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When choosing an outsourcing provider how do you know you can trust them?
I have been hearing from many industries in numerous verticals that their greatest concern in today's outsourcing market is trust. Everyone has the same certifications, references, creds and so forth, but when the rubber meets the road half of what was said is not true. "They tell me one thing and then do the opposite" is a typical comment. Our industry has a problem -- solutions, anyone?
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2 Answers
First, let's recognize that an outsourcing provider coordinates many diverse teams who work in a cooperative manner. Additionally many of these teams operate from different countries, time zones and languages. That being said we can start to understand the importance of this question. We must also recognize the business impact if the outsourcing arrangement fails. One doesn't easily switch providers.
So how do you know which provider you can trust? Here are my thoughts;
1) How long has the provider been providing outsourcing services? Is this a relatively new company or are they well established in the industry?
2) How many clients do they support and what is their contract renewal rate? (Do you have offices overseas that need support? If so, how many global clients does the outsourcing provider support?)
3) What is the process for your leadership team to engage the provider? Will there be a person assigned to respond to you or do you call an "escalation" number? How many clients is this person responsible for?
4) Do you have access to the providers Executive Leaders?
When it comes to trusting an outsourcing provider it boils down to two things. First, there will be delivery problems. In many cases the low-cost providers that are so attractive will have staff located around the globe. Coordination and communication among these teams will affect the quality of service you get. The reality is that the lower cost provider will result in support problems down the road. Depending on the reduced cost to your company the support issues may be worth the savings.
Secondly, the trust issue will be determined by the people you interface with when problems arise. How responsive are they and how quickly can they deliver results?
If you have selected a provider who is well established and has a large client base with high renewal rates, and you have access to individuals including Executive Leadership, you should get speedy resolution to problems. It’s through quick resolutions to issues where their trustworthiness will be determined.
Excellent points made by John which I totally agree with.
It may not be the outsourcer who is the problem. If you don't have strong industrial strength processes within your organization to work with the outsourcer, the results may be disappointing.
Sometimes an organization has to outsource due to the need for local presence, such as a automobile manufacturer and car dealerships. Or the need for support of products or service in multiple local languages across the globe. So for many firms, outsourcing support is a necessity. That being the case, you need to have industrial strength processes to handle the outsourcing service.
In addition to the points made by John, one needs to ask what processes exist in your organization to help the outsourcer.
1. Did you document your policies?
2. Do you have a process to ensure your outsourcer has training materials and skills in your product to train the front end employees who will handle your product or service.
3.Do you update your knowledge base regularly? What are the 'new' known problems and how should the front line handle them?
4.Can the outsourcer reach YOU if situations arise that they cannot handle?
5.Do you give your outsourcer some latitude to handle small issues (provide the front end employees with a small budget and empower them to take action when it makes sense).
6. Do you request and listen to feedback from your front end staff to learn what customers are complaining most about and see if you can eliminate the problems?
7. Do you make the employees of the outsourcer, working on your products or services feel like part of the team in your organization, providing them with feedback on how the company is doing and how much you value their contribution to the success.
8. Do you request that your outsourcer measure their customer satisfaction and review the results? If your customers are unhappy, it is your product or service's reputation that will suffer.
9. Are your measurements of the oursourcer creating the wrong environment for your customer? (IE time on call..could force front end employees to rush the call or worse..hang up).
I have written blog post called Factors to Consider when Outsourcing Customer Technical Support at http://wp.me/pB3CF-1ew that adds more to this list.
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