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Looking to outsource first call response
What are the key questions I should be asking a Call Center when I interview them for taking first response calls
Best Answer
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- Pavan M
Dear Karen,
Selection of the offshore partner:
With so many vendors claiming their competence in Support Services, it is often overwhelming to pick the right offshore partner. The fact is that most of them have no foot-prints in Technical Support Outsourcing. It is suggested that it helps to follow a structured process, as described below, to arrive at the right partner.
Learn - Identify - Seek Information- Evaluate - Check References - Select Vendor - Try pilot - Scale-up
Learn: When considering a successful outsourcing initiative, it is very essential to initially understand the concept of outsourcing and industry trends. Also, set your strategic and tactical objectives upfront.
Identify: Identify offshore companies based on clientele, references, known-contacts, market-research firms, search engines etc and prepare a short-list of them – not exceeding 6 to 10.
Seek Information: Obtain detailed information on company, infrastructure, scalability, clientele, relevant experience, references, technical competence, global presence, multi-language capability, disaster recovery, IP protection practices, quality and process standards etc.
Evaluate: Critically evaluate telecom infrastructure, technical competence of the resources, HR policies, cultural fit, process compliance such as SCP etc.
Check references: Speak with management of offshoring companies, their employees, and obtain as much information as possible from their other clients – preferably visit their clients.
Select Vendor: This is the most important activity of outsourcing initiative. It is important to select the right partner from heap of several who claim they are good vendors. Make sure, you get the executive commitment from the offshore partner company - that goes long way in your success.
Try Pilot: It is always advisable to try small and then expand quickly. Pilot should help you assess your partner’s competence in terms of telecom suitability, management commitment, technical competence, process adherence and SLA compliance.
Scale-up: This is the time for you to scale and reap the benefits of outsourcing to the fullest extent. Prepare the transition plan based on modules of the product, or geography of the customer base or simply number of resources.
Questions for you:
In order to provide the proposal/quote/estimates, we need the following information from you,
Type of support (phone,email,chat)?
Level of Support?
Volume on each support?
Languages?
Time zone's to cover?
Turn Around Time and Escalation procedure?
Job Description of the resources/skill set?
We are experts in providing 24/7 multi tech support services for many ESV's and Telco's. Request you to get in touch for free estimate/quote , Email: Pavanm at Innominds.com
Regards
PavanM
Yes high tech -- first call would be to gather machine, serial number, customer location and error message -- would provide script.
Sure Michael you can send it to kmdoherty9191@msn.com
Hie!!! We have our centers in 7 cities globally!!! Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in outsourcing your process to USA, Jamaica or India!!! My email address is: pandyapankti22@yahoo.com
Karen: You should first ask the organization what their experience consists of and how many years they have been providing these services. You should ask for references, and what service levels they are able to commit to at what price level. All relationships between call centers and clients come down to the tension between price, quality, experience and management. The two of you have to have a fit with corporate philosophy.
I would be happy to talk to you further, I represent five different organizations on four continents... each offering different services and price points. I am based in Canada
Val Morgan, CEO International Outsourcing Service, 519 709 9690
Hi
I own a small call center and we have more than 80 people working with us. If you are interested to outsource your project to India we can talk over it.
You can visit us at Globalbizconsultant.com
Please contact me at rinu.mohan@globalbizconsultant.com
Karen,
I'm sure the company planning to outsource the business is running this process onshore....mapping the current SOP makes sense with minor changes depending on the geographical location where you plan to send the process over. Thats exactly what i did when worked on AT&T gophone prepaid mobile customer service process. Pls let me know if you wish to discuss on a call. Pls leave me a note
Thanks,
Before you contact a vendor, you need to select vendor and before you select a vendor you need to decide to where (Geographical location) to outsource and etc. In short there are sequence of events and each event hast it’s own evaluation criteria, and contacting the vendor is the last stage of outsourcing process.
Let me assume that you went through all and sequence of events and you wend through vendor selecting process and decided to contact the top 5 out of 25 vendors in your list. Since you have all of the information about the particular vendor that made you select that particular vendor, you will start by fact verification. The analogy is, you selected 5 resumes out of 25 that received. The first step is to interview the candidate about what he stated in his resume. Then you will ask him if he familiar with your product or similar products, check references, get info from other customers of the vendor etc.
Karen look at the experience of the leadership and the accounts and companies that they have delivered to? Do they even understand the drivers of FCR and its results and impacts for an organisation? Once you feel satisfied at that level then you explore further. Reach out to me and would be glad to advise you.
Thanks
Deepak
Our India based operation provides IT Services to US companies. We provide a variety of IT services such as:
- Desktop support
- Server support (Windows/Linux Server, Sharepoint, Exchange)
- Database Administration (SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL)
- Outlook and Exchange Server support
- Blackberry and Smartphone support
- Transition your IT infrastructure to Cloud based computing
- Flexible support hours: US work hours to full 24x7 coverage.
Please let me know if anyone interested.
