As an established customer service outsourcing provider, Echo-U is frequently asked “What is outsourcing?” Well, it’s quite simply the process of partnering with another company to handle business activities for you. It has become an increasingly common business practice that allows a company to gain services and skills that would normally be costly or difficult to develop and maintain in-house. Common areas of outsourcing include Customer Contact, IT, HR and Legal services. As Peter F Drucker, the world’s foremost pioneer of management theory, once said, “do what you do best and outsource the rest.”
At Echo-U, we’re delighted to see that UK businesses are increasingly recognising and realising the benefits of outsourcing. 2017 saw the outsourcing market soar to a three-year high, as businesses signed contracts worth £6.74 billion. A surge in IT outsourcing and the growth in customer service outsourcing has played a huge role in this.
Echo-U has had the privilege of providing outsourced customer service solutions to some of the biggest brands in the UK for over 17 years including, DPD, first direct, Sage Plc, National Careers Service and SKY. We believe the industry is set to grow even further and based on our conversations with a number of leading brands, we predict that there will be an increasing trend to consolidate and outsource customer service functions. As companies react to external influences (such as the impact of Brexit), customer service demands will become increasingly sophisticated and use of digital innovation in the customer contact industry will continue to evolve.
So what benefits can customer service outsourcing deliver?
We believe there are many benefits to customer service outsourcing and we work with our clients every step of the way to ensure that their customer engagement is adding value to their business. Here’s our top 5…
1. Make BIG savings
Outsourcing your customer services can save costs on offices, technology, human resources (and many more!) and allows you to budget effectively. In addition, using a leading outsourcer can deliver savings by utilising their expertise and ability to generate efficiencies. For example, a retail client asked us to re-engineer its business processes and improve its customer journeys, resulting in Echo-U saving the business £1m in unnecessary engineer call-out charges.
2. Gain a competitive advantage
Leading customer service outsourcing specialists are experts in their field. At Echo-U, we deploy leading edge technology, use skilled communicators and continually invest in both to ensure we deliver great customer experiences. By outsourcing your customer service to the experts, your customers can be assured of receive outstanding service that will help you develop a competitive advantage.
3. Increase revenue and reduce risk
For businesses experiencing rapid growth or seasonal uplifts in customer demand, outsourcing your customer care can ensure you have the resource ready and waiting to take advantage of those peaks in customer interactions. Recruitment costs, downsizing resources, taking on additional office space, investing in new or more technology are risks that can be all mitigated through an outsourced partnership.
Echo-U currently handles customer interactions across all channels for the UK’s leading parcel delivery company. During the seasonal Christmas peak in 2017, we upscaled this team by an additional 150 temporary advisors. Having managed this service for 3 years, we have developed a proven ‘peak management’ delivery model that means we can scale up for this uplift in a matter of weeks.
4. Engender customer loyalty
Customer demands are driving change within the customer experience industry. Customers’ expectations have become increasingly higher; they want to be served quickly, at their preferred time (24/7) and served well via channels of their choice, by likeminded people who understand them. Whilst companies are under pressure to cut costs and improve profitability, it hasn’t always been realistic to achieve both and meet customer demands in the UK, so many brands looked to offshore customer services abroad.
By using new technologies and supporting customers who choose to self-serve part of their customer journey (with social media and apps for example), Echo-U has been able to blend both human and digital resources to provide onshore outsourcing solutions that compete with off-shore prices. Our clients benefit from enhanced customer experiences, competitively priced solutions and by retaining their customer service in the UK, they are able to maintain that cultural connection with their customers. This ultimately promotes and engenders customer loyalty.
5. Focus on success
Focusing on your core business enables your management team to concentrate on your long-term success and strategic direction. Having a ‘strategic partnership’ with your outsourcer will facilitate positive collaboration and enable them to contribute at a decision-making level that will ensure your customer contact strategy is adding value to your business.
By partnering with Echo-U, your owner-managed team have the benefit of working with an outsourcer that has been working on behalf of some of the biggest brands in the UK for over 17 years. Our team are experts in our industry and ensure the outsourcing process is managed seamlessly on your behalf. Our partnerships are longstanding, based on collaborative, successful campaigns and are profitable year-on-year.
If you’re new to outsourcing or are interested in appointing a new customer service outsourcing partner and would like to find out more about Echo-U, please get in touch with darren.williams@echo-u.co.uk
