Thanks to globalization, what seemed impossible a decade back is already in action today. The invisible borders among the countries have blurred, and the other side of the world does not appear that far. This has created endless business possibilities for MNCs, enterprises, and even startups. You have a global market at your aid and business assistance from all over the world at a few clicks. As such, the concept of offshoring customer service emerged as a boon for many businesses in the USA.
However, one should not confuse outsourcing with offshoring. Outsourcing is to delegate some of your company’s work to another firm. In contrast, offshoring is delegating your work to a company in another country. Offshoring is common for operational services such as administration, banking, support services, and call centers.
Although this business outsourcing model is not new, it has gained considerable popularity in the SME space in the last few years. As the Internet has grown and networking technology has evolved, offshoring has become more available and viable for business owners today. There are many benefits of customer service outsourcing in a different country.
1. Lower Operational Cost
Who starts a business without thinking about cost reduction and profit appreciation? The primary goal of offshoring customer service is cost reduction. In some countries, you can get the same service for half a price. If that is not a reason enough to offshore your service, nothing else is!
Some of the Asian countries have the finest technologies that are available at your service. All you need to do is search for the best, check if it aligns with your requirements, and book your service.
2. Lower Labor Cost
If you are to survive this super-competitive market, you need to boost your firm’s profit-making capacity. What better way to do it than reduce the labor cost? Almost 25%-30% of the profit goes into fulfilling the labor cost. When you are outsourcing your customer service, it can also reduce the cost of labor.
Customer service outsourcing provides you with access to a vibrant and diverse pool of talent. It provides access to highly qualified and university-educated citizens. With the current demand for labor, it is easier to locate people in developing countries with the correct skillset. Introducing offshore teams would also boost the local workforce. Offshoring provides a broad range of skills for knowledge-based operations, which is advantageous for any company seeking to meet unique criteria.
3. Boost Business Growth
Offshoring helps you to cut one of your company’s most costly expenses; labor. Keeping it aside would encourage you to allocate funds to your company and extend your product and service offerings. Essentially, you’re focused on your company rather than on worrying about the funds.
Business inevitably takes an upward growth trend when you are invested in developing and expanding it without restrictions and distractions. Companies who want to offshore would undoubtedly prosper in both the short and long term. Offshoring encourages business owners to concentrate on business expansion strategy.
4. Reduces Risk
Your company’s teams in various locations not only offer specialized resources to your organization but also allow you to decrease the threat of job lags, poor customer interaction and coordination, and other related issues.
Adjusted schedule shifts mean that the company’s demands are met at all hours of the day, every day, with the most qualified workers possible. Having several teams in various countries reduces risk, increases marketing opportunities, and encourages you to serve your clients whenever they require it.
5. Greater Control
Offshoring and outsourcing help improve and extend your influence over activities and development by helping you form a devoted core community of employees who work and rely solely on your business.
Offshoring and outsourcing, contrary to popular wisdom, enable you to sophisticate your operations by ensuring your power over all facets of any company-specific function. As the single point of guidance, you prepare your employees to ensure that everything is completed and carried out according to your specifications.
This results in increased efficiency and transparency from each representative of your core community of employees. At the same time, you can be confident that select teams of the finest quality are meeting the other business demands.
6. Greater Availability
Different time zone with a team able to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week offers you an excellent chance to serve your customers when they need it to meet their ever-changing demands. This results in a higher quality of support and a better level of customer loyalty, and faster and more direct communication with your business. This raises the industry’s strategic advantage over its competitors.
Which Countries Are Leading the Offshoring Customer Service Industry?
According to A.T. Kearney’s overview report, there are top Asian countries that are leading this industry. From India and China to the Philippines and Malaysia, you can find these names in the report as some of the finest service providers to countries like the USA. These countries have topped the chart in terms of security and manpower and emerged as some of the powerful hot-spots for talent.
If you are outsourcing to these countries, for instance, the Philippines, you can find a decent English-speaking employee who can fluently converse with your American customers. You will find hospitality and empathy as common traits among the people, which is essential for customer support. In Phillippines, you get the best value for your money and get access to a highly skilled workforce.
Get Offshoring now!
With Covid-19, offshoring is working in favor of many small and mid-size enterprises. It does not matter where you are based in the world; you can still provide better services to your customers and enhance your company’s credibility in a lucrative market all over the world. As a result, businesses are increasingly turning to this strategy to recruit people with influential expertise who live abroad.
Asian countries such as India, the Philippines, and China are the most common offshoring locations for companies based in the United States.