Outsourcing customer service through call centers

Abstract: The rise in globalization has compelled companies to become more
competitive. Competitiveness is not bound to better production, indeed it
goes beyond this and value added services have now started to become the
hallmark of competitiveness. Subcontracting (outsourcing) non core business
processes have become a major source of competitive advantage lately.
Customer services is a non core business function but plays a major role in
creating good will of a company as well as accumulating a pool of loyal
customers. Companies finding an edge in competitiveness are going for
outsourcing their customer services through call centers. This research is
aimed at studying the outsourcing of customer services through call
centers. The call center components explained (i.e. strategy, technology,
processes, human resources (HR) and facilities), were to be tested for
their selection and adoption. To achieve the research purpose, case studies
were conducted examining two telecommunications companies that have
outsourced their customer services. The study found the differences and
similarities between the companies as regards to the theories provided. The
study also found that companies depending on their market situation and
positioning differed on selecting the processes to outsource and the
technology to adapt but showed somewhat similar patterns in terms of other
call center components. It was found that the choice for formulating the
strategy for outsourcing and selection of the customer support process is
challenging as well as need to be molded to the situation of the company at
question. While outsourced customer services through call centers is a way
to be cost effective and maximize business performance, at the same time it
also presents significant new management challenges, such as continuous
improvement and effective control over HR and facilities for outsourced
call centers. Lastly, the participating companies were in full agreement
regarding the benefits that outsourcing gave their productivity and overall
business operations.