Anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of organisations outsourcing their contact centre duties is showing strong growth at present, as firms look to cut costs. But contact centre outsource vendors now offer far more than just a way to slash customer service costs, with providers presenting a range of added value services and expertise. The question is, can firms see past the preconceived notion of outsourcers as ‘cost cutters’ and embrace them as tools to build profitable customer relationships with?
As has been documented by MyCustomer.com's Jennifer Kirkby before, one of the problems that blighted contact centres historically was that cost was the biggest consideration – they were viewed as a burden to be reduced, rather than an opportunity to build value. “KPIs revolve around calls rather than outcomes,” wrote Kirkby two years ago. “The cost of resources (e.g. staff, technology, operations) are easy to measure but relationship value and what affects it, is not. Those who have responsibility for building relationship value (e.g. marketing, customer experience) have little link with the contact centre, which comes under operations.
