VoIP Call Center

Should You Outsource Your VoIP Call Center?

By Robbie Pleasant TMCnet Contributor

Say you have a VoIP-based call center. You want to provide customers with the best service possible, but you also want to reduce costs in order to make a better profit. How can you do both at the same time? For many companies, outsourcing these services to anoffshore location seems like the way to go, but it is? There are some pros and cons to that kind of outsourcing that must be taken into consideration before making such a crucial decision.

With outsourcing, you can relocate these facilities to countries outside of the Untied States where labor is much cheaper. Assuming the workers can still perform as well as local employees would the language barrier is no problem for them and if there’s the necessary IT infrastructure in place, the operation can work smoothly and provide the same services for a much lower cost.

As such, outsourced call centers traditionally are cheaper to run than ones that aren’t and need a reduced workforce. They can also be scaled as needed, according to individual company needs..

However, sometimes outsourcing comes with some drawbacks. It’s harder to ensure a consistent and quality customer experience, so companies can’t always provide the best service from an outsourced location. Training and managing agents from half a world away can also prove challenging.

There are also some PR issues with outsourcing; the term tends to leave a nasty taste in the minds of many, whether it’s for the loss of local jobs outsourcing creates or the stereotype of a heavily-accented man getting paid cents on the hour to ask, “Have you tried turning it off and then on again?”

As such, outsourcing never falls exactly on the “good” or “bad” sides of the scale, with several points tipping it in each direction. Inevitably, it comes down to each company’s decision; it can take the risks with the savings or stay on-shore and provide a more manageable experience at a higher cost.

Of course, there are several tools that make contact centers easier to run, whether they’re on or off shore. VoIP allows for instant communication with employees from pretty much anywhere, and there are many designed specifically for contact centers. For example, Powernet Global (PNG) provides IP PBX (News - Alert) services and phones that provide all the benefits of a large phone system at an affordable price, making it a viable option for companies that need to save capital without losing quality.

In the end, the choice comes down to each business. There are both advantages and disadvantages to outsourcing that must be considered, but when a company weighs all its options and needs, the answer will then become crystal clear.

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