Top 5 Reasons to Outsource
Executive Summary Today s consumers expect to interact with their chosen brands at whatever time and in whatever manner they choose. In order to improve customer satisfaction, companies need to have a set of attributes that includes the right mix of customer service channels, high cross-channel consistency, and the capability to address customer requests across different channels.1 A comprehensive multichannel customer service is therefore becoming the expected norm, but consistency can vary by brand and channel. Driving consistency, however, requires significant investment in the technology and tools as well as the facilities themselves. There is also the cost associated with ongoing operational requirements such as the time and resources needed for recruitment, training, and quality processes, not to mention the likelihood of diluting management focus away from core business. Companies Need Cost-Efficient Solutions for Customer Care Consumer expectations are changing in every industry. Consumers can now reach a company using a variety of different channels, some of them via online channels, in person, or via the phone. Additionally, consumers will often try multiple channels in a non-linear way to answer their query,adding to contact center volumes. And they expect a seamless experience among the channels.for many companies, handling all this internally has become less and less cost efficient and so they choose to outsource their contact center requirements to a specialist. In some ways, it is becoming the new normal, offering businesses the opportunity to grow and prosper.2 2. Orton-Jones, Charles, Outsourcing Is New Normal, Raconteur.net, February 5, 2015. Adopting an omnichannel, customer-centric approach can lower costs, improve public perception, and impact consumer retention. 2 1. Teleperformance CX Lab, Customer Interaction : Credit Cards, 2014 2
The Right Contact Center Partner Can Deliver Results According to Ovum, in their experience, an appropriate well-structured and well-managed outsourcing arrangement with the right supplier can often deliver sustained savings or added value of between 30% and 50%.3 Of course recruiting, training, and retaining the right talent is a key element to a successful outsourcing arrangement. A recent customer experience survey shows that the quality of customer service that agents deliver can have a significant impact on business results. A positive experience will strengthen satisfaction and brand loyalty while driving up revenue. A negative experience could have the opposite effect. 4 3. Rodger, Alan, Ovum, Managing Outsourcing Relationships Over Their Lifecycle, January 3, 2014. 4. Teleperformance WW Multichannel CX Survey, Customer Service Relevance, 2014. A first-time outsourcer in the Education & Learning sector, our client had been operating a European call centre from their London office which was proving costly to maintain. With high attrition and difficulties in recruiting the right calibre of employee, the company turned to Teleperformance to outsource its contact centre requirements. Teleperformance was able to consolidate all requirements in a nearshore multilingual hub in Lisbon, ensuring high quality right-fit employees and building the professional, stable and sustainable sales and customer retention team to deliver the results they needed. The Teleperformance team is generating 1.2m in monthly incremental revenue (as well as a positive ROI) and has reduced learner cancellations to lower than 6% against a target of 13% on an annual basis. A pan-european retailer initially had customers calling their stores directly. There was no system in place for managing incoming calls, monitoring the quality of these calls or how much their customer service operations were costing the company. By partnering with Teleperformance, they were able to measure Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and the ability to track costs related to their customer service function. 3
Companies choosing to outsource part or all of their contact center operations do so for (more or less) five key, inter-linking reasons: 1. Customer Service Upgrade Sometimes a service upgrade is necessary just to keep up with industry standards. An outsourcing partner can provide access to specific knowledge, tools, and expertise that have the possibility to provide significant performance improvement beyond current capabilities. The right partner will know how to take an existing customer service offering to the next level, thereby enabling a company to differentiate itself from the competition. Some of the most recognized brands in the world outsource contact center operations to specialized service providers in order to remain focused on their core business and protect themselves from the kinds of high-profile mistakes that can go viral. 2. Allowing Companies to Refocus on Core Business For many companies, the customer service department has grown organically and without a clear strategy. A tipping point is reached when customer service demands outweigh capability to deliver and thus becomes a business distraction. By empowering a contact center partner to take control of the day-today administrative burden of customer service, management will free up time to (re-)focus on and invest in core business and strategy. A specialized insurance underwriter chose to move from an inhouse captive model and consolidate their contact centre requirements into a single hub location. Teleperformance s multilingual solution has provided them with much-needed efficiency whilst also providing upgraded value-added services in the mobile sector as a point of differentiation. It also allows them flexibility as their business grows in new and existing markets. 4
