Offshoring Archives - Prestige Offshore Staffing Solutions

Why Brands Should Consider Outsourcing Customer Service?

Sarah Wazir — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 13:38:42 +0000

Customer service is essential to all businesses and brands, as good customer service can influence long-term customers and improve an overall service experience. This could make or break your brand’s image and narrative – since a customer support team is in direct contact with clients; hence acting as a representative of the brand and what it stands for. Studies also indicate that 96% of customers or clients say that this service is important in their choice of loyalty to a brand!

While it is quite apparent that this is an important aspect of a brand, let’s dive into why we recommend outsourcing it.

What is outsourced customer service?

Outsourced customer service means that an enterprise is utilizing a third-party provider and makes use of its agents, to handle all the inbound and outbound calls and means of communication with customers.

For businesses, outsourcing customer service is not necessarily about cutting corners – it’s also about offering the best possible level of service to fulfill customer service needs! After all, positive experiences are the ones that drive loyalty and improve overall brand reputation.

Why should you outsource customer service?

Outsourcing your customer/client service team, particularly to an offshore location, translates to cost-efficient solutions without compromising on high-quality results! In the digital age, there’s been a massive increase in globalization and many cultural and lifestyle boundaries have shrunk, making it much easier to find talented individuals who can relate to your customers, no matter where they are! Furthermore, companies that do outsource customer service to another country also broaden their customer base by adding more language options than just English – creating a diverse environment, one that your clients and customers would appreciate.

Offshore outsourcing solutions are a win-win for expanding customer support for after-hour schedules, offering support in multiple languages, and diversifying your customer service team.

Not to mention, having customer service coverage of 24 hours all days of the week has huge advantages! Studies show that 52% of customers aren’t willing to conduct business with a company that neglects them at just one time! That’s a pretty high bar to get over, but if you’re not available to answer certain questions and concerns, your potential clients become someone else’s!

So, to summarize, some of the major benefits of outsourcing customer service are:

Cost savings
More coverage; 24/7
Diverse language options
Potentially shorter response times
Better technology, equipment, and resources

How to outsource customer service?

Delegating your customer care to an outsourced agency can cut overheads significantly, saving you time, money, and resources, no doubt, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. That’s why the options need to be weighed carefully, especially when an external company could be directly interacting with your customers.

The key to achieving the best-outsourced customer service is to be open to assessing new and innovative service providers – one such option would be to look offshore. It is crucial and smarter, in the long term, to choose a partner that understands the demands of the customer and is genuinely also invested in your own business’s growth.

There are several countries that have an abundance of talent for the right price, which makes them great options for outsourcing! Some common locations for international outsourcing include the Philippines, Mexico, and Pakistan.

The biggest thing to consider, however, when choosing an outsourcing location is analyzing what your business’s needs are. For instance, if you require customer service agents who specifically speak European languages, you may need to outsource to Europe. Likewise, when looking for agencies who speak English and do provide services in said language, locations like the Philippines and Pakistan could be a great fit!

The country of Pakistan has millions of professionally trained individuals who not only actively contribute to completing your tasks and meeting your business goals but, who speaks fluent English with a very limited accent. In addition to this, the country is an excellent choice if you’re ultimately aiming to build a 24/7 operation!

Happy Clients and Customers!

Outsourcing your customer service ensures that your customers are put at a priority and that they receive the help they need when they need it. This will have a positive effect, and make them happier! As Shep Hyken, a Customer Service Expert, says, “There is a big difference between a satisfied customer and a loyal customer. Never settle for ‘satisfied’.”

The post Why Brands Should Consider Outsourcing Customer Service? appeared first on Prestige Offshore Staffing Solutions.

5 Undeniable Reasons Why Businesses Should Start Outsourcing

Sarah Wazir — Tue, 26 Jul 2022 16:28:41 +0000

Now more than ever, a lot of business owners are struggling to achieve their business goals and will take on the burdens and more responsibilities themselves. Finding help while maintaining process optimization and profitability is a complicated process with detailed steps – which is why many are considering or have already switched to outsourcing.

Outsourcing is the most sensible solution to numerous business problems. Whatever these problems or objectives may be, below are some of the most common reasons why companies are turning to outsourcing, and in particular, outsourcing offshore.

1. Cutting Down Cost

Cost saving is the biggest reason companies outsource! With the market getting more and more competitive and saturated in this digital era, businesses are looking for ways to cut down operating costs while also maintaining their business values.

With the option of outsourcing, business owners now have multiple regions across the globe that provide highly skilled talent but at a fraction of the cost! This combined with the convenience of digital access, it’s not hard to understand why outsourcing is shaping up to be a key part of most business strategies moving forward.

2. New Venture with Minimal Cost Risks

Outsourcing enables businesses to experiment and expand, building on newer strategies without any of the high-risk costs associated with in-house programs. Areas such as sales, service, or even a new product release can now be facilitated without the rising costs of resources or infrastructure.

3. Maximizing Your Time

Money is not the only resource that is freed up when business owners turn to outsourcing. With a lot of the duties and responsibilities shifted elsewhere, there is more time on your plate that can be invested in focusing on aspects of your business that were being neglected before!

