned about quality and results, only an insignificant chunk of business organisations avail BPO services to reduce their overhead costs. Therefore, when you collaborate with a service provider and avail their 24-hour telephone answering service or any other services, you must ensure that the service level agreement (SLA) should be prepared in such a manner that it helps you accomplish your business goals. Such alliances that does not yield productive results for business serve no better purpose than becoming a mere way to reduce operational costs.

4. Set pre-defined standards for quality and key performance indicators:

Before availing inbound call centres services offered by your outsourcing partner you must define and document certain terms like quality and quantity. You must also set parameters that will help you define success and failures. Also, you need to identify key performance indicators (KPIs), set timelines and decide on benchmarks for accomplishing business goals. Also, include a provision in SLA that in case these pointers are not met with, then you will impose penalties and follow up with your outsourcing partner to know the reasons why it failed to deliver and accomplish pre-set targets.

5. Opt for a trial run:

It is always advisable that before getting into contract with an outsourcing company, you must take a trial run to ensure whether the company that you have chosen is capable of delivering on your expectations or not. You can opt for a trial period that may run from one month to three months or any length of time as per your convenience to check whether the outsourcing company is capable of handling the scope of work and offer 24-hour telephone answering service. At the end of the designated trial run period, if you are satisfied with the services offered by the company, then you can work on the final agreement and avail the services offered by the provider.

6. Ensure Scalability:

In this competitive market where businesses keeps on changing on daily basis to meet the needs and demands of customers, it becomes crucial for you that you leave a scope of change in your agreement with your outsourcing provider. The outsourcing model that you choose must be able to adapt and absorb all the changes that may arise in future.

In addition to this, you must ensure that your outsourcing partner has access to right technology, that it recruits qualified and experienced professionals and will keep your information confidential. If you will keep these points in mind while availing inbound call centres services, you will not only be able to reduce the chances of risks, but will be actually able to leverage the benefits offered by outsourcing.

Next Article: How Call Centre Outsourcing Benefits Businesses in the UK