Is An Offshore Call Center Right for You?
Offshore call centers can be an incredibly helpful tool for companies. They offer a significantly less expensive option than in-house, onshore or nearshore call centers, they are typically available during overnight hours in the US, the market is more competitive and the labor force is larger. But in addition to these considerations, if you’re deciding whether or not to use an offshore call center you also need to think about the tasks you need the call center to do. Indeed, some tasks and jobs are better suited to an offshore call center than others and a lot of it comes down to the amount of training and expertise required to do the jobs. While there are a few exceptions, in general the tasks best suited for offshore call centers are those that require a limited amount of training.
Do you have a new, unproven outbound marketing campaign planned? Or one that involves advertisements directing customers to call in and claim a deal? In these cases, in which you aren’t sure if the campaign is going to be successful or how much money you want to invest in it, you can use an offshore call center to test out the campaign for a predetermined amount of time. Then, once you are able to evaluate the results of the campaign, you can decide whether to move forward with it or not. Likewise, if you are starting a new business or launching a new product and have a large list of potential leads, you can have an offshore call center complete your preliminary phase of outbound communication, narrowing your database before you allocate more resources to pursuing those leads.
Beyond outbound call capabilities, there are other jobs that offshore call centers can complete for you. Say you don’t anticipate the call center having to deal with a lot of calls, or only dealing with simple ones, but you also need other tasks done, such as data entry or transcription. Employing an offshore call center to handle these time-consuming tasks is a great way to optimize your resources. Or if you require high volume call support for a single issue or product and there are only a handful of call types or questions that the agents will receive, an offshore call center is a great option. In these situations, the agents will need neither extensive training nor a great deal of agency, so it will be easy to get the call center set up and running efficiently.
Deciding whether to use an offshore call center to support your growing business can be a difficult decision, but thinking about these factors is a great first step. Also smart: Putting an easy-to-use platform like CallShaper in place, regardless of where your call center is located. To learn more, contact us today.
