| Offshore outsourcing call center |
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No firm, dealing with customers or end users in a large number can survive without having a call center. A call center keeps the customers and the firm in contact with each other. Bigger is the number of customers and bigger is the geographical spread of customers, the firm will have to have larger number of desks in a call center or it may decide to have more than a call center at different geographic locations. The quest for excellence in terms of financial numbers, most of the business firms go in for outsourcing call centre(s). A look at the Fortune magazine's multinational firms from the North America, and Europe are going in for offshore outsourcing call center(s). The word offshore means away from the country location of the firm. One basic reason for offshore outsourcing call center(s) is to have benefit of cost differential prevailing between home country and host country. Offshore outsourcing does not mean assignment of jobs only to third parties. Many firms have established their call centers in an offshore place to enjoy differential advantage. Is monetary cost benefit the only criteria that call centers be outsourced offshore? Certainly not. While outsourcing the call center function
outside the main firm must be sure that the agents siting away in other countries are good at communication. They can speak the language of home country comfortably. Mind it, language is not a commodity, it is a mirror of home country culture. The tone and tenor, nuances and slangs used in that language are to be followed ceremoniously, otherwise the meaning may become different. The technology details must be as per the specifications of the home country. The systems too must meet the criteria decided by the home country firm. One of the other important reasons to outsource an offshore call center is to provide a round the clock contact service. The hirer must see that people working at odd hours work the same way as people work 9 to 5. The hirer must provide the necessary database of the customers so that the answers to queries are made then and there. An answer like: we will look into it and reply tomorrow even for simple queries do not make a good call center. While offshore outsourcing a call center is a strategic decision, it is equally important and strategic to identify right kind of call center partner/associate, because the customers always consider the call center being managed by the home country firm and within home country location. So it is the home country firm whose reputation is at stake. If the offshore outsourced call center does not work to the parameters fixed by the home country firm and to the expectations of the customers, the brand will suffer. |
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