Michelle Sloan,
Texcellent Services
Phone: 949-208-6879 x 1004
There is an answering service based in the UK called Jet Virtual which I would recommend .
http://www.jetvirtual.co.uk
Hope this helps!
You can find a directory of domestic (USA/Canada) Contact Centers to outsource your calls to at http://www.atsi.org/assnfe/companydirectory.asp?SEARCH_TYPE=7&SnID=458599223
But before you consider sending your Call Center work overseas - just ask your friends & neighbors about their experiences.
I’m sure that some of your friends will tell you that they’ve occasionally had the experience of dealing with a Call Center Agent based in the USA who was clearly a poor fit for the job - and who delivered a poor caller experience.
But when it comes to describing their experiences dealing with a company that has shipped their Call Center work overseas - the vast majority of your friends will tell you that they generally have a hard time understanding – or being understood by the Agent – and that their call is typically being handled by a ‘script reader’.
The Call Center Agent is your ambassador to your customers. The human voice of the Agent provides your company’s human face. Much of the time when a customer calls it is because something has gone wrong. If the caller cannot understand the Agent due to accent issues or communicative style - the problems are compounded. The caller can become agitated and the company may wind up losing a customer and future sales. In the present economic environment, just hearing a foreign accent could trip that trigger. Losing dollars chasing dimes is not a wise long-term Customer Service Strategy.
Corporate Social Responsibility is considered an important factor in business success today. Companies are thinking twice about employing workers in countries with poor human rights records - or lax labor standards such as India.
Ask your friends what they think about the exploitation of Labor. Call Center workers in India experience abuse & exploitation to a degree and on a scale that would be viewed as criminal in some instances by North American Courts of Law. For example; Indian Call Center Agents are treated as 21st Century ‘cyber-coolies’. They work graveyard shifts - under high pressure – in work environments where liberal attitudes to sex and club drugs are encouraged and thriving. Colluding employers have set up “Blacklist” data bases - containing the details of their Call Center employees - so that “negative insider elements” can be detected at the recruitment stage. Workers in their hundreds are fired without so much as one cent in severance pay.
Overwhelmingly your friends will tell you that they want to speak with a Call Center Agent from their region - who is typically better able to serve and communicate with them. Probe a little deeper – and they’ll also tell you that they’re opposed to shipping Call Center jobs overseas – and particularly to countries with poor human rights records - or lax labor standards such as India.
From the Jan. 2010 Issue of Site Selection: “Offshoring calls to India works in very limited situations. Interaction with clients and understanding the culture & environment of clients doesn’t work very well at all. The direction of the industry is to bring these customer facing jobs back to the USA.”
The latest Labor Market Outlook from the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development in the UK: “UK companies are bringing back call centre operations to the UK from India. Most of the companies that we deal with are looking to keep call centre staff in the UK wherever possible because there is a significant increase in the level of service and customer satisfaction provided."
Top performing Call Centers drive their Revenue & Performance through superior hiring tactics. We help employers gain better insight & more accurate predictions as to which applicants from a pool of Candidates would perform up to, or beyond their established standards. You can find out about a Free Trial of SPAS Call Center Agent Pre-Employment Screening Software at http://www.telesoftsystems.ca/64201.html
If anyone seems to be interested in outsourcing their voice, chat or email, lead-generation processes, bi-lingual services, domestic and/or international processes to India, USA, Jamaica, please feel free to contact me; of course without the obligation of signing up; for the information required to make a wise decision. My email address is: pandyapankti22@yahoo.com.
We also help with software development, E-Recruiting, technical recruiting, trainigs, etc.
Awaiting for good responses!!!
Have a great day!!! :)!!!
Thanks all...
:)
There is a call centre based in the UK, they offer 24 hour answering services which should meet your requirements. See here, http://www.alldaypa.com/call-answering-service
Karen,
I would love an opportunity to compete for your business. I represent a 2,000+ seat global service desk company with facilities in the US (Tampa and Atlanta) as well as multilingual facilities in Romania (Bucharest and Brasov). We specialize in technical support and customer care and have been providing these services to our clients since 1991. If you can email me your contact information I can setup a brief introductory call to go over your requirements and our capabilities...or feel free to give me a call anytime!
Sincerely,
Scott McKinley
Vice President - Strategic Accounts
Computer Generated Solutions, Inc.
Office: 813-249-3281
Email: smckinley@cgsinc.com
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These are the key questions you should be asking when assessing an outsourcing provder:
1) Are your representatives shared or dedicated resources?
2) What are your recruiting requirements as it pertains to skill level....watch for not only technical capabilities here but customer service interfacing.
3) What type of pricing models do you offer? Per hour/Per Call/Per Minute/Per Full Time Rep?
4) What type of tools do you have in place to measure SLAs, for example: average speed of answer, hold time, abandonment rates, call types, etc. Ask for sample reports.
5) What is your manager-to-rep ratio?
4) How do you monitor calls for quality and how do you administer your quality programs?
5) Are you a full service response center, i.e. chat/email/call?
There are many more granular questions you should be asking when assessing a provider; but these are the key areas to focus on at the onset.