Call Center Cafe

Outsourcing used to be something that only larger companies did. A call center or software development center for Dell or IBM was considered the norm, Today mid-sized companies are taking advantage of outsourcing. By being selective on what they outsource and to what partner they select these smaller companies are expanding into the outsource world.

Successfully outsourcing is not as simple as negotiating a contract and letting the service run. The success of an outsourcing project is highly dependent on the relationship developed between the the company outsourcing and their partner.

A recent report I read stated that over 65% of outsourcing relationships fail partially or totally. the primary reason these deals fail is due to a lack of understanding between the outsourcing company and they partner, as well as poor management.

The cultural differences that cause these relationships to fail are not simply because "they" are different than "us". Each company has its own culture and these company cultural ideas and beliefs have to be taught to the partners just like they are taught to new employees. And just like with new employees these values have to be continually reinforced.

If you have a company that believes working 9 to 5 is enough you will have one type expectation of your partners. If your company believes that working on a problem until it is resolved regardless of the hours, then you have to make sure that your partner will accept to work in the same manner.

When Culture Collide

To make sure that work culture don’t collide (or collide with a smaller impact) there are several steps that you can take.

First, do a formal Request For Proposal (RFP) for any service that you are outsourcing. In addition to defining the services that you want supplied, include a detailed section on the reporting details that you require. Some cultures want to avoid confrontation and place a high vlue on "saving face:. Make sure that the reporting you receive will include reference to the results from clients that were not satisfied with the service that they received.

Second, in the RFP, include a section that describes your company culture and your values. An outsource partner must adapt to your values because the client who speaks to your partner will only associate good or bad results with your company - not the partner. To a client, a partner does not exist, the client is dealing with your company.

Third, when you have a shortlist of potential partners, go to their site. You need to get a real feeling for the company and how they operate. If you are considering 3 potential partners in India a service, send at least on person to India for at least 2 weeks so one employee can spend at least 3 days on each site to get a real feel for how the partner does business.

Interview employees from the partner sites.

Finally, consider bringing the potential managers of the service that you are outsourcing to one of your team building exercises. There is probably no better way for these manager to see your company culture than to share a team building exercise with you.

Mind The Gap

Cultural gaps exist.

To lessen the impact of the culture gaps, make sure your contract clearly states that changes in service managers require hiring company approval. Having completed the vetting process will serve no purpose if the people you hire change the key personnel. Important changes could be equivalent to never having done the prior steps.

If you are outsourcing a service to your own country, assign an experienced employee from your company as a site Account Manager (AM). this AM would be in site during normal working hours and report only to the hiring company.

If you are outsourcing to distant shores, have the AM present full time if possible. If you can’t, or choose to not, do this have your AM on site for at least one full week each quarter.

Only with a person from the hiring company present on site can yo have a real understanding of your partner and how they do YOUR business.

Meet Client Expectations

In all cases your partner must supply ongoing training related to the products and services they are supplying and supporting. If the partner is in a country where they don’t speak the same language as your client, language courses are also a requirement. If the language level is sufficient, language courses may still benefit to work on accents.

Every service provider must have a clear understanding of your client expectations.

Realistic expectations must be defined in the original RFP and measured against the Service Level Agreements (SLA). An SLA can include any form of measurement that you decide is required. This can include the maximum time a client can be on hold, the maximum time to complete a call or service, the maximum level of clients that define themselves as dissatisfied with the level of service that they received. This last is often recorded by asking the client to complete a survey after the service has been delivered.

This is just a beginning on how to overcome some of the cultural differences in the outsourcing process.

Managers are fully aware that "money saved is money earned". So what should do you when you are looking to outsource- look for cutting costs or adding value? I would say you should only outsource when you see outsourcing adding value as well as cutting costs. Cost benefit analysis should not be the only reason for outsourcing telemarketing services, but it is an important one.

Call centres provide an host of services required by businesses that not only help reduce costs but also add value to the organization as it is necessary for an company to maintain contact with new and existing customers.

The business world is cut-throat, fast paced and competitive. Constantly evolving, your company has to be able to respond quickly to market changes, if it wants to survive. But, if you don’t have the capabilities to deal with them effectively, it can be very damaging to your overall business. You should take into consideration outsourcing and take action to outsource. By outsourcing, you are letting someone who has the best tools available to focus their energy on successfully dealing with these issues, whilst you concentrate on the heart of your business.

