More and more organisations are looking at outsourcing to achieve more effective customer contact management, but there are three important factors you need to consider before dipping your toe in the water. What should you outsource? When is the timing right? And to what extent can I outsource?

The first things to consider are the end-to-end processes that underpin all contact with your customers. Are these processes tried, tested and effective? If processes are not well run and mapped when they are in house, it is likely that the gaps will only get worse when outsourced.  An outsourcing partner should help you better understand how these processes work but the responsibility of owning the end-to-end customer journey lies with your business.  Until you have this straight, you will never achieve the level of customer service you want.

Ripe for outsourcing

The next step is deciding which processes within this journey are ripe for outsourcing. There is no 'one size fits all' answer, but it is sensible to start where there is least risk and where outsourcing will free up the most time and skills to focus on your core business. This could be a back-office process such as underlying technology, the agents that actually handle calls and contact from customers, through to an entire call centre, including staff and property. 

It is also worth considering outsourcing new or discretionary activities that are too costly to do in house.  For example, we have found that using outbound calling to provide value-add customer contact, such as welcome or reminder calls, is a good gauge of how effectively outsourcing can work for you.

There are few things that outsourced customer contact management has in common with stand-up comedy, but one thing that it unequivocally does is the importance of timing. Making sure you're outsourcing at the right time can be the difference between success and failure. But reaching that judgement is easier said than done.

Timing & resources

Decisions about timing must be strategic. The decision must fit neatly into a rigorous, larger customer management strategy with the timing of outsourcing linked to the wider customer contact roll out and part of the overall project plan.

Resources are another key factor. If the right resources aren't in place, and on both sides of the outsourcing fence (your business and the supplier) then tough times lie ahead. While outsourcing frequently solves headcount challenges, companies may still need dedicated and trained staff to work on site with a supplier for quality control and training purposes.

The people side of the equation is no less important. Employees from the call centre to the board need to understand the business case and need to be bought in to the benefits outsourcing will bring. If you don't bring the workforce with you, with on-going communications, an uphill task lies in store.

So if these factors have been addressed and if the time does indeed look right, to what extent can you outsource?

Not a catch-all 

The term 'outsourcing' is a convenient catch-all but there are subsets with important differences.

A managed service might be the best bet - you make the capital investment but hand over specialist management to a supplier, therefore freeing up your own resources.

Or perhaps a hosted 'pay as you grow' solution might be better. Hosted services mean you pay for what you use, can scale up or down at short notice and benefit from new technology without needing the funds to buy it. This also gives you greater flexibility.

Finally, full-blown outsourcing might prove the most attractive option. Handing over an entire function frees you up to focus on the other areas of customer management that require your attention. It also removes the need for continual capital investment, and offers guaranteed service levels.

In truth the best approach is increasingly a blend of these different methods, alongside some functions being handled entirely in house. This patchwork of different approaches means that each function receives the most appropriate form of management. Outsourcing is no longer all or nothing, today it's all about flexibility and best fit.