You may have heard of the benefits of business process outsourcing, and now you’re ready to take your business to new heights. How do you determine whether an outsourcing company is worth building a partnership with?
SCALABILITY
One of the reasons why many businesses fail in the long term is that they fail to scale. When considering a potential partner, it helps to look at their numbers – the equipment, the number of trained staff, and the number of staff they can hire & train during the transition period. Always look at a BPO’s ability to train staff and endorse them to operations quickly and efficiently.
While it’s always great to start small, your business process outsourcing partner should have a sound growth plan congruent with your business needs. It’s not just about scaling up, either. Sometimes, there’s a need to downsize, which is not necessarily bad – if it’s what your business needs, your BPO partner should be able to downsize compromising quality.
MULTI-CHANNEL SUPPORT
Customers are not one-dimensional. Whether you want to improve your customer experience or boost sales, you should take advantage of every channel to improve engagement. Good customer service teams should have email, chat, and phone support systems in place so you can be sure all your customers’ concerns are heard. Make sure your potential BPO partner doesn’t cheap-out on communication tools, and that the staff are well trained to use them, even when under pressure.
Support for clerical tasks will also help you focus on growth, so your potential outsourcing partner should have virtual assistant services available.
RELIABLE INFRASTRUCTURE
Most BPO companies are located off-shore. While this saves you from the usual operation costs, the thought of working with an office thousands of miles away can be unsettling. This is why the BPO company you choose should have a reliable infrastructure in place.
One thing to look for is redundant internet and power to ensure operations will continue even during service interruptions. Your potential partner should also have a dedicated IT staff to troubleshoot onsite.
QUALITY LEADERSHIP
One of the perks of outsourcing is that you don’t have to worry about management – your BPO partner should handle everything from leadership to quality assurance. So what’s a good indication for quality management?
Employee retention.
People work best when they’re happy and when they feel like they’re providing enough value. Good management ensures this by setting goals and providing incentives. Many employees are after career development, which is why coaching, proper monitoring and constant feedback from management is important. This will also help you track performance metrics and set targets with your BPO partner.
HEALTHY WORKING ENVIRONMENT
Leaders and their team members fail when they operate in a highly stressful environment. Compensation, workplace safety, and company culture are key factors in determining whether a business process outsourcing company takes care of its employees.
Ask yourself, what is your potential partner doing to make the workplace less stressful? Does the company culture boost employee morale and keep them engaged? Workplace policies are important, however, many companies find that enforcing policies on a case-to-case basis works best. A reasonably relaxed environment takes pressure off employees, thus encouraging productivity.
Take all these factors into consideration, and you’ll be ready to build a great, lasting relationship with your potential BPO partner.
