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Consumer expectations increase as the third-largest city in the U.S. grows as a major corporate hub. Call center outsourcing emerges as a strategic approach to managing demands and providing quality customer service for Chicago businesses. It offers many benefits and features that allow local companies to streamline operations and improve customer satisfaction.
If you want to learn how business process outsourcing (BPO) and call center services in Chicago can help your business, this article is for you. It explores the role and benefits of outsourcing and how it empowers local organizations to provide stellar customer service.
The Primary Role and Benefits of Call Center Outsourcing
To better understand how outsourcing helps Chicago businesses improve customer service, let us first answer the question: what is BPO? This process involves delegating non-core tasks, such as customer service operations, to a third-party provider.
BPO offers many benefits, making it attractive to businesses of all kinds and sizes worldwide. According to 360 Research Reports, the global contact and call center outsourcing industry’s value reached $75.4 billion in 2021. With its increasing popularity, it is expected to grow to $107.2 billion by 2023.
So, why consider outsourcing call center operations? Here are its primary benefits:
- Lower labor costs. Outsourcing’s cost-saving potential is mainly evident when offshoring or nearshoring to countries with lower living expenses. For example, businesses that outsource to the Philippines enjoy saving 70% on labor costs. Fortunately, most BPO providers have operations in such locations.
- Reduced infrastructure expenses. Outsourcing entails working with remote workers. You need not invest in office space, which can be expensive in Chicago. It also helps you save on equipment and utilities, freeing up valuable resources for critical business matters.
- Fewer technology investments. BPO providers typically have access to quality customer service software, tools, and call center as a service (CCaaS) solutions. Chicago businesses leverage these tools to avoid significant technological investments, loans, subscriptions, and purchases.
- Increased operational scalability. BPO teams are readily available and typically capable of deploying backup staff when needed. Their automation tools and customer service technologies also help you accommodate fluctuating volumes. Thus, you can scale operations up or down without worrying about overstaffing or understaffing.
- Round-the-clock services. Outsourcing to teams in different time zones gives you round-the-clock coverage, enhancing your availability. This feature lets you accommodate customer concerns beyond regular business hours. It also helps your brand achieve a positive reputation regarding customer support.
- Enhanced focus on core competencies. With additional staff and technologies to handle repetitive and time-consuming tasks, your internal team can attend to other matters. Focusing on activities that impact your growth improves the quality of customer journeys, your services, and the overall health of your Chicago business.
How Outsourcing Ensures Quality Customer Service for Chicago Businesses
The Windy City is known as the top metro for businesses nationwide. This status makes the city’s corporate landscape highly dynamic and competitive, increasing customer expectations. With high demand comes difficulties in handling customer inquiries and concerns, such as:
- Interpreting vague or unclear questions
- Identifying underlying issues
- Adapting to diverse communication styles
- Relaying inconsistent information across channels
Thus, local companies must find ways to evolve and stay ahead. This is where outsourcing comes in. Its many features and benefits allow businesses to improve their customer service operations.
Below is a rundown of how a call center BPO partner can help provide exceptional service amidst increasing support volumes.
1. Access to Specialized Talent
Outsourcing utilizes a global talent pool that is skilled and well-versed in customer service best practices, trends, and etiquette. Third-party workers possess the necessary soft skills for customer support, including strong work ethics, emotional intelligence, and a positive attitude.
Outsourcing teams can also enhance customer service through:
- Technical knowledge. BPO call center agents can master industry-specific products, services, procedures, and devices quickly. They are proficient in relevant support software, such as ticketing platforms and customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
- Communication skills. Customer service agents employ professional, courteous, empathic communication and active listening skills to accurately understand customer concerns. They are trained to manage difficult conversations, calm frustrated customers, and find resolutions that satisfy both parties.
- Multilingual skills. Most outsourcing providers recruit agents with diverse language skills. Their teams possess excellent written and verbal skills in English and other necessary languages, exhibiting clear pronunciation and grammar. This feature allows them to cater to a broader customer base without communication barriers.
- Problem-solving skills. Call center BPO agents employ critical thinking skills, enabling them to consider different options and choose the best response in customer interactions. They are resourceful and have the initiative to find alternative solutions as needed, ensuring quality customer service for your Chicago business.
