Advent of Social Media with Customer Care and Call Center Services

Customers have had increasing power over large companies because their opinions and perception matter a lot. The advent of social media has opened many avenues that previously limited the risk of individual customer perception from destroying large scale company reputation. Call center service providers now have to increasingly monitor corporate social media as well because large scale corporate social media cannot be handled without help from professional social media tools and services.

Call Center Outsourcing services have always been very important in standardizing masses of corporate customer and client calls inflow and out flow. Large companies have thousands of calls that can have almost the same concerns that which be answered by dedicated and professional outsourced agents at lower rates. This does not ask for any additional capital and self-hiring requirements.

The advent of social media is also a means for the customers to interact upon customer service. The new generation, especially the teenagers now do not need to call up the company or any call center service representative for help if they have a problem reading and understanding the product user manual. They can just log on to YouTube and search out “how to videos” and look up all the problems by themselves. These helpful online resources are not specifically provided by the company and random users can contribute.

However the down side of it all is from negative customer reviews. Postings on websites like blogs, facebook or twitter are searchable and permanent. There are always some unhappy customers with any company and if the voice of those few unhappy customers is magnified to a huge extent it can easily tarnish the image that the company tries so hard to create with years of good customer service and care. Furthermore some customers can just randomly post any complain on any social media without reaching any call center service representative or helpline first with complain.

It is a strong responsibility that has to be realized by companies before it is too late. Companies that do not learn to catch up with this tide of modernity might as well be lost in it. Social media needs to be embraced as an opportunity before it becomes a problem that is necessity.

There are social media solutions that call center outsourcing services can provide. Anyone that comments on the company`s facebook page for example can be replied back through a dedicated call center representative or be called directly if necessary.

Lastly these means can cut costs by a great amount. Repetitive queries can be answered to future customers by social messages posted by the previous customers; therefore the cost of more call traffic is cut. The problems left for call center service to solve would actually then be only regarding real and new problems that can give companies only more important, low mass and quality customer feedback that can easily improve business as well. Social Media poses its threats, challenges and responsibilities but it can overall provide wonderful businesses opportunities for business branding and cost cutting.      

Global Paradigm Shift for Call Center Industry

Recent Developments have shown that there could be a change in the way global outsourcing industry might change in the next decade. Rising labor costs in India and falling labor costs in the US may actually change the thinking of huge US companies in need for BPO and call center outsourcing services.

Labor cost in India is rising due to inflation. It has been recently reported that food prices have reached three month record high in 2011. With the rise of prices, the cost of living and labor has also increased. Interest rates, set by the Indian state bank, for borrowing and investment have gone up and subsequently the prospect of internal borrowing for growth is becoming a bad idea increasingly.

Therefore the growth prospects of the above $70 billion BPO and call center service industry in India might slow down. Furthermore the 8% of economic growth has doubled the amount of monthly paychecks and therefore the labor rates might not be as cheap as before.  

Meanwhile the European and US crunch or economy slumps lead their way well into 2011 where public spending is being cut. The cheap US loan rates available to the Indian call center service and BPO industry are not as readily available to harbor Indian growth. The US economy and employment continues to go down leaving talented labor workforce to sit jobless at home and in search of work.

There is an increase in the use of at home outsourcing in the US. This is where individual citizens in the US can manage small time call center service work from the comfort of their homes. A strong reason in support for this is that there is a strong debate arising if hiring outsourcing individuals should be done in near shore locations so that local representatives can give a touch of being close to global customers. 

Companies in the US are now looking for near shoring and thus bringing off shoring back at home. A very slow but considerable move towards near shoring could mean that the growth of this worldwide industry will still be positive but without past assurance of strong growth disparity geographically. The fruits of Outsourcing therefore are finally coming back to the US economy when it is in trouble and means to create its jobs when they are less.

Creating jobs at home means that you don’t have to pay for BPO office space, equipment and work expenditure that you had to account for as indirect off shore payment expenses. Before paying their employees; the offshore companies providing BPO and call center outsourcing services need to account for their office expenses, rent and self profit before passing on the profits as representative salary. But in the case of the US - near shoring individuals at home, there have to be no business intermediaries and therefore the profits will go to the call representatives directly and this is good for the individuals.

Near Shoring might suit more, self responsible individuals, who can be professional, have education and good experience. In case of standardized huge scale projects, Centralized Offshore BPOs in developing nations still might be the best option. The actual trends can only be observed in a matter of a few years so for now it seems that it works well for all.   

Small Businesses can benefit with Quality Call Centers

Call centers are improving in quality, capacity, functions and are in increasing demand day by day with Philippines also taking the lead. It is said that BPO industries in countries like India could as well cross the $100 Billion mark as soon as 2015. Pakistan is catching up fast among other countries like Indonesia, China, Malaysia and so many others that would also be upon the global outsourcing map.  

A call center has many benefits that can help business improve their image and performance. If a single business owner and operator thinks that he wants to create an environment of a big company, he can hire a single operator in any other country and it can create a feel that the customers are calling in a big company by reaching to the reception first.

Standardization is also a good reason for hiring of a call center to do all the call receiving and dialing work for you. The calls and messages can be put down on proper records that are secure and the guarantee of quality call feedback. Because small business owners might feel that they cannot be available twenty four sever to take or make business calls, set up meetings and at the same time do all their other work. Virtual agents are the best way to handle all call making and taking work, to handle clientele, make appointments and have more responsible records. Business owners also get the opportunity to have some free time to plan how better their business or take some private personal time off or just do other managerial tasks.

