42 Rules for Outsourcing Your Call Center: Best Practices for Outsourcing Call Center Planning, Operations and Management

  • 1h 50m
  • Geoffrey A. Best
  • Happy About
  • 2011

42 Rules for Outsourcing your Call Center is a compilation of real-life problems, lessons learned, pitfalls found, and practical approaches for planning, implementing, and outsourcing call center operations. It provides a path for companies outsourcing their first call center with a logical sequence of steps for moving an existing operation to an outsourced organization. The book is a foundation for anyone considering outsourcing their call center. It starts by answering the question "Why Outsource," and then guides the reader with rules from defining the project to selecting a vendor to the first go-live call.

Businesses continue to be challenged to find ways to minimize costs and maximize profits while retaining their customers with excellent service. They need to focus on customer retention and realize that running their own contact centers is not their core competence. These businesses need outsourcers that can deliver high customer satisfaction and execute cross-sell/up-sell revenue strategies.

42 Rules for Outsourcing your Call Center takes the reader through the entire process from gathering requirements and setting goals, to identifying an outsourcing strategy and understanding and operational capabilities of a outsource partner. The reader will learn:

  • When outsourcing makes sense
  • How to define an outsourcing approach
  • What to look for in an outsourcing partner
  • When to determine if agents can work at home
  • How to craft an effective RFP

42 Rules for Outsourcing your Call Center is a must-read for all call center managers hoping to improve customer satisfaction, increase customer retention and turn their call center into a revenue generating machine.

About the Author

Geoffrey A. Best started in the computer industry in the 1970's and has worked with call centers for over 20 years. His career has taken him from computer aided mapping and 911 emergency dispatch systems, to computer telephony applications and today's call center systems. Geoffrey has worked and consulted around the world with utilities, communications, manufacturing, banking, and insurance companies. His experience has provided him with insight into the systems and methods that companies use to operate their call centers and service their customers. This experience has given Geoffrey a unique perspective of how customer expectations have changed over the past decades and how call center solutions have evolved to satisfy them.

In this Book

  • 42 Rules for Outsourcing Your Call Center—Best Practices for Outsourcing Call Center Planning, Operations and Management
  • Introduction
  • Rules Are Meant to Be Broken
  • Ask “Why Outsource?”
  • Define an Outsourcing Approach
  • Know Your Customer Expectations
  • Communication Is the Key to Customer Relationship
  • Determine Communication Modes
  • Govern Work-at-Home Agents
  • Integrate Social Networking
  • Evaluate Self-Help Customer Service
  • Plan a Strategy to Achieve Business Goals
  • Understand Implementation Timelines
  • Understand Technology Objectives
  • Evaluate Voice Communication Options
  • Understand Operational Objectives
  • Manage the Potential Impact of Risks
  • Get Executive Commitment
  • Get Technology Management Commitment
  • Use a Structured Methodology
  • Validate Requirements
  • Plan Outsourcer Technologies
  • Identify Dependent Technology
  • Define the Deployment Process
  • Use Your IVR Wisely
  • Route the Call with Intelligence
  • Establish Security Guidelines
  • Promote a Security Culture
  • Define Desktop Security for the Agents
  • Reports Should Be Actionable
  • RFPs Are Only As Good As Your Requirements
  • The Devil Is in the Details
  • Go with Your Gut (and Some Analysis)
  • Know If the Outsourcer Is Outsourcing
  • Perform Due Diligence on Subcontractors
  • Be Realistic about Implementation
  • Review the Outsourcer Staffing Model
  • Stay Involved in Real-Time
  • Monitor Customer Satisfaction in All Media
  • Monitor Call Quality
  • Communicate When Technology Breaks
  • Things Change
  • Disasters Happen
  • These Are My Rules. What Are Yours?
  • Planning the Implementation Strategy
  • Life Cycle Methodology for Call Center Outsourcing
  • IVR Best Practices
  • Assessing Security
  • Questions Your BPO Will Ask
  • Change Control Activities
  • End Notes
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