3. Quality Improvement It is no secret that for many companies, their in-house contact center budget has remained flat in recent years5 with investment focused on core business. In reality, a static budget often means budget cuts, little-to-no investment in people or technology, and an inevitable decline in service quality and efficiency. The right outsourcing partner will be able to restore and improve both, leading to happier employees and happier customers. 4. Keeping Up with Technological Changes A seamless customer and multichannel experience is expected by today s Always on Consumer (AOC) customer and many companies are struggling to keep up. This digital revolution means technological changes are forcing brands to find new ways of thinking and responding to their customers. The right contact center partner will ensure that these challenges are anticipated and met to the satisfaction of its clients customers. 5. Cost Reduction Many companies are under pressure to reduce existing costs and at the same time continue to exceed evergrowing customer service expectations. Partnering with a contact center specialist, who will invest in people, processes, technologies, and locations to a level most companies cannot match, can reduce these cost burdens. Strategically Teleperformance will give a range of operational options which we can access as we develop and grow our business in Europe. President & CEO, Europe, of a major global specialized insurance underwriter We are now 'long term partners' because we started working together in 2009. I have enjoyed growing our relationship. The team was instrumental in helping to sort out some issues. They owned" the project and took responsibility for its success. I was particularly impressed by the team's ability to assist our customers and to propose improvement on a daily basis. Our relationship is based on trust and transparency. European Customer Service Outsourcing and Project Manager of a leading global eye healthcare company One of the fastest growing IT security vendors in the world chose to unify all their European support with one supplier who would drive consistency across their global processes and customer experience. As a first time outsourcer, a key success factor during the program implementation was Teleperformance s flexibility and agility to respond to their changing requirements, and to guide them in true partnership fashion through the entire selection and engagement process. Additionally, during the implementation and training phases, Teleperformance was able to advise and share best practice in the specialized recruitment profiles and in delivering of highly technical training, thereby reducing attrition and enabling the team to hit its targets from the very beginning. 5. ISG, A Peak Time for Contact Center Outsourcing: Why Recent Developments Are Making Outsourcing the Right Decision for Some Companies Today, 2013. 5
Case study: Teleperformance Partnered with Multinational Company Following Change of Ownership. Our client is a leader in the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of eye healthcare products. Its brands are household names and its products have catapulted the company into becoming one of the best-known and most respected healthcare companies in the world. - Following a new private equity firm ownership, our client embarked on a wide review of its internal functions, including customer service. As a result, the company decided to outsource routine, high volume order assistance and enquiries. - Partnering with Teleperformance delivered significant cost efficiencies through consolidation of multiple contact centres and headcount across Europe into one multilingual hub. - The implementation of a customised order entry system which feeds directly into our client s ERP system, has enabled a huge and sustained improvement in order accuracy levels as well as meaningful management information and metrics. RESULTS: Less than 5 months after implementation, Teleperformance was delivering above and beyond the project KPIs at 99.6% of accuracy with significant process improvement, allowing the firm to direct management efforts towards its core business. Additionally the Teleperformance team was able to drive consistent metrics and insights reducing the abandoned rate by 51%; increasing call quality by 16% and CSat by 10% (55% of customers rate service excellent, 42% good). Closing Thoughts Ever-evolving consumer expectations have required greater complexity in customer service. As service demands increase, organizations realize they do not have the capability to deliver a high-quality, effective customer service using an in-house contact center operation. Moreover, many companies recognize that leading outsource service providers are setting the standards for customer service best practices today and are therefore partnering with these providers to leverage their infrastructures and knowledge. For more than 36 years, Teleperformance has managed customer service experiences for some of the world s largest and most respected brands across dozens of industries. Our experience with helping thousands of companies has allowed Teleperformance to be recognized as the top-ranking customer experience management provider by firms like Gartner, OVUM, Frost & Sullivan, and more. Let Teleperformance help you deliver exceptional customer service across all channels, locations, and geographies in order to lower customer churn and costs, and improve sales revenues and profitability. Our client s strategic goal was to find a long term partner who was consistently able to deliver service excellence and quality. The relationship has continued unbroken since 2009 and our client continues to entrust additional tasks to Teleperformance, including collections and professional telemarketing services. 6
About Telepeformance Worldwide Leader in Multichannel Customer Experience We are a People company with a people-centric strategy, interacting with people all over the world. It s all about People. They are part of who we are and what we do. We analyze their behaviors. We understand their wants and needs. That s why we deliver outstanding customer experiences through integrated multichannel solutions to enhance customer experience results for our clients.
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