The concept of outsourcing work began in early 1980s and 1990s as a way for companies to cut their costs. To this end, many companies contracted their non-core business tasks such as answering calls and back-end processing to outsourced service providers (OSPs). At that time, nobody cared about customer management or satisfaction, so customers suffered from poor quality of service.
However, the last few years has transformed the idea of outsourcing. Today, more and more companies are valuing customer satisfaction more than mere cost saving. These companies are looking to build a satisfied and loyal customer base because customers are seen as the key differentiators among competitors. In fact, a study shows that 63 percent of companies believe that customer satisfaction is the key to a successful business.
Due to this increased focus on customers, companies are choosing OSPs who add value to the organization. This shift in attitude has opened new channels of interaction with customers. Moreover, these interactions are recorded using the latest technologies and they are later converted into meaningful intelligence that can give organizations a better insight into the thoughts and behaviors of customers. Such data has proven to be a gold mine for many companies. It gives them a better sense of direction with respect to their business, public perception and just about anything they need to know about their customers.
To help organizations reap these advantages, OSPs have refined their business strategies. They are constantly looking to elevate customer experience because satisfied customers tend to have a positive image about the company. The Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report has reflected this changing perception about call centers. In many ways, these OSPs have evolved from merely answering calls to creating smart data that helps organizations to devise the right strategies for success.