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Flexibility is also a great factor. You can ask for your own choice of call timings and set up your own script and follow-up tasks for each agent after every call. Furthermore it helps entrepreneurs to hire professionals on cheaper rates as outsources from developing countries have promising talent and a lot of career potential. Labor is available in any call center that you can find in numerous countries.

Small businesses have a huge finance and liquidity problem that often leads to a huge chunk of these businesses to fail and shut in first two years of operation. Hiring in house costs your business; office space, additional software hardware capital, furniture and a good solid pay for a qualified professional. The hourly cost of call center agents is always low due to international competitiveness and the pool of talent and service quality here is also better due to international repute for current and past services, and global competitive scope.

Small business can also feel utmost security because huge outsource organizations often employee strict quality assurance means. These firms never usually take up a project unless they know for sure that they will fulfill. Call Centers failing in their prompt payment cycles, providing low quality services and fail timely task achievement could loosen their international repute with crystalline bad quality assurance record. Therefore loosing on years of credibility that any call center strives so hard to achieve cannot be destroyed just because the outsourcing party is a low paying small owner. Small owners can find many quality-assured centers that can help them advance their business in the best possible of ways

Call Center Outsourcing Options in Pakistan

Pakistan has come a long way when it comes to the BPO industry. It gives Pakistan one of its best job creating venues for part time, fresh employees and professionals who are contributing to a slow but firm growth in the IT and off shoring industry. Pakistan is often compared to India in many ways and Indian`s multi-billion dollar industry definitely provides a lot of inspiration to Pakistanis business owners. Foreign clients and companies are looking for the best ways to invest in the country with a lot of privatization on going in the past decade.

The best thing with callcenters outsourcing services here is that it is tax free for 10 years so it can provide a maximum boost to the IT industry. Whereas India is thinking of means to levy some kind of taxes upon foreign owned BPOs and on internet traffic for is flourishing Industry. Computer prices were reported to be hiking near 2007 but the trend in the last two years has been downward providing for lower call center infrastructure investment. It can be agreed that internet prices in Pakistan have been much greater than in other countries, but companies like PTCL are now providing more speed for the same price than they provided one or two years ago.

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Talent poll of Pakistan for the human resource is as amazing as anywhere in the world. We have hundreds of thousands of fluent speaking graduates each year and great professionals with experience and progress. Best of all, we have forward thinking entrepreneurial spirit individuals, making a kind of working environment that the US always looks forward to.

The strong advent of social media has provided for a cream of internet and computer experts who are ready to take up any challenge. It has provided for a very positive global and multi-culture environment where e traditional parts of the community are also extremely educated or providing their part in the GDP.   

One of the qualities that some firms report in call center outsourcing services by Pakistani firms is fluency of speaking. This can partially be due to education, but the actual factor can be the high level of interest of Pakistani public in foreign media particularly from India, The US and Europe. Career oriented outsourcing professionals do what they have to for meeting deadlines; they provide the most satisfying and customer friendly services.

Even though extremely small scale centers have been heavily subject to the risk of shutting down in the first two years of operation but this is common for developing phase of any industry. These days many companies like Emenac Inc. has provided industry benchmark for their services, quality, agent training and success; and provide and model for success for many subsequent and upcoming BPO and call center service providers. Easily available quality assurance programs provided online, through software or certifications can provide off shoring companies the maximum security and trust in shifting their outsourcing ventures to Pakistan for best improvement in cost efficiencies, task effectiveness and added value.

Improvement and Change in Call Centers and Outsourcing

Ever since the US credit crunch, off shore outsourcing industries the world over have suffered a blow. But still many countries including India are quickly getting back on track with huge number of new contracts for this industry and therefore the revival, especially after 2010 is even making changes in call center service requirements and operations.

Outsourcing particularly with call centers once could be just about telephone calls, email, faxing or chat. Now the focus of outsourcing companies has moved from cost verses quality concerns to concerns about extra services and value addition. This can include brand projection and handling social media.

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are a very important mode of interaction between business to business and business to customer relations. Managing social media for large organizations is now becoming a more professional and demanding task. Some are home shoring their profiles activities to individuals who can run social media more effectively. These profiles make or break business image with other businesses and customers. Apart from that the customer relationship management on such visible online avenues needs to be top notch.

Results in outsourcing, especially in call center service have improved. This can be particularly attributed to three factors. Firstly is the competitiveness between outsourcing firms that lead to improvement. The past experience of service failures from incapability or incapacity of not harboring of professionalism and organizational maturity has lead to more responsibility for survival. Lastly the availability of track records and undisputable quality assurance methods would help you get the best of the services you are looking for.

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Call center service will never lose out because it saves clients a lot of investment and risk from employment that competing international firms cannot afford. While they focus on improving marketing strategies, improving service and product delivery, why not leave the customer care to call centers? There are no risks from recruitment because it is the responsibility of the call center to hire and replace call center agents. Therefore the only basic cost is just about the hourly rate. Equipment costs and space cost are also saved. Good call centers have enough infrastructure and human resource to cater to any additional tasks and requirements if they ever occur.

 Call center outsourcing services also benefit from being professional and specialized in a lot of cases. Call centers have years of proven experience in different areas like real estate, online shopping stores, travel flights and packages and more. In fact you will be able to find any sort of outsourcing service in some part of the world that could relate to your business.

Off shoring could be the biggest business to business change that has happened due to globalization. There is always someone waiting on the phone or as a virtual assistance to complete all those digital tasks or errands that could be done online. No matter how small your business is, or how simple or intricate your task, specialized and growing outsource firms are gaining sufficient skills to have the best package ready for the biggest companies to smallest emerging entrepreneurs.