BPO Services: How to Look For the Best One (Updated)
BPO Services: Many companies and organizations today, who either find it difficult to manage their in-company call centers or don’t have the required funds to start an in-company call center, have turned their heads to outsourcing their BPO services to a third-party vendor, commonly known as, Business Process Outsourcing or BPO.
Which, so to say, is not a bad deal at all. It has many advantages over having a personal call center with staff dedicated to the company.
The BPO call centers first off, provide a very efficient service at low costs. And they prove to be very beneficial for the company, in terms of finance and revenue, as they can even adapt to work in the time-zones of your international clients.
While you’ll have to pay extra to your employees to be able for them to work in extra-time for the company, there is no such deal with BPO service agents.
They can assist you and help you as and when required and you wouldn’t have to pay them extra at all. Additionally, BPO services will keep the money flowing 24×7. It’s a good thing, right?
But, to be able to enjoy all the above advantages and provide good customer service, you would have to look for the right BPO company first. How would you know if the company is right or not?
This article shares some factors to look for while hiring a BPO service & how you can choose the best BPO service.
#1. BPO Services: Proper certification
The first step towards choosing the right BPO company is to check for its proper and genuine certification. Before, recruiting a company in your service, check for the SAS 70 certification.
The certification is of the significance that the company has adequate safety controls and checks to keep the customer data protected.
The SAS 70 reports especially critical to the companies which are involved in dealing with the user data and information which is not meant to be leaked or hacked at any cost.
The certificate report certifies that the safety controls are up-to-date and all checked to protect the date of the customers.
#2. Experience
The experience of the employees is the next major factor in determining which BPO service is the best. Experienced staff plays a great role in providing excellent service and completely satisfying the customer.
An experienced staff would know the tricks and tactics to charm a customer. An experienced staff would have the required skills on how to talk to a customer and would not require further training.
The world is different from what it was a year or decades earlier. With the fast-changing technology, it, therefore, becomes essential to remain up-to-date with the latest technology to provide the customers with the best in-hand service.
It also remains important to keep frequently updating the tools and technology to not lag and remain in transition with the changing world.
Sometimes, a company would pay more attention to quantity over quality. The company would just hastily hire the people and this can lead to high turnover.
Hiring the right and experienced staff who would have appropriate skills and techniques can increase the company’s revenue.
#3. Assessing the Quality
While many make the mistake of thinking it otherwise, but not all BPO services provide their customers with the same kind of services.
For example, if the BPO service is specialized in providing the hospital customer service in the field of healthcare, and you want the services in the field of retail then hiring that BPO company won’t work.
Make sure to hire the right BPO which provides the same services to its customers as you require them.
Secondly, hiring the right BPO company means you would want such a company that has an excellent track record with its former customer.
It becomes therefore very important to ask for the company’s past records about its service to the customers and what kind of companies has the vendor worked with.
You would not want to compromise on the quality and hence, it’s very important to assess such kind of information beforehand.
#4. Test the Company First, if Applicable
Before trusting the company with big and loaded work, try and test the company by starting the work with a small venture and investment.
The company has to reach up to your expectation to continue the work with you. Establish some standards and keep going through the performance of the company to keep a check and maintain the standard and quality of the service.
Ask the service to provide you with the reports on the performance and scaling, the results of which will establish if the BPO is right for you or not. Considering such factors is equally important in the process of choosing the right BPO.
#5. Formulating SLAs
For those who might be unaware of the meaning of the term, SLA, also known as Service Level Agreement, are the legal documents created which are the hallmarks of guarantee that the service will be completed in a given time frame and up to the required standards and quality.
Formulation of the SLAs is important when working with the service provider company. These kinds of agreements make sure that the service provider company or the vendor completes the work required in time and within the standards of quality.
These can also be used to state the terms and conditions about the consequences if the service provider is unable to meet the expectations, required quality of service, or complete the work in the given amount of time.
The customer/client company should be very specific while creating SLAs and use well-defined standards to avoid any confusion in the future.
SLAs are very useful where a customer service provider or vendors as we call them, may get to unethical levels and blow off its customer/client by denying the policies and terms that must have been agreed to before the beginning of the work.
They can be used as proofs in legal procedures.
#6. Ability to Manage the Workload
Before hiring the customer/service provider, ensure that the BPO service has enough staff and help to manage the work that might be thrown upon them.
Unavailability of the sufficient work staff can create an impact on the quality of the service rendering you to bear the losses.
On the other hand, sufficient work staff would ensure that they provide the consumers with the best in quality service and that customers are happy and satisfied.
The right staff would ensure the smooth working of the work and in the right direction and would have proper tools and skills to be able to influence customers.
Along with that, you should also make sure that the company you have haired follows proper working ethics and abides by the rules and regulations.
#7. Availability of the resources
It is necessary to make sure of the fact that the service provider getting considered for hiring should have all the required sources, such as smooth transportation, good infrastructure, communication, electricity back-up, and other needed facilities for the smooth flow of work all the time.
The availability of the required sources and the reputation of the company would determine its image in the market along with the image of the country, the service provider is situated in.
A country with the latest technology and all the other developments will accordingly be home to a fully-equipped company with all the facilities.
Hence, the location of the company, the country it is established in, also determines the availability of the resources and other factors.
#8. Go through the Financial History of the company
It is very important to go through the past financial holdings of the company. In a time of AI and software-based applications that may take over the entire market soon, it’s always better to ensure the economic outlook of the company, as well as the country the company must be a home to.
A country’s economic conditions creates a big impact on the situations of the company. The financial history of the company will tell you if the company has ever gone through bankruptcy.
If so, is the case, it is better to go for some other company which would not pose risks like these. If a company has great market holdings and growth potential and everything seems fine and in-place, then you may as well go for the company.
#9. Culture of the Service Provider
A company’s culture and socio-economic background can largely affect a service. Different BPOs provide large different kinds of services and can majorly be from different work environments as well.
It is advised to go through the workings and policies of the companies before hiring the appropriate one. Going through their work culture and ethics, if the employees remain motivated and if the team works hard and ethically are some ideas to consider.
The accent and language of the company also have a play in the choosing of the company. If you hire a BPO service provider whose language or accent would be difficult to understand by the people of some specific country, then however good service they may provide, that will be of no good use.
A good customer service provider is the one which keeps reporting its workings to its client and carries out the work smoothly.
Always remember setting up the reporting and management tool to keep a check on our service provider even from a distance. Regularly go through the employees’ work to ensure that the quality is being maintained and that there are no hurdles in the line of work.
These were some key points to consider while selecting a good business process outsourcing service provider.
A good company or organization wisely assesses the risks and other factors before making a decision. Just keep the tips mentioned above in your mind and you’ll be good to go.
