Contact center solutions have become an integral part of modern businesses. All kinds of companies – small, medium, and large – opt to engage them for customer engagement and client communications. Some companies also engage in inbound and outbound call center services outsourcing for marketing and selling their products and services to target audiences. As a result, contact center outsourcing continues to grow with each passing day, and businesses continue to utilize their benefits to add to their operating efficiencies, productivity, and profitability. This has enabled businesses to reduce operating costs, raise productivity, increase new and recurring sales, improve profit margins, and positively impact the bottom line.
In the beginning, businesses in the United States only preferred top USA-based BPO companies to engage for contact center solutions. This enabled companies to keep their customer support operations closer to their actual location of business. However, towards the late 1990s and early 2000s, India became a hotbed for call center services outsourcing for US-based companies. Outsourcing to call center companies in India was much cheaper than to their counterparts in the United States. At the same time, businesses were able to customize contact center solutions by opting to outsource to an outbound and inbound call center in India. Call center companies in the US didn’t allow many customizations due to little resources and relatively costlier operating costs.
As a result, the call center industry in India became extremely popular in the global BPO industry, soon becoming the go-to destination for businesses from every corner of the world. Even today, India continues to be a leader in the global BPO marketplace, with hundreds of thousands of contact center companies across every corner of the country.
However, inbound & outbound call center services outsourcing to India isn’t without its unique challenges
When done properly, outsourcing your customer support operations to a BPO company in India can pay rich dividends. But, in order to do so, you will have to overcome a few common challenges impacting the country’s BPO industry. Some of the common challenges in outsourcing to an outbound and inbound call center in India include:
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Cultural differences
The difference in the cultures of the United States and India can be a major stumbling block in customer service. There are many things that are considered okay in India but aren’t taken well by the American people. Support representatives need to be aware of how to interact with American customers to have convenient and positive conversations. They need to avoid saying anything that might offend customers and ruin their experiences with the brand. Hence, adequate training on these cultural differences is necessary for representatives.
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Language barriers
Indian people speak British English, which is quite different from American English. Now, American customers might not have much difficulty understanding the English spoken by Indian agents. However, Indian agents often find it challenging to comprehend the American lingo if they are untrained in American spoken English. Hence, it is important for you to choose a contact center with American English-speaking agents for your inbound and outbound call center services outsourcing.
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Lack of brand knowledge
This is another problem that can arise with a lack of proper training and a half-hearted approach. Contact centers must provide adequate information to agents on the company, its ideologies and vision, and the products and services it offers to customers. This will equip the customer support agents with the necessary tools to deliver accurate information and resolutions. At the same time, agents will also be able to ensure that customer engagements align with the brand’s ideologies. This will result in superior and desired customer service deliveries.
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Reduced operational oversight & control
Outsourcing customer support to an offshore contact center puts a lot of distance between the BPO company and your location. This makes it challenging to maintain complete oversight of the contact center operations. As a result, customer service quality often suffers and leads to poor customer experiences. Hence, you need to choose a contact center that ensures 100% agent performance monitoring and provides regular reports to you. This will help you monitor and regulate the quality of customer support deliveries.
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Data security & countering fraudulent activities
American companies need to follow stringent industry-specific regulations and compliances, which apply to their customer services as well. The problem is that offshore contact centers are not obligated to adhere to these regulations. This creates multiple issues for American companies with regard to customer data protection and operational integrity. Hence, you must opt for an outbound and inbound call center in India that strictly adheres to all industry regulations. This will help you prevent data breaches and ensure maximum security for your customers.
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Inconsistency in agent performances
This is a massive challenge with contact center companies without proper monitoring and quality assurance practices in their operations. Without these practices, they are unable to identify problem areas and regulate agent performances to ensure superior quality customer support. In addition, they also lack the aptitude to take corrective measures that will help them rectify the identified problem areas. Hence, it is important for you to seek a contact center company that has the infrastructure to ensure consistent customer support across multiple locations.
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Poor quality customer services
Inbound and outbound call center services outsourcing must be done properly, as engaging the wrong BPO company can lead to poor quality customer support. Contact centers often get entangled in the numbers behind customer service deliveries – AHT, call abandonment rates, FCR, etc. This results in customer experiences getting neglected. However, modern customer service is dependent on customer experiences more than anything else. Hence, you need to find a contact center company whose operations are dedicated to delivering superior experiences. CX cannot be sacrificed for the other aspects of customer support deliveries.
There are many more such challenges that plague the Indian BPO marketplace. If you can overcome these challenges, you will be able to maximize contact center solutions and boost efficiencies and productivity. In addition, you will also be able to deliver premium customer engagement, ensuring superior customer experiences in every interaction.
Inbound and outbound call center services outsourcing can be very beneficial for your business in the United States. You simply have to understand your precise requirements and identify the ideal contact center company to fulfill those needs. This will ensure favorable results and help you boost revenue generation and profitability for your business, improving the bottom line.
