Top 5 Reasons to Outsource MORE! This report is available for download on Teleperformance s website. For more information about articles and white papers, go to: www.teleperformance.com
Why Companies Are Outsourcing More In recent years, the conversation about the benefits of outsourcing has expanded: Outsourcing is no longer about achieving significant cost reduction targets and getting basic tactical operations functional it is about moving clients into a future state that is much more effective than the current one. 1 Companies want outsourcing partners that not only offer a strategic path to the next level but also help provide customers with a high-quality, seamless omnichannel experience. Many companies that manage a portion of their contact centers in house are expanding their relationships with outsourcing partners in order to optimize an integrated service for omnichannel customers. To achieve even greater business results, company executives are further leveraging outsourcing for these five leading reasons: The Growing Trend in Delivering an Omnichannel Customer Experience Today s interconnected and multi-tasking lifestyles are driving the need for companies to deliver an omnichannel customer experience. All demographics of consumers are now using more than one channel to communicate with brands, and they expect a seamless experience. From a customer s perspective, this encompasses the entire customer life cycle, starting with pre-purchase research and continuing to postpurchase support and contract renewal. Even the speed, efficiency, and accuracy of back-office functions tie into the experience. According to Teleperformance CX Lab analysis, 63% of businesses are using at least six touch points to engage their customers. 1. KPMG, Executive : The State of Services & Outsourcing in 2014, kpmg-institutes.com, 2014. For most companies that manage their contact centers in house, tracking all interactions across a wide range of channels and using the information to improve the relationship with the customer has proven cost-prohibitive. For example, mobile device users are particularly challenging as they tend to start with chat, and if they don t get a response fast enough, they then call without closing the chat session, thus engaging two customer support people. This potentially creates two support tickets, which increases costs and creates a reporting nightmare. Companies need help with controlling these costs and integrating channels with the processes and infrastructure required to assist omnichannel consumers. Management of critical functions More creative support talent Enhanced analytics Technology and innovation Security tools and processes 2 2
Companies Look to Outsourcers for Contact Center Expertise To meet the steep challenges and costs associated with creating an engaging omnichannel customer experience, companies are looking to outsourcing providers for their expertise in customer experience management. From human resources and technological advancements, to flexibility and scalability across multiple sites and geographies, to centralization and standardization of processes and operations, outsourcing partners have the ability to redesign and optimize contact center operations, enabling increased market share, ROI, and revenue. Recent research shows that among outsourcing users, as much as 45% of their contact center seats/agents are currently outsourced. That portion is expected to grow to 53% by 2016. Frost & Sullivan, Enterprise Priorities in North America: Contact Center Outsourcing, 2014 Current and Expected Outsourcing Rates of Contact Center Seats/Agents (Percent of Mean): North America, 2014 45% 53% 8% Growth 2014 2016 3
Outsourcing More to Improve Buiness Results As companies prepare to turbo-charge their customer service functions and processes to promote an omnichannel customer experience, they are working with outsourcing partners for the following five chief reasons: 1. Management of Critical Functions For decades, companies have outsourced functions classified as non-strategic and non-critical (deemed necessary but not central to a company s overall core business/strategy), such as collections, human resources, payroll, billing, order processing, and technical support. Interestingly, many businesses are beginning to outsource knowledge-based services considered critical to a company s core business. For example, in the area of finance and accounting, where most of the outsourced work is basic transactional finance processes, some companies are starting to outsource non-transactional finance functions, such as financial analysis. 2 As companies become more familiar with outsourcing knowledgebased services, this type of practice is expected to increase. 2. Access to Savvier and More Creative Support Talent With continued steady proliferation of digital tools and technologies, companies are eager to have savvier and more creative agents helping their customers. The best outsourcing partner can help with choosing the best candidates and matching them to the right jobs. Likewise, on a more rooted level, agents should be proficient in understanding connections between their job functions and overall processes, and help to develop ways to streamline those processes and operations. Having access to these types of highly trained and talented agents is a strategic differentiator that can give an enterprise an edge on its competition. OnTarget Recruiting Score Teleperformance s HR professionals follow a step-bystep method when hiring new people, which includes background checks for all employees specific to past employers, criminal history, and all checks as permitted by local law, such as drug testing. In addition to screening employees for security, the hiring process uses a predictive model that provides a recruiting score. This score is an indicator for correct job matching, which reduces attrition and recruitment costs locally and globally, improves performance, and allows better hiring decisions. The score has been applied in different industries including healthcare, consumer goods, financial services, retail, real estate, technology, communication, and travel, and involved more than 50,000 employees and candidates. Specific models developed the following results: Attrition: -37% Attendance: +10% Customer Satisfaction: +22% Sales: +33% An additional important result was that the potential high performers identified by the models possessed a faster learning curve, reaching their potential more quickly than others. Furthermore, the predictive model assured a lower concentration (-48%) of high attrition risk employees. 2. Deloitte, Deloitte s 2014 Global Outsourcing and Insourcing Survey: 2014 and Beyond, deloitte.com, 2014. 4
