All the time, we hear our customers and prospects ask the same question. What’s better for us: building out and managing our own global service infrastructure under a legacy business model, or relying on an outsourced global service model? Most organizations seem to understand the cost benefits of outsourcing, but they resist because of concerns about what an outsourced model would mean for their service quality, reputation and relationships with end-users, customer satisfaction ratings and the like. On paper the model seems like a good idea, but the reality can feel more like a leap of faith.
The question, then, should be: what can service organizations do from the outset to ensure an outsourced model is successful? Here are some concepts to focus on:
- Consistent, repeatable training across the workforce.
No matter who fields a particular service call, you need to ensure they are equipped to resolve the case while delivering a high-quality customer experience. That overall experience shouldn’t vary much from FE to FE, ticket to ticket, and site to site – you want it to be steady and reliable. Also, ideally, your training and development program should be fluid; as new methods and best practices emerge, your infrastructure should be able to integrate them quickly and efficiently.
- Partnering with an organization that aligns with your culture, core values, mission, etc.
In the service business, our product is our people – what they say and how they act reflect upon and define us. As such, few things are more essential to delivering a consistent experience from case to case than alignment in these areas. After all, if you and your outsourcing partner aren’t working from the same foundation as true teammates, you’ll be out of sync from the start.
- Ensuring a great service experience.
We hear again and again that what matters as much as anything to our customers is the “how” of response – whether or not the support team was helpful, engaged, supportive and knowledgeable. Obviously, a successful outcome helps, but the way services get delivered is just as important. Make sure you’re working with a team that has a strong culture of accountability and is committed to superior customer experiences.
- Meeting faster SLAs.
There’s no quicker way for an outsourced service provider to lose your trust than to respond slowly or inconsistently to your end-users. You need to be sure a partner can deliver speed, reliability and resiliency so that your end-users are taken care of no matter what comes down the road.
Traditional outsourced models have had a bad reputation historically because of shortcomings in these areas. As you consider outsourcing, obviously it’s important to make sure it’s better for you financially – but it’s just as important to ask good questions in these areas to make sure you put your trust in the right partner. When done the right way, an outsourced model produces customer satisfaction ratings and net promoter scores that are similar or better than in legacy service models – all while enabling you to re-allocate the resources you’d normally spend on service to other important areas of your business. Outsourcing, done the right way, truly can be the best of all worlds for everyone involved.
For more on how we at Source administer our outsourced services, visit sourcesupport.com/services/24-7-support-services.
To keep up with all of Source’s latest news and conversation, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.