In our industry in which customers’ needs and expectations can be fluid and businesses try to differentiate themselves from their competitors by delivering exceptional services tailored to the needs of users, outsourcing is not a dirty word.

Managing all of the operational functions of a business can become challenging keeping you busy finding, hiring, and developing the talent and managing the technology to maintain everything in-house.

What are the benefits that make outsourcing no longer a dirty word?

1.     It enables you to concentrate on your core business

Outsourcing has become a feature which helps businesses grow by letting expert teams become an extension of your team and manage key business operations. Allowing you to focus on core business needs such as expansion and growth.

 “65% of companies said outsourcing helps them to focus on core functions.” (Deloitte)

2.     Cost-effective

Many companies believe outsourcing costs are bigger than managing in-house. However, outsourcing services and functions typically are a cost-effective tool for companies as Business Process outsourcers (BPOs) can manage and embed all the costs of operational processes, hiring and sustaining new talent as well as the latest technology (for example, cloud-based and Artificial Intelligence-based technology).

“63% of companies mentioned cost-cutting as a key benefit of outsourcing.” (Deloitte)

3.     Resource efficiency

Hiring, training and establishing talent, and the ongoing management of the business in-house takes time and can delay and remove focus away from the growth of your business.  Outsourcing can help businesses to develop and scale up quickly based on their current needs. Outsourcing saves time and effort by delegating services and functions to external experts who have the skills and experience to complete them quickly and efficiently. 

4.     Access to specialised expertise

By outsourcing your operational functions, your business and your customers will benefit from expertise in the sector. High-quality outsourcers have a wealth of experience and knowledge to help shape and optimise your business processers and customer experience.

5.     Consistent support and guidance

Outsourcing offers the advantage of receiving ongoing support from specialists covering the customers’ needs, tailored engagement, best practice, rich monthly reporting, and regulatory guidance. The ongoing support and oversight from specialists benefits all business and allow them to understand their customer engagement successes and where improvements can be made whether they are startups, scaleups or large enterprises.

6.     Customer retention

Customer retention is an essential aspect of a successful business. Customers quite simply are your business. By outsourcing the main function of your offering, you ensure your customers are receiving specialised and seamless services that keep them happy and bind them to your brand.

The voice of your customers is a key and often neglected element of your engagement with your customers and growth strategy.

“Satisfied customers are more likely to upgrade or add services and are less likely to cancel.” (McKinsey)

7.     Extension of your brand

Your brand, the company’s voice and the identity of your business are crucial in maintaining high quality and consistent engagement and growing and developing loyalty with your customers.

By outsourcing, you enhance and increase your customer’s exposure to your brand voice and identity through a team of experts who become an extension of your business. The outsourcer is an additional arm of your operational team delivering tailored services managed under your guidelines.

“Most companies must realize that they are no longer competing against the guy down the street or the brand that sells similar products. Instead, they’re competing with every other experience a customer has.” (DAN GINGISS, AUTHOR AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE EXPERT, cited in Salesforce)

8.     Omnichannel experience

By outsourcing your customer experience solutions, you can access a wide range of omnichannel engagement methods that seamlessly blend communication channels to provide a multi-level and high-quality offering to your customers. This means that a customer can interact and reach your company through multiple channels, such as phone, email, live chat, and social media messaging.

“9/10 consumers expect a seamless experience when moving from one communication channel to another, such as phone to text, chat to phone or social messaging to phone.” “(NICE)

9.     Innovative technology

A key factor in outsourcing is technology. Outsourcing companies must consistently invest in the latest innovative technologies which respond to the challenges of the industry and ensure all the customers’ needs are met. 

Outsourcing companies offer innovative technologies based on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic processing automation (RPA) which ensures efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

10. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG)

As the industry and indeed the world becomes more environmentally conscious and socially aware, businesses should reflect and integrate these values at their core. Choosing to outsource your main operational functions to a company that values and prioritises environmental factors and promotes a culture of inclusion, diversity, and equity this can contribute to your business’ green and ethical credentials and ensure that extension of business practice and ethics.