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Call Center Outsourcing
This section of our technical library presents information and documentation relating to call center technology including software and products.
Since the Company's inception in 1978, DSC has specialized in the development of communications software and systems. Beginning with our CRM and call center applications, DSC has developed computer telephony integration software and PC based phone systems. These products have been developed to run on a wide variety of telecom computer systems and environments.
Contact DSC today. to learn more about our call center outsourcing services.
U.S. Holds Contact-Center Outsourcing Lead - Barely
The following is an extract from the article "U.S. Holds Contact-Center Outsourcing Lead - Barely" by Kimberly Hill from CRM Daily:
"While U.S. companies still top the list of those to which U.S. enterprises are outsourcing contact-center operations, other countries are gaining ground rapidly. The United Kingdom and northern Ireland come in a close second, and India is running third, according to recent research by the Aberdeen Group.
Although reducing overall costs is the primary reason for outsourcing, the related task of balancing call-volume load is not as easy as it may seem, Aberdeen vice president Chris Fletcher told CRMDaily.com. Seasonal or daily spikes in calls, for example, can prompt even those companies that choose to keep their contact centers in-house to contract with an outsourcing firm to handle those surges.
Labor Costs Lead Trend
The primary cost for any call-center operation is labor, said Fletcher. And that labor can be obtained outside the U.S. for a fraction of the cost. For example, contact centers in India can recruit university graduates with strong English and technical skills for the equivalent of about US$350 per month.
While lower wage levels can provide a substantial cost savings versus hiring U.S. employees, the inducement to farming out labor does not end there. Outsourcing also offloads many of the managerial headaches experienced by call-center supervisors.
Turnover among agents has been a long-standing challenge among contact centers located in the U.S., and recent technology developments mean that companies must make substantial investments to keep their centers operating at best-practice level, Deloitte Consulting partner Nidal Haddad told CRMDaily. Outsourcers, due to their sheer size, can be more effective at managing those challenges.
Flexibility Follows
Outsourcing also provides a "release valve" for enterprises that wish to keep most of their customer contacts close to home but need some extra help during product introductions, large marketing campaigns, or busy seasons, said Fletcher. Thus, the hybrid contact-center model is gaining popularity, especially among companies that are loath to let go of customer contacts altogether.
Dealing with regional weather and energy problems also can create the need for flexibility. If an entire contact center is located in one geographic region, any disruption there can take the whole customer-service operation down.
The director of global operations for outsourcer ClientLogic's network operations center, Dan Clark, told CRMDaily that his firm routinely redirects call-volume traffic around the country to avoid potential problems with hurricanes in Florida, for example, or snowstorms in other regions. One might add the recent blackout that affected the United States' Northeast and Great Lakes regions to that list......"
To view the entire article, visit www.crmdaily.com.
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