A doctor is not expected to answer all the phone calls coming into his office at all times nor can a company be in touch with its customers all the time, you realize, finally, that you cannot possibly get all the tasks done by yourself. You need help. Where can you turn? The answer is to outsource your "non core" business functions to streamline your business, cut costs and provide value added services to your customers at the same time. The basic concept of outsourcing is to hire someone to do a job, in turn saving you time and money. While outsourcing for any service, it is highly important to find the right fit for your company

Having discussed the benefits of outsourcing, the question is who should outsource- is outsourcing only for the big boys or small and medium businesses (SME’s) can also reap the benefits of outsourcing- the answer is yes. Outsourcing is here to stay and benefit all strata’s of society as it has a viral effect of inducing competition and increasing efficiency. Many businesses use outsourcing as a permanent way of doing business as outsourcing has helped them to cut costs, keep their businesses afloat, be more productive and profitable. As a business owner you need all of the help that you can get and in a cost-effective, dependable way.

Many businesses are increasingly recognising the importance of BPO (Business Process Outsourcing), which are designed to allow companies time to focus on their core activities, it is seen as a strategic management tool to help support the other business functions: More and more companies are finding outsourcing services useful as they are able to maintain relationship with their customers while saving time and money. Outsourcing can be your secret weapon to cutting costs and adding value at the same for your organization.

The other day I answered a question about working with outsource partners. The guy who asked the question complained that he had been trying to find reliable outsourcing partners but the level of responsiveness he got was ways below his expectations. He was asking what the reasonable level of responsiveness is. Here is what I answered him:

When you outsource, always give a deadline of at least a week before your actual deadline. And of course - don’t tell them about the one-week reserve. Most of the people whom you outsource to work on several projects simultaneously and one of the most difficult things for them is to fit everybody in their schedule. Because of that, urgent projects or projects that must be finished by a particular date become of higher priority for your outsourcing partner and he or she concentrates mainly on this project.

It is vital that you state your expectations in the very beginning. So, the first thing you should clear is if your outsourcing partner has the time for your project or not and if he or she can take you as a client.

If the answers to both questions are yes, then you can start negotiating the turnaround time for the project. They will tell you when they will be able to finish it.

However, if you want to be sure that you both speak the same language, ask again. For instance, you can say: "If we start the project on Monday, it’ll be done by XYZ date. Am I right?" If they say yes, this means that you have achieved their commitment to finish the project by a particular date.

After that I usually give as a first project a non-time sensitive one. This way I am testing the waters and get the feeling what it is like to work with them.

Another important question you need to ask is about their preferred ways to communicate. The choices are many - telephone, email, instant messaging. If they prefer instant messaging, which is the IM client they use most - Skype, MSN, Yahoo or something else? You can also ask them about their business hours and how many hours a day they are online.

Different people work at different times. For instance, some of the webmasters I know work only at night because then they are most productive. Other webmasters work in the daytime.

Work hours are really important and you need to clarify this in advance. If you have a vital question to ask them and they work mainly at night, you will be trying in vain to reach them during normal business hours.

Another trick I use when working with outsourcing partners is to eliminate all the quesswork for them. I don’t know if many other people do it but I really like it and it works for me because it makes our cooperation more effective.

For instance, when I have outsourced the creation of a website, I browse a lot and find many sites I like. Then I show them to the webmaster, so that he can use them as reference while creating my site.

I pick up five to ten sites and tell the webmaster what I like in each site - i.e. the colors, the fonts, the layout, etc. I provide many examples to illustrate my point.

You might object that this all takes you a lot of time. That’s right, but this is the way to eliminate the guesswork and to cut the unnecessary communication. When you present sites you like, this helps your outsourcing partner to get an idea of what you want and this makes it easier for him or her to create exactly what you want. This approach saves both tons of money and a lot of time and that’s why it has been working for me without failure.

I have already stated that the most important issues you need to clarify are managing your expectations and getting commitment (including clarifying the time frame) from your partner. Another very important issue is to discover the best way for communication and the best time to do it.

It is also very important that your first project with any outsourcing partner is not time-sensitive. Remember, the first project is like a test. If you feel your partnership is not working the way you expect it, don’t start another project because if you do, this will be a mistake.

Very often the process of finding responsive outsourcing partners is based on trial and error. You might have to try many providers till you find The One. Once you find somebody you enjoy working with, rest assured - you can use them for as many projects as you have!