3. Enhanced Analytics Capabilities Market intelligence firm IDC forecasts revenue for U.S. BPO services (customer care, finance and accounting, human resources, human resources processing, and procurement) to reach $105.6 million at a CAGR of 4.2% (2014 2019). 3 Further, one of the top key drivers of this growth is expected to be business analytics services. Enterprises are starting to understand the importance of using analytics to gain more insight on customer behaviors, which can improve business performance. The right outsourcing partner can drive customer experience by combining the expertise of research and analytics with global leadership in operational excellence. 4. Technology and Innovation To stay competitive, it is important for companies to leverage and integrate new technology on a constant basis. In fact, a primary reason companies partner with outsourcers is to access the best technologies in a cost-effective way. An essential aspect, however, is that all the technologies and channels a company uses need to be integrated and woven throughout the customer experience, and not serve as a stand-alone in a sequestered database. A good outsourcing partner should be an excellent resource for innovation, and offer innovative solutions and services that drive the market and maximize benefits to clients through differentiated service strategies. A major multinational financial services institution needed a proactive approach for complaints management. Teleperformance applied its OnTarget analytics solution, which integrates a state of the art statistical model for predicting customer behavior into custmer care programs in order to improve understanding of the customer and implement proactive prevention campaigns. This enhanced analytics solution helped the client achieve as much as a 50% reduction in complaints and a 30% increase in customer satisfaction scores. 3. IDC, Worldwide and U.S. Business Process Outsourcing Services 2015 2019 Forecast, idc.com, 2015. 5
5. Security Tools and Processes Statistics show that when customers are defrauded, they take their business elsewhere. Companies are intent on protecting their customers, assets, and brand integrity but face mounting challenges to their security systems daily. As fraudsters, thieves, and hackers become more sophisticated and eager to involve company staff, companies must become wiser. When a company s most valuable assets are protected, its leaders are free to pursue innovation, client acquisition (as opposed to loss prevention), and new strategies. Simply put, companies that invest in their continued success, invest in their security. Businesses should partner with a leading outsourcer that can deliver a highly secure environment for clients, their customers, and employees. Security should be entrenched within the outsourcer s company culture, and there should be evidence of ongoing investment in additional best practices and innovations for security. With 90% of fraud incidents having at least one touch point in 4 a contact center, a focus on improving security within these operations will help avoid data leaks and fraud attacks. Teleperformance s security and fraud prevention program is organized according to five main pillars, which form a framework for a comprehensive, proactive approach to fraud prevention: Highly Trained People Cutting-Edge Technology Well-defined Security Processes Security Management Methodologies Stringent Policies These components increase safety of client data and help companies to avoid financial losses and negative impact to their brands. Additional features of Teleperformance s fraud prevention framework include the following: Certifications from leading security standards, such as PCI/DSS, ISO 270012, and HIPAA Proprietary technologies and tools for security Certified team of security analysts, security consultants, risk consultants, compliance specialists, and auditors Dedicated C-level security executive Real-time security environment monitoring and alerts 4. NICE Systems, Contact Center Fraud Prevention, infographic, nice. com/infographic-contact-center-fraud-prevention. 6
Closing Thoughts As the outsourcing market in North America matures, many companies are seeking ways to further enhance business performance through their outsourcing partnerships. Organizations utilizing a hybrid approach to contact center management (i.e., using an outsourcer for non-strategic service functions and using in-house resources to manage their own contact centers for other business functions), are now looking to outsourcing partners for their expertise in managing critical service functions, providing more creative agents to improve workflows, analytics, technology, innovation, and security tools and processes. Additionally, it is clear that consumers will continue to adopt more and new channels for service, and there is an increased importance for enterprises to find an outsourcing partner that has the capability to meet and exceed consumer expectations through an omnichannel customer experience. 7
About Teleperformance 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. 8
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