By Michael Blankman
In my recent article, we concluded that the most important aspect of managing remotely is building a strong and trusting relationship. Creating a partnership that doesn’t rely solely on the contract for the outsourcer to get performance security. The partnership is critical because once operations are outsourced, real influence over daily management will and should be limited, or why outsource at all? The partnership needs to be based on respecting each other’s expertise, ensuring roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and that the underlying business model justifying the decision to outsource is protected.
Managing Outsourcers: When SLAs Don’t Do the Job
May 1st, 2012By Robert L. Scheier
Service level agreements (SLAs) are the heart and soul of many outsourcing contracts. They define what the provider must deliver and their penalties for failure, in anything from application uptime to the time required to solve a customer’s problem on a help line.
But at least as currently defined, SLAs often fall short of detecting (and, more importantly, correcting) problems quickly. That was the message at the recent SIG Spring Summit from Senior Corporate Counsel Richard English of Ingram Micro and Shaalu Mehra of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, who helps the electronic distributor negotiate outsourcing deals.
By Rosanne D’Ausilio PhD
Average turnover, reported at 40% to 50%, has always been, and continues to be, a chronically costly problem for call centers, a problem that seems to be tolerated rather than solved. Respondents to a FurstPerson survey reported an average monthly attrition rate of 7.18%. Annualized, a 40% annual turnover estimate becomes an actual turnover rate of 87%. As you read further, you’ll see what that costs!
Want Better Customer Service? Take the Pulse of Your Company
February 1st, 2012
By Rosanne D’Ausilio PhD
There is what we call a moment of truth when a customer makes a decision about you, your company, maybe even all companies in your industry, based on their interaction with anyone from the front lines up to and including your CEO. In those first three sentences, a customer determines whether their interaction will be a good experience, a bad experience, or a waste of their time.
When talking about customer service, customer satisfaction, and customer retention, you often hear that the best way to determine how you’re doing is to ask your customer. And that’s absolutely true. However, if you really want to know how your company is doing, ask your internal customer.
The Five Ws of World-Class Customer Service Training
January 6th, 2012By Rosanne D’Ausilio, Ph.D.
The interaction anyone has at any level with your employees, including you, gives a customer an opportunity to make a judgment about you, your company, and all companies like yours. I’m not just talking about call centers here. All technical support or help desk personnel are included as well. As a matter of fact, anyone who is in the customer service business – period.
The preamble to the United States Constitution begins, ‘We, the people…” I feel strongly that we, the people, are what make the difference in life, both personally and professionally. But how does that relate to customer service?
US Law Could Restrict Call Center Outsourcing
December 12th, 2011Source: Computer World UK
Call centre offshoring comes under bipartisan attack in Congress – Law would penalise companies that move call centres overseas
Four US lawmakers (three Democrats and one Republican) have teamed up to attack call centre outsourcing by introducing a bill that would penalise any company that moves a call centre overseas.
The bill would make any company that moves a call centre offshore ineligible for any federal grants or loans. It would require the US Labour Department to maintain a list of employers who relocate a call centre overseas and force companies to provide at least 120 days’ notice before doing so.
It would also require a call centre worker to disclose his or hers location at the beginning of the call, if the caller request it.
The US Call Centre and Consumer Protection Act (HR 3596), was introduced by US Representative Timothy Bishop and announced …
Schumer Pushes New Bill Requiring Disclosure of Location of Offshore Resource
September 21st, 2011Source: Loeb & Loeb, LLP
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill that would require customer service agents located outside of the United States and working on behalf of entities conducting business in the United States to reveal their physical location to U.S.-based customers at the beginning of any electronic communication initiated or received by them.
The Notification of Origin of Telecommunications and Internet Consumer Exchange (NOTICE) Act (S.1536), introduced on September 9, 2011, and co-sponsored by Sens. Bob Casey (D-Penn.) and Claudia McCaskill (D-Mo.), states that a “business entity that either initiates or receives a customer service communication shall require that each of its employees or agents participating in the communication disclose their physical location at the beginning of each customer service communication so initiated or received.” The bill defines “business entity” to include any entity established to make a profit by “purposefully availing itself of the …
Sourcing Advisors: “A Total Waste of Money”?
September 1st, 2011
Parkinson: Advisors are driven by models, not by flexibility
By Patrick Haller
The decision for an outsourcing client to use an advisor can be daunting, especially if the buyer believes they have “been there – done that” and that they can manage any challenges or complexities they encounter. Advisors are “a total waste of money” for buyers operating in familiar territory, says John Parkinson, SVP Enterprise PMO at Axis Capital, who was also a consultant for twenty years and named as one of the world’s most influential consultants in 2003.
WNS Will Move Forward with Plans to Open Delivery Centers Onshore
August 17th, 2011Source: Business Standard
WNS, the third-largest business process outsourcing (BPO) company in India, is planning to set up delivery centre in the US following high unemployment rate and demands from clients to have onshore presence.
The company will set up a delivery centre with 200 employees in the US by the end of this financial year, said Keshav Murugesh, group chief executive officer. It is currently evaluating whether to set up a centre through carve-out (taking over a clients centre and employees) or go from the scratch.
“Some of our clients want the work to be delivered near them. They have realise they need to be more sympathetic to their current employees. We, on the other hand, have the ability to take over these sites or work and reduce cost. This is not by showing people the door but by using programmes such as Six Sigma and others,” he said.
Rising …
When Disaster Strikes, Will Your Contact Center Survive?
August 1st, 2011
By Patrick Haller
The world has learned some hard lessons in the aftermath of devastating events such as the earthquake/tsunami in Japan, but what has the contact center industry taken away from such cataclysms? The devastation caused by terrorist acts or acts of nature can be crippling, but business stoppage can also be caused by illness, labor disputes, computer viruses, and technical glitches.
