How to do China Call Center Outsourcing?

How to do china Call Center Outsourcing

How to do China call center outsourcing?

Maintaining a business today and keeping it profitable is not as easy as it was 20 years ago. Today we have customer support and Omni-channel marketing, cybersecurity interests and the fast evolution of IT has meant that some of the company’s operations have to be outsourced. Some of the industries that have been outsourced by companies in recent years include accounting, call centers, and even tech support. Some of the larger corporations have even outsourced entire departments and projects to specialized firms that are capable of doing a better job while remaining pocket-friendly.

For many organizations, staffing and subsequent management of an internal call center can be challenging and expensive especially for businesses that deal with direct-to-customer businesses. The numbers show that call center expenses represent up to 4% of the net sales. Industry titans such as Hershey Foods, Time Warner Inc., and The Wall Street Journal all made headlines when they declared that they had outsourced part if not all of their call-center employees in a bid to cut on costs. The external provider will then be responsible (for all!) of their operations involving their call centers. These include training call center agents, managing day to day operations and maintaining the infrastructure so that everything runs smooth. Once companies sign their contracts, they usually slide into the background and let the service provider oversee operations.

Recently, China call center outsourcing has become one of the most strategic ways to deal with call centers. Especially for companies that work with worldwide clients that speak Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, or otherwsie!), having a call center with representatives of many languages becomes a big plus. At Global Travel Assistant, we specialize our services in Chinese call centers. This is because we provide a unique service including that of bilingual support.

Let’s consider the advantages of outsourcing your call center.

Lower costs

china call center outsourcing
Lower Costs

Although many companies have their call centers in-house, looking at the overall cost of these centers is crucial. Most people look at the call center expenses as just the usual hourly labor rate for the employees. However, when analyzing the cost implications of a call center, several things have to be accounted for. These include;

  • Payroll benefits for management
  • Utility costs including IT systems, telecom, and software
  • HR recruiting and training
  • Agents and supervisor’s space utility

When you put all this together, we find that the costs do add up over time. For some companies, the fees generated by this department are not adequately offset by the generated revenues. As such outsourcing to countries such as China means a healthier bottom line without compromising on quality.

Avoiding capital investment

China cell center outsourcing

Call centers require an investment to work flawlessly. Since many companies don’t give call centers the resources they require, most of them are usually under-invested thus realizing only a fraction of true potential. However, keeping up with technology isn’t exactly cheap. Although technologies such as VoIP, chat, quality call monitoring systems, scheduling software and modern interactive training provide high service levels, they are not cheap. So if a company wants to reap the benefits of new technology without the additional capital investment, China call center outsourcing is the way to go.

Handling overflow

China cell center outsourcing

Since call centers have specifically been made to handle calls, scaling operations here is simple and quite straightforward. When clients reach a call center, and you seem to have higher than planned call volumes, they abandon their shopping cart because they couldn’t reach assistance on time. Outsourcing helps deal with overflow meaning clients will not wait. They will get immediate assistance when they need it.

So, how should a company begin the outsourcing process?

Determine company needs

china cell center outsourcing
call center outsourcing pros and cons

If you are considering call center outsourcing, executives and leaders must sit and discuss about what the company needs and whether they can realize company goals and profit margins without outsourcing the contracts. Here, the pros and cons of outsourcing the contract should be discussed about the economic well-being of the company at the forefront.

Finding the right outsourcing partner

China cell center outsourcing
business partner

In comparison to your company’s needs, you must then find a suitable partner to go into business with.  This means finding the right company with the right technology, the correct location due to language availability and accent neutrality and also the consideration of labor cost versus skill sets available. Going into business with the wrong partner could prove catastrophic for your business.

Global travel assistant provides technological and call center services for all the biggest travel companies in Greater China and Japan. Come see how we’ve helped

Strategy definition

China cell center outsourcing
Strategy planning

When you outsource, you give a chunk of your business to an external party. For call centers, your customer experience is in the hands of another party, and without a proper strategy in place, a business might suffer. As such, there should be a strategy manager whose job is understanding the business’ agenda, short and long-term goals and then makes sure the message is gotten clearly by the outsourced department.

Creating contracts and SLAs definition

China cell center outsourcing
contracts and SLAs

Service level agreements and statements of work together with contracts are a critical part of outsourcing. These documents highlight what the business gets from the Business process outsourcing (BPO) partners and what the company gives in return. These two documents will then define the level of service quality you are expecting, and also specific benchmarks which this performance will be measured against. This means that evaluations become that much simpler and identifying areas with problems less strenuous.

Transitioning

china call center outsouring
Transitioning

Once the SLAs have been taken care of and contracts have been taken care of, the business then enters the transitional phase. This is a handover of work product, duties and responsibilities to the BPO service. Experts have agreed that transitions work that much better when people are invested in the process. This means communication should flow in both directions each company giving what the other needs and vice versa.

 

Going forward

China cell center outsourcing

Going forward, for the outsourcing to be beneficial to all parties, the company needs to treat the BPO company as partners and not contractors. This means involving them when building a business case, setting SLAs, strategy development, and the transition process. This process helps the two companies know each other and also creates a bond between the two so that working together becomes effortless. This will lead to smoother transitions and better business relationships which are a benefit for the company.

Outsourcing call centers work for some companies and don’t for others. If a company doesn’t find the right partner, eight times out of 10 that venture will fail. What is required is that the outsourcing company have an excellent staff. This means great communication skills, interpersonal skills, and well-rounded product knowledge. When this is covered, outsourcing your activities will mean saving up to 30% which will mean more profits.

We hope you enjoyed our post. Offering exceptional customer service is the primary goal of a call center. Send us an Inquiry today to speak to one of our call center outsourcing experts and get a free quote today!

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