Don’t compromise…and here’s how

HERE are your four main criteria to have in mind when deciding on an outsourcer:

The inbound-outbound dichotomy The two are completely different skill sets — if outbound means sales calls — and should be recognised as such for their individual expertise.

Type of business Outsourcers must be able to demonstrate a good understanding of your business and what is critical.

Languages Just a handful of UK call centres have multilingual skills, so choose one which has the local presence coupled with global reach.  This allows multi-lingual capability, with the capacity to enable future growth if required.  It is important to recognise the limited recruitment levels for certain languages before you have to move to an in country solution.

Price How much your customer response function is going to cost is important but not at the expense of poor quality.  Seek value for money with no hidden extras.

Measuring performance is a vital part of the deal.  There are the usual contractual metrics and it is critical that these are achieved and exceeded consistently.  It is also critical that there are robust measurements of the end user experience, and having the flexibility and agility to adapt to changing business needs.

These are the standards that are now deliverable by the best in sector.  Don’t compromise.

Les Torrance, Sykes Global Services; les.torrance@sykes.com