When you hear the word “outsource,” you probably don’t think of concepts like success, strategy, partnership, or even customer satisfaction. But you should.
Companies traditionally have used outsourcing to handle transactional, back-office processes or noncritical services. But the landscape has changed dramatically. Outsourcing today is a key part of a successful business strategy, and service providers are now thought partners who act as an extension of your business and brand.
Even the International Organization on Standardization (ISO) recognizes outsourcing as “a good business strategy.” In 2014, the ISO published a new standard specific to outsourcing (ISO 37500:2014), noting that outsourcing enables an organization to add value, achieve business objectives, tap into a resource base and mitigate risk.
Change and Outsourcing: A Perfect Match
Outsourcing can be especially valuable when you need extra staffing and expertise. During or after online conversions or other significant change events, call volumes and handle times can double, putting an extra burden on your contact center team. You need the flexibility to quickly scale up or down and manage spikes in activity, without having to hire a large number of people for a small window of time — and without sacrificing the quality service that your account holders expect.
It’s times like this when financial institutions are deciding that outsourcing is the way to go. While your team may handle the excess load for the short term, performance and morale ultimately may suffer. Outsourcing can help you improve efficiency and use your resources more strategically while you focus on your core competencies. It can also give you access to specialized expertise that typically isn’t available in house.
More Than a Short-Term Staffing Fix
A strong outsourcing supplier can provide benefits beyond just staffing, such as:
- Project planning and management support, to ensure rapid deployment, operational efficiency and go-live success
- Quick issue resolution and customer satisfaction with an experienced and dedicated frontline team that can anticipate account holder questions
- Ongoing quality assurance to ensure best practices are being followed and key learnings are continuously incorporated to meet performance standards
As more and more financial institutions use outsourcing to manage strategic functions within the organization, service providers are being evaluated on their ability to deliver on the account holder journey and add value to the customer experience overall. Strategic outsourcing can drive transformational change and help your financial institution grow and retain account holders.
Are you ready to handle the added burden of change? Maybe it’s time to consider outsourcing so that you can focus on what you do best.
> Download Vericast’s “Ultimate Guide for Successful Contact Center Outsourcing”.
