Concerned about traveling to your outsourcing locations?
You’re not alone. But what is it costing you? Errol Greene, Clear Harbor, LLC
Do you have safety concerns for yourself or your employees when you travel to your outsourcer’s site? It should come as no surprise that many U.S. executives report that they do, and for good reason.. So here’s the question; have you ever found yourself limiting or even eliminating site visits because of your own similar concerns? Although the topic is seldom discussed due to liability concerns, if you have, rest assuredyou are not alone.
We recently interviewed representatives from companies that outsource services to centers around the globe who have had concerns regarding their safety. The common thread between all of them was that site visits had suffered as a result. Some samples of what we heard:
“One Central American country was so notoriously unsafe that we were advised to never leave our hotel at night — for virtually any reason. Robbery was the primary concern, but kidnapping for ransom and murder were also on the table as potential scenarios, too. Needless to say, we listened and never left the hotel.”
Another—
“Upon arrival, we were warned to not carry a cell phone around town, as it was highly likely that it would be stolen, even in broad daylight and on a busy street. As a result, we wound up carrying two cell phones, one that was our real phone, and another that served as a decoy, if in fact, we were robbed. The scary part was constantly needing to be aware of what was and wasn’t safe, as we didn’t want to barricade ourselves inside our hotels and never come out. As you can imagine, this was just what our employees wanted to hear following an extremely long flight. Because of this, it became difficult to attract and retain people willing to travel or spend extended periods of time there.”
Yet another—
“In the country where we outsourced, we noticed our cab drivers never came to a complete stop at a traffic signal or stop sign. When I asked why, we were told they kept rolling at all times because there was a very good chance we might be robbed and/or car-jacked at gunpoint if we did.”
So in light of the above (and other) safety issues, it’s understandable that a large number of support executives choose instead to work with their outsourcing partners remotely. Add in excessive travel time challenges, and it’s no wonder remote management has become popular. But there’s often a hidden— and hefty— price to be paid for this, with your operations and customer service suffering the consequences.
Site visits matter
From an outsourcer’s point of view, “A high level of collaboration is the key to any great outsourcing partnership” say’s Tre Buie, Senior Client Relations Manager for Clear Harbor. “Team members need a chance to bond and build a relationship with the company they are supporting. Agents perform better when they get a sense of whom they are working with. This comes from sharing goals, and understanding why the job they are doing matters. Plus, it just helps our agents to build relationships with our customers, and see customers as people, not just a large conglomerate.”
From a customer perspective, Jilda of Charter Communications Vendor Management Office (who utilizes third-party outsourcing), offers her insight on the value of site visits:
“One of the most enlightening experiences I receive when visiting the site is that I witness firsthand the balance between island living and professionalism. Spending time with the team at the center highlights the organizational skills and thorough approach to everything they do. The result is a reciprocated buy-in on a common goal. And the benefits go far beyond the individual visit in generating lasting effects and positive impacts to our customers.”
In addition, companies schedule in-region site visits to:
· Facilitate more productive, higher quality training
· Allow for a more collaborative, hands-on approach to third-party support, and aid in the sharing of best practices
· Provide access to real-time, direct agent feedback on current customer issues and challenges
· Motivate call center staff and build a team environment
· Understand how the outsourcer’s production environment is set up and become more comfortable with the operations team
· Team build personal relationships with agents that translate into better support, resulting in a standardized and seamless support experience
· Hold focus groups to discuss best practices and learn exactly what their customers are feeling or thinking
· Conduct side-by-side listening sessions where they can listen in on calls, and observe back office work being completed
To put it in perspective—how good would your internal operations be… if you never walked the floor?
Yet many companies have not visited their contact center in months, years or in some cases ever, as a result of safety concerns and/or distance of their outsourcer.
Consider the following:
· How would it impact your own internal operations if you never left your office and walked the operations floor? Would your teams feel disconnected from management’s goals?
· How connected are you to your current outsourcing partners? Are you able to visit sites and motivate your third-party agents and gain their buy-in? Do you travel there often? What is your experience when you do?
· If you could go on-site and in region more often, how might that benefit your operations? Your CSAT/NPS scores? Your overall metrics?
· How much better could your operations run if you had a truly collaborative relationship with the management and agents on site? What if your employees wanted to visit your outsourcer’s site instead of only go when necessary?
But on-site visits alone are not enough
So it is clear that companies seeking to deliver a uniform, superior customer experience need a highly collaborative relationship in place. All of which means that the ideal outsourcing scenario requires three critical elements: Safety in region so as to facilitate site visits, combined with a reasonable, manageable distance for employees to travel, and a highly collaborative relationship with the outsourcing partner. This trifecta takes a traditional outsourcing relationship and transforms it into something more akin to an external company division, tearing down traditional barriers that customer’s sense in traditional outsourcing.
An option that meets all requirements
Fortunately, a safe and close proximity nearshore location with a highly collaborative outsourcing partner does exist. This is critical, because without all three in place, success may be difficult or even impossible to achieve.
Imagine...
A setting so safe and scenic, that employees often choose to bring their families on business trips, cutting down on family away time, and offering a sharp contrast from locations that advise travelers to not leave their hotel after dark. A location that is reachable within just a few hours, with direct flights from the US.
And an outsourcing partner with an approach that’s so collaborative and impactful, that their customers began branded it as,“co-sourcing.” And where barriers to a unified, consistent brand experience are torn down, allowing your outsourcing partner to become a true extension of your company.
Getting this from your current outsourcing provider?
Do the scenarios discussed in this paper hit a nerve? Is it time to reconsider your own operations—and how much better they might be without the reluctance to schedule in-region site visits? Tired of traveling long hours to arrive at a location, only to feel trapped in your hotel or office? Is your outsourcing partner continually as collaborative as you would like them to be? Do they continually bring you best practices to increase CSAT and NPS? Are they constantly seeing ways to increase your profitability? And if not… why not?
If any of these three critical components are missing from your own outsourcing partnership, let us know. It may be time to see the difference having all three in place makes.
To learn more about collaborative co-sourcing in a safe environment, contact:egreene@clearharbor.biz or call: 678-566-3212, option #2
Clear Harbor is a strategic near-shoring firm based in Atlanta, GA (www.clearharbor.biz) with operations in the Caribbean. Founded by call center industry veterans who had, “seen it done wrong more than they had seen it done right,” they dreamed of creating a strategic “co-sourcing” BPO. A company focused on specific core competencies that delivered world-class customer experience as a result. Through a highly collaborative approach, clients achieve remarkable improvements in customer experience and revenue enhancement, while at the same time, reducing operational costs.
Clear Harbor
3030 Royal Boulevard South, #150
Alpharetta, GA 30022
Contact: Errol Greene
404-805-3923, ext. 70304