How Call Center Outsourcing Services Can Save You Money?

Providing quality call center outsourcing services often comes with a price tag, but that doesn’t mean it has to break the bank.

For businesses seeking cost-effective and scalable customer care solutions, the adoption of call center models has become a popular choice.

In this article, we will explore five key ways in which utilizing a call center outsourcing can help streamline operations, enhance expertise, and cut down on costs. Before delving into the cost-saving aspects, let’s first gain a clear understanding of what a call center entails and the services it can provide.

Navigating Call Center Outsourcing Operations and Expenditures

Call centers exhibit considerable variation, but fundamentally, they serve as hubs for managing both inbound and, to some extent, outbound customer calls and communications. Their primary focus is on delivering customer service and support with a key emphasis on ensuring customer satisfaction.

These centers can offer a range of services, including:

• Inbound / Outbound Calling
• Answering Services
• Customer Care
• Loyalty Programs
• Cross-selling / Upselling
• Telemarketing or Market Research
• Omnichannel / Multichannel Support
• Multilingual Customer Service
• Data Analysis
• and more!

Consequently, managing call center outsourcing operations can present logistical complexities. While various models are available, the crucial decision often boils down to choosing between in-house management, involving the internal handling of operations, hiring, processes, and software, or opting for outsourcing. This article primarily focuses on the latter, as many companies turn to outsourced call centers to save time, money, and resources.

Outsourcing your call center shifts the responsibility of managing operational and logistical challenges to the service provider. Typically, call centers offer cost-effective pricing models, such as flat-rate fees, per-agent fees, or usage-based fees (e.g., per-minute or per-hour). These fees encompass all overhead costs, agent salaries, and benefits. Consequently, outsourcing not only makes call center expenses more affordable but also relieves the operational burden from your organization.

Optimizing Costs: Five Ways Call Center Outsourcing Cut Business Expenses (and a Bonus Tip for Revenue Generation)

  

  

There are five key ways your call center outsourcing services can save your business money:

• reducing overhead costs
• maximizing efficiency
• leveraging economies of scale
• ensuring expanded service coverage
• access to new technology

We’ll get into each of these below.

1. Reducing Overhead Costs

The primary and significant cost-saving advantage provided by call centers is the reduction in overhead expenses. Hosting an in-house call center means bearing all associated overhead costs, but outsourcing allows the distribution of these expenses among various clients of the call center, relieving your business from the burden.

Let’s explore some of the overhead costs that outsourcing a call center can alleviate:

  

In-house Cost	Outsourced Cost
Office space and / or office equipment and furniture	Per-agent hourly rates
Technological equipment for employees such as phones, headsets, and laptops	Setup fees
Software or technology licenses for each employee
Cloud-based software or on-premise call center technology
Utilities and call-related telecom costs
Security, compliance, auditing or maintenance fees and costs
Infrastructure and IT costs (including employees and management)
Data analysis tools and expertise
HR costs (employees, recruitment, hiring and so on)
Employee salaries and benefits, including “non-productive” agent time such as breaks, PTO, meetings, and so on

  

Outsourcing not only substantially cuts costs by minimizing overhead expenses but also makes the initiation and scaling processes more affordable. Moreover, it ensures more predictable month-to-month costs, enabling better budgeting and scalability planning.

2. Maximizing Efficiency with Expertise

Outsourcing your call center can yield hidden cost savings through the expertise you gain access to. A more experienced team can maximize efficiency, allowing them to accomplish more with less time, effort, and resources, ultimately saving you money or enhancing the effectiveness of your investment.

Partnering with a reputable call center like IBT grants you access to a highly trained team of agents and customer experience specialists boasting decades of experience in managing and elevating customer service. This expertise encompasses roles ranging from leadership and management to quality assurance leaders, team leads, HR staff, agents, multilingual agents, and more. For most companies, assembling such a diverse and experienced team in-house would be improbable. Hence, outsourcing emerges as a compelling option.

Moreover, enhanced expertise fosters superior strategies, streamlined processes, and optimized outcomes, ultimately maximizing your return on investment.

3. Leveraging Economies of Scale

Consider the economies of scale when opting for an outsourced call center.

Outsourcing provides access to significantly larger and more flexible teams. Whether you need to scale up for a major product launch or scale down post-holiday season, the process is streamlined. Adding or reducing agents is simplified due to the call center’s extensive team, which caters to multiple clients.

If your business is growing rapidly and you’re uncertain about the required agent count, outsourcing offers the flexibility to start small and gradually expand your team. This ensures that your team aligns with your business growth seamlessly.

In essence, partnering with a call center allows you to harness scalable teams, increase your headcount, and access a substantial number of agents without the ongoing commitment of paying for resources you don’t currently require. Many call centers, especially those utilizing nearshoring or offshoring models, tap into expansive labor pools, enhancing their scalability even further.

4. Ensuring Round-The-Clock Customer Service

Outsourcing your call center operations can lead to cost savings in maintaining exceptional quality and customer care, particularly when offering extended or round-the-clock service.

Partnering with a call center provider, particularly through offshoring or nearshoring strategies, simplifies and streamlines the provision of 24/7 service. Leveraging time zone differences enhances scheduling flexibility and reduces the cost of maintaining after-hours or overnight operations.

Outsourcing also addresses challenges associated with in-house hiring for specialized customer service roles, such as multilingual support. In regions where multilingualism is prevalent, bilingual agents are readily available, resulting in lower labor costs compared to hiring multilingual agents domestically. Consequently, outsourcing can significantly reduce expenses associated with round-the-clock service, bilingual support, and other specialized customer service functions.

5. Providing Access to Latest Technology without Huge Investments

Partnering with a call center not only grants immediate access to cutting-edge technology but also eliminates the need for substantial upfront investments.

Establishing an in-house call center involves considerable startup costs, encompassing hiring, software acquisition, installation, equipment procurement, and more. While call centers may charge setup fees, they are notably more economical than the extensive costs associated with creating and setting up an independent call center.

Consider the array of technology essential for a modern call center:

• Telephony Systems
• Physical Equipment Such as Computers and Phones
• Customer Databases or CRMs
• Voip Softphone
• IVR Systems and Auto-Dialers
• Call Queue Management and Routing Systems
• Call Recording and QA Software
• Data Analysis and Management
• Live Chat Software
• Omnichannel Management and Communication Tools
• Workforce Management Software

This list is not exhaustive, yet licensing, implementing, setting up, and integrating these tools can incur substantial expenses. With a call center provider, you gain access to a fully equipped and integrated technological infrastructure. Your only task is to integrate it with your internal systems and customer records, a process where a reliable call center partner can offer assistance, facilitating a swift start.

Beyond financial investment, there’s also a consideration of the time, resources, and expertise required to set up, manage, maintain, and integrate these tools. Companies collaborating with a call center benefit from having all these aspects included in their monthly rates, resulting in significant savings in both costs and time.

Focus on Core Tasks

Every organization possesses a set of critical functions that demand the unwavering attention of its workforce. By outsourcing call center operations, you gain access to a team of seasoned professionals who can expertly manage this demanding task, allowing your in-house staff to dedicate their time and energy to the company’s core business objectives.

Nutshell

IBT delivers an omnichannel customer experience (CX) tailored to the demands of today’s discerning clientele. We provide call center outsourcing services that guarantee clients high levels of accessibility and reliable information. With a seamless blend of onshore, offshore, and nearshore CX solutions, IBT caters to a wide range of client requirements. Our highly skilled and trained CX agents are committed to ensuring that every interaction makes a positive impact, making IBT the ideal customer service partner for your organization.