THE BATTLE – IN HOUSE VS OUTSOURCED CALL CENTER

For any business, the customer comes first. It is their satisfaction towards the company’s products and services that make a company get its position in a market and its market value. Therefore, each and every company makes sure that their customers return satisfied. In order to ensure that a company takes several measures to improve its products and services and one of them is to establish its own call center support services.

Why the idea?

Every company wants its customers to leave with a lasting impression (positive). They feel that a positive, responsive and professional approach would always make sure that their customers feel happy. And when they are happy they would surely return to opt for same services whenever they are in need. Moreover, business owners gain much confidence in carrying out their day-to-day business activities.

Setting up call center services is a very crucial step for start-up and companies in expansion mode. They hardly can manage time to answer or revert back to client calls because of their day-to-day business actions and a limited number of employees available.  While outbound sales call center compensates for the needs with their flexible support team. In the long run, they help a company to expand its customer base while still keeping its focus undisturbed on the main operations.

Now, if a company has to get their hands on support services they need to choose between inbound and outbound call support teams. The two though carry out similar functions but varies largely because of their setup. Thus, a business making house needs to put forth their careful feet so that the decision in no way hinders their progress. Here in this article, we are providing certain pointers that will help business owners differentiate between the two.

Inbound Call Centers

There are several call centers in India that cater to the needs of the customers of a market giant. This team is shortlisted, hired and trained by the company itself and the employees generally receive a pay-out according to the company’s standard.  The name of Wipro in this connection is the most popular among people. What happens in such a call center is that customers who have purchased products and services from Wipro can get in touch with the support whenever they need assistance. So, mostly the calls are incoming and the support team needs to answer them.

The positive side of setting up an in-house team are as follows:

Company’s Personal Touch– Suppose you have call centers in Delhi, your team would look after no other company except for yours. So, they would be more and more focused on the customers and would also be able to render more time to solve their queries. Moreover, here the professionals are trained to represent the brand.

Enhanced Security– Without any third-party involvement, the fear of losing client data is almost negligible. Additionally, your customers will also feel secure when they know that they are communicating directly with the company’s representatives.

The downsides are:

A little expensive- From hiring to buying all the necessary equipment you will have to do all for in-house call center services in India. This can be a burdening factor in case your company is striving to set its feet. Furthermore, costs would be incurred to keep the technology in their best condition and employee service quality in check.

Compromised productivity- In-house team is efficient for core tasks. But when there are non-core functions to perform the resources fall inefficient to compensate with the requirements.

Outbound Call Centers

Outbound customer support centers are quite the obverse. The support team mostly focusses on making an outgoing or outbound call. Naturally, the calls are targeted to drive sales and made out to a list of customers or the ones presumed to be potent enough.  These type of team save a whole lot of time, effort and investment of a company as the needs are outsourced. The team is highly efficient making conversation with the customers, noting down their likes and dislikes and finding a convenient time to call if they are busy at the moment. It just doesn’t end there; the customers are called as discussed to fulfill the marketing initiative. If proper outsourcing is not done, it is found that 90% customer interest fads away.

The positive sides:

Work Oriented-Outsourcing the business operations helps you to focus on core business activities like manufacture, distribution and sales. On the contrary, if you ask your employees to focus on them they will come under pressure and show affected productivity.

Cost Effective– You can save almost 50% of the costs on resources if you are outsourcing your needs. If you are in search of the right market let us inform you that BPO in India is the most sought after in the world market due to its low cost requirements.

Minimizes Risks– Because you outsource your needs to a third-party company you would be in fear, but outbound companies offer you total security by entering into a mutual risk sharing agreement with the company. Thus, you can feel safe.

Offers Trained Staff– The company does all the stuff from hiring the right people to training them and keeping them updated from time to time. Thus, neither you have to bother about their experience, not their training. Additionally, the use of state-of-the-art technology at the hands of these talented staff ensures you are in safe hands and your sales targets are filled on time. Therefore, one valid point is they also save your time.

Some of the demerits are:

• Sharing some of the confidential information with the company may keep your company at risk in certain situations. At this point make sure certain specific data security standards are maintained.
• Remotely located companies keep your hands off the matter. While this seems less stressful when you have to look after the core activities, it can at times get on the nerves too.
• The biggest problem is the language barrier. Companies based in another country would not be as proficient as a company residing in the country.