- Data analysis skills. BPO teams leverage basic data analysis concepts to track the customer service performance of your Chicago business. With the information gathered, they can make more informed decisions and adjust their strategies to provide better support services.
Access to specialized talent is valuable, especially considering the tight labor market in Chicago. With a low 4.4% unemployment rate and over 50,000 new jobs in the area, finding qualified labor becomes challenging.
2. Leverage of Sophisticated Technologies
As mentioned, outsourcing providers often leverage industry software and tools you can borrow. These technologies help streamline call center tasks, improving employee productivity and customer satisfaction.
This feature benefits enterprises of all sizes, but more significantly, small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Here is a rundown of standard tools used by service providers:
- CRM systems. This technology helps businesses manage and analyze existing and potential customer interactions. It is also a central hub for all consumer data and activities, including contact details, preferences, purchase history, and more.
- Artificial intelligence (AI). This technology can automate routine tasks, such as answering repetitive inquiries and troubleshooting basic issues. Its algorithms can predict problems by analyzing customer data, thus minimizing resolution time and improving service quality.
- Call recording and monitoring software. BPO teams use this technology to capture, store, and evaluate voice calls between customers and agents. It facilitates quality assurance, customer service training, compliance, and dispute resolution for your Chicago business.
- Data encryption tools. Customer service operations deal with a lot of sensitive consumer and business data. Data encryption tools help you safeguard this information by converting it into an unreadable, scrambled format called ciphertext.
3. Omnichannel Customer Service
BPO providers have established best practices and standardized processes for handling customer inquiries through different channels. They have dedicated personnel to operate these communication lines independently and seamlessly. Their teams are also skilled in channel-specific communication styles, etiquette, tools, and workflows.
Typically, call center outsourcing teams are well-versed in providing support through these mediums:
- Phone
- Live chat
- Video conferences
- Social media
- Text messaging
Most outsourcing providers utilize advanced CRM platforms to merge various communication lines. These tools allow them to access consumer data and support history through a single system to ensure continuity and reduce frustration.
A seamless user experience ensures high-quality, consistent customer service, regardless of how users prefer to interact with your Chicago business.
4. Convenient Self-Service Support
Multichannel call center solutions include self-service portals that allow customers to find answers and resolve issues independently. Their features include:
- Knowledge base
- Chatbots
- Community forums
- Discussion boards
- Interactive product tours and demos
Outsourcing providers often have dedicated teams skilled in creating engaging self-service content. They can identify common inquiries and pain points to increase these platforms’ effectiveness.
Technologies leveraged by service vendors, such as AI and CRM systems, help you maintain these channels. They streamline tasks such as adding new content, fixing technical issues, and monitoring user engagement. These tools also ensure your platforms are updated, secure, and accessible.
5. Personalized Customer Interactions
Through their advanced data analytics tools and expertise, BPO teams can help you gain deeper insights into consumer preferences and behaviors. They utilize this information to create profiles for each customer, which you can use to:
- Tailor recommendations
- Offer relevant support
- Deliver targeted marketing messages
In addition, outsourcing to countries that speak two or more tongues gives you access to a multilingual support team. These agents have local knowledge and cultural sensitivity that can help your business connect to global markets more effectively.
With a dedicated team, building quality customer relationships and providing personalized support services will be easier for your Chicago business.
6. Quality Support Operations Monitoring
While outsourcing raises concerns about quality control, it also offers robust and scalable solutions. Many call center providers have specialized quality assurance (QA) teams with the tools and skills to evaluate agent performance.
Third-party staff analyzes customer interactions, reviews transcripts, and monitors customer feedback. Their assessment is typically based on criteria including average handling times, accuracy, empathy, and problem resolution.
Additionally, the BPO provider’s advanced software allows it to automate various aspects of QA, such as:
- Analyzing sentiment in customer conversations
- Identifying keywords indicative of negative interactions
- Flagging potentially risky situations for human review
BPO teams can identify areas for improvement and provide targeted coaching to agents. Customer service quality is ensured with a comprehensive service-level agreement (SLA) and specific key performance indicators (KPIs).
The Bottom Line
Amid competitive business landscapes, providing quality customer service is the secret to staying ahead of the curve. Thus, Chicago businesses rely on outsourced call center services. The practice’s many features allow local organizations to provide personalized, high-quality omnichannel support.
Let’s connect if you want to learn more about how outsourcing guarantees quality customer service for Chicago businesses.
