4T4 Consult, the latest company offering intelligent customer solutions to join the Puzzel partner program, recently shared some useful insights. Matthew Sims, Director of 4T4 Consult, revealed some of the top challenges that he notices companies facing when it comes to outsourcing strategies.
According to Matthew Sims, the current crisis for COVID-19 has highlighted the value of contact centres in this complex period. Many companies are searching for opportunities to outsource for additional resources. However, there are some roadblocks in the way.
The Challenges of Contact Centre Outsourcing
4T4 Consult believes that there are 8 significant challenges that today’s companies need to address. Here are some of the issues highlighted by Matthew Sims:
- Under-delivering and over-promising: Companies are promising customers the world, but they’re struggling to deliver. Suppliers need to be responsible for delivering a solution that can meet with the demands of customers
- Buy cheap, buy again: The outsourcing environment often prides itself on being able to deliver the same service as competitors for a lower cost. The temptation to “buy cheap” is high, but it often comes at the cost of strategic success
- Having your cake and eating it too: Third-party involvements often lead to “utopia” agreements, according to 4T4 Consult. However, when these agreements become impossible to deliver, they often end up in the court room
- Inadequate alignment between brand-needs cost, and solutions: Pressure from regulators has led companies to make significant adjustments to compensate for pricing and consumer pressures. However, this leads to a bigger impact on processes, procedures, and legacy systems
- The search for tech silver bullets: Magic solutions to complex problems don’t exist. Companies need to commit to due diligence, hard work, and planning. Though tech can help businesses to evolve, businesses need to approach it with care
- Brand and cultural alignment: When profit erodes due to regulation, skill deficiencies services become a nice-to-have solution. Too much focus on investing in tech can create outsourcers that are like ice-cream shops selling nothing but vanilla
- Data protection and crisis management: Customer data helps brands to deliver powerful marketing. However, it’s crucial to stay in line with GDPR guidelines when using consumer information
- Practices misaligned with service strategies: When customer service methods change, the people who are responsible for delivering may stay the same. Meanwhile, agents are forced to adopt practices that they’re not familiar with
Overcoming Outsourcing Challenges
4T4 Consult believes that successful companies will be the ones that learn how to turn these challenges into new opportunities. Organisations need to think carefully about how they deploy new technology like artificial intelligence and Robotic Process Automation. It’s important to learn from the brands that have already invested to identify any potential pitfalls. It’s also essential to adopt a measured approach that takes the customer journey into account.
Businesses also need to remember that a partner isn’t just a supplier. This is particularly true with business process outsourcing and delivery of services. Organisations need to choose partners wisely. Offshoring might be a great opportunity, but not for tactical and short-term gain. Companies need to ensure that the partners and solutions they choose are ideal for the customers of tomorrow too.
You can download the full paper from Puzzel and 4T4 for more insights into contact centre outsourcing.
