List of 25 Questions to Ask Before Investing in Call Center Outsourcing

What is call center outsourcing?

Call center outsourcing is the process by which companies employ an external service provider to operate and manage their call center. This external service provider can be based out of anywhere, but most often this term is used to refer to offshore outsourcing. Offshore outsourcing is simply moving call centers outside of the United States.

Companies may choose to outsource all or part of their call center operations (e.g. sales, service, market research, etc.) In general, companies hand over most of the control to the external provider, giving them the power to hire and train agents, maintain call center software and manage day-to-day operations.

What are the upsides of call center outsourcing?

The biggest benefit of call center outsourcing is that external service providers absorb the cost of operations, including call center software maintenance and hiring. This can represent significant savings. Call center outsourcing can also facilitate around the clock service for customers, since outsourced call centers tend to be in different time zones.

List of 25 Questions to Ask Before Outsourcing Your Call Center

1. What am I hoping to achieve by outsourcing?
2. Which aspects of my call center will be outsourced?
3. Does the outsourced solution allow for inbound and outbound agents?
4. How much money will it cost to outsource?
5. How much do I expect this to affect my profit margins?
6. How involved do I want HQ to be with the outsourced call center?
7. How much time will it save long term?
8. How much time am I willing to put in upfront?
9. Where will the call center be located?
10. What language will the call center agents speak?
11. What culture will the call center agents come from?
12. What are the laws concerning privacy in the location of your call center?
13. How secure will the outsourced solution be?
14. Will these call center agents be fielding calls for other companies at the same time?
15. How much control will I have over hiring?
16. What will my call center’s hours of operation be?
17. How will I ensure that quality standards are being met?
18. What call center KPIs will I use to track success?
19. Will my customers mind if I outsource my call center?
20. Will my customers notice that my call center has been outsourced?
21. How will the outsourced solution scale?
22. Will the outsourced call center be able to receive calls from everywhere your customer base is?
23. Will it be possible to outsource more than just phone communications?
24. What call center software will the external source use?
25. How customizable will the software settings be?