Overseas or Domestic: Which 800 Services Are Better?

In the past decade, an increasing number of businesses in the U.S have been using offshore call centers. The primary goal of all these businesses is to earn profit by widening their client base worldwide or by reducing overhead costs. While it is not easy to achieve the first, the latter is more manageable. Unfortunately, in trying to save overhead costs, businesses sometimes ally themselves with the wrong partners, which can result in setbacks.

Why Do Companies Use Call Centers?

One of the main reasons businesses use call centers is to lower labor costs. Some additional benefits of using 800 services include:Round the clock availability, including holidays and weekends

Professional, experienced and trained staff

Versatility allowing customizable accounts

Saves money by eliminating the need for customer service staff in the office.

When businesses have a partnership with a good call center, they dont miss out on opportunities. Having a live person on the telephone to answer calls from customers promotes brand loyalty and ensures potential clients get the information they need.

The financial crash of 2007/08 encouraged companies to move their customer support to Eastern Europe or Asia, so they could save a substantial amount on the payroll. Soon, numerous businesses joined the offshore service exodus and outsourcing became a common occurrence. Although this worked for a while, now businesses are rethinking the savings associated with using an overseas call center.

Why Are Businesses Moving Operations Home?

Despite low labor costs, customer dissatisfaction has become a major issue. Businesses in a partnership with call centers in non-English speaking countries did not consider the problems communication barriers could present. As frustration grew, customers began to shift their loyalty to other brands.

Unfamiliarity with American businesses and business practices has been cited as another problem with overseas call centers. Though agents in overseas call centers are happy to do exactly what they are told, this by-the-book approach did not sit well with American consumers who are used to having many options to choose from. Because agents in foreign call centers are generally not allowed to use discretion in decision making, they are unable to provide customized support to consumers.

This is not to say that domestic 800 services are superior to overseas call centers.

Depending on the business and call centers approach, outsourcing services to offshore call centers can be money-saving and profitable, but only if businesses partner with a call center that can provide individual services.

For companies that need to provide technical support to their customers, the call center agents need in-depth technical knowledge and the ability to translate that information to the average customer. In these types of situations, a domestic call center is the best bet.