How to Plan to Outsource Your Call Center Requirements to the Philippines

You’ve decided to outsource your call center services to the Philippines. And, you’ve chosen to do so because the Philippines is the world’s premier business process outsourcing industry. On your end, you made a choice so that you could have a quality call center process without the costly demands of keeping it as an in-house operation. It’s a smart choice and one that will help your business grow profit and grow in general. Well, as long as you do it the right way. That cannot be overstated. A proper plan is a key to success in business, life, and any project that we take on. For outsourcing call center services, this is no exception. Choosing a BPO partner, or a call center partner in this case specifically, is a big and delicate undertaking. One thing you do lose when you make the transition to offshore outsourcing is the power of direct oversight. You are quite literally moving the process out from under your watchful eye. It will be an adjustment for your senior leadership and your business as a whole. When you make any large shakeup in the way you conduct your business, you cannot expect a perfect transition. You have to assume there will be bumps in the metaphorical road, and you need to be agile enough that you can withstand and persevere through these challenges. On the other side of the initial bumps is success, but you need to get there. You cannot remove the obstacles, but you can plan and be ready as much as possible for them. This will come from proper planning. There are many ways to set up your BPO transition, and today we are looking at a few ways to do that. First, you need to decide on what types of calls the call center will handle. There are two types of calling for a call center to handle, inbound calling and outbound calling. They are pretty straightforward, but let’s play it safe and go over it quickly. Inbound calls are calls coming in, and outbound calls are when your staff is calling out. Typically, inbound calls are conflict resolution and customer support. This can be IT support/help desk services, customer service, booking, sale inquiries, etc. Outbound is an outreach for cold calling, contract renewals, selling, etc. When you outsource, you can choose to do it for outbound, inbound, or a hybrid of the two. What you chose is up to you, and it really depends on what is the best fit for your business. Make a choice and set forward with a plan. Next, your communication between your team and the call center team will be vital. Yes, you can communicate via the phone or over email, but project management tools will also be a helpful tool for collaborative communication on specific projects. For instance, using a tool like Basecamp will allow you and your outsource partner to communicate effectively and work together. Then you should consider ways to promote quality return, such as incentive programs. Depending on the function, you may want to incentivize productivity from your new call center team. This will help everyone come together and move forward towards the same goal. Lastly, set up weekly or monthly leadership meetings. Make sure that your business leaders and your outsource partner's leaders have regular meetings to hash out any big topics and issues that happen. Communication will continue to be important for everyone involved. Here is the long and the short of it. Outsourcing your call center to the Philippines is the right decision for your business, but it cannot be done in haste. The absence of a plan can sink your new venture, which is intended to help your business grow. Hopefully, the use of these steps creates a roadmap for you as you set up your successful BPO venture.