When non-core functions of the business such as payroll, finance, and accounting, lead generation, customer experience, back office, etc. are being managed by someone else working for your business through outsourcing, the business’ key resources are maximized. This time can efficiently be used to focus on building and developing partnerships and increasing sales.

Even outsourcing the smaller tasks of a certain business can save you an exponential amount of time – for instance, things like social media management, content creation, email marketing, and invoicing. The process is fast, simple, and cost-effective!

4. Tap into a Global Pool of Experts

Businesses are now choosing to outsource offshore, because they recognize the advantage of low labor costs, without it affecting their own business’ progress and value. Most third-world countries like the Philippines, India, and Pakistan provide an enormous human and knowledge capital. Did you know that Pakistan is the 3rd largest provider of digital labor in the world?

Currently, over 600,000 IT professionals are available to provide outstanding IT service in the country, turning it into a global outsourcing powerhouse! From software development to nanotechnology and cybersecurity to cloud computing, Pakistan has a stronghold on high-end technological frameworks that are recognized worldwide.

Outsourcing truly has opened up a greater talent pool of educated and experienced staff who is not only readily available within short time frames, but provide the best at a fraction of the cost!

5. Drive Efficiency and Higher Performance

Outsource service providers are experts in quality and delivery. The right outsourcing partner will help businesses map out their processes and analyze the sort of outsource model that would suit them best; ensuring that the customer is at the center of all the processes involved!

So to Summarize:

The reason companies and businesses outsource aren’t for a single reason, but rather several. It all depends on the company’s context and actual priorities and needs. Some of the most common motives, however, are usually the following ones:

Reduction in Operation Costs
Improving the Business’s Focus
Delegating Tasks
Sharing Risks with a Partner
Liberating Inner Sources for New Strategies
Increasing Efficiency
Enhancing Service Quality

What Companies Outsource?

Now that we’ve discussed why outsourcing, especially offshore, is the best and most effective strategy for businesses long term, here are some businesses that have benefited from this practice. So you don’t take our word for it, but you can take theirs!

Huge franchises like Alibaba, Skype, Slack and even WhatsApp all profited from outsourcing their non-core functions. This not only enabled them to be more effective but they also grew faster and saved more money.

Outsourcing recently became popular in the 90s, when cost-saving became a cornerstone in several companies and some of the most common outsourcing firms offer financial services, pharmaceuticals manufacturing, retail, IT, software testing, and web development services.

Even Google!

What’s now a common household name, started out as a simple search engine but has since then evolved and become a massive organization. From offering hardware and software services to advertising, Google has employees distributed all around the world! It is a company with exceptional business practices and policies and it is one of the major companies that outsource and in fact, has been outsourcing their non-core functions, like admin and IT work, for years.

Google also understands that with its enormous size, it cannot do it all. To that end, they have been outsourcing development work and even email support; also offering phone support with a staff that is stationed all around the world! The more Google expands, the bigger the need is to outsource! Their outsource team of individuals seamlessly blends into their in-house support team, and are responsible for providing clients with an improved response time – all at a reasonable cost!

All these combined together make Google a perfect example to illustrate the reasons for outsourcing!

When thinking about other companies that outsource, WhatsApp is another good example of outsourcing, as it has been doing it from the very beginning! In 2012, WhatsApp was only a small organization with only 30 full-time employees and five part-timers. The company understood that if they wanted to grow, it was essential to keep the costs down and for them, Russia was the answer! They sourced development resources from Russia for only a small fraction of what they would have had to pay in the United States. It is now being used globally by millions!

The post 5 Undeniable Reasons Why Businesses Should Start Outsourcing appeared first on Prestige Offshore Staffing Solutions.

How much can you really save by offshoring?

Sarah Wazir — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 11:50:25 +0000

Offshoring as a practice has been around for quite some time and recently, with the rise of entrepreneurs and business owners, (and taxes) more and more people are warming up to the idea of consistent performance and results, achieved at a much lower cost! That almost sounds too good to be true, right?

Well, allow us to explain!

What is Offshoring?

Putting it in a simplified definition, offshoring is the practice of basing some of an organization’s services overseas, to benefit from comparatively lower costs. Tasks that would normally be carried out by an in-house team or sector are now easily assigned to a third party, which leaves the company at an advantage in terms of time and money – time which can then be allocated to other aspects of the organization and money that could be invested in furthering your business goals!

To give you a better understanding, some of the ‘tasks’ may include a specific project, multiple activities, or an entire business function altogether. Outsourcing offshore just makes sense because companies no longer have to compromise on quality or performance since an offshore team does the work for you, at half the price!

The unbeatable pros!

Due to the digital era, it’s never been easier and more convenient to connect with people across the globe and to have smooth operations running online. What’s more is that after the global pandemic, organizations and studies have found that 77% of employees working remotely give better results and show an increased productivity rate. That can factor into your offshore team, wherever they may be from – as long as there is consistent communication, and a regular quality check, it is a route that all businesses should be considering. Offshoring also helps a company to keep complete control over their operations and manufacturing, ensuring that you’re aware and involved every step of the way!

One of the benefits also lies greatly in the cost factor because if there is a product or a service that can be produced cheaply overseas, it makes more sense to import it rather than to produce it locally. Much of this revenue is earned, return back to the country in wages for other employees, investment in research and development, profits for shareholders, and taxes for the government.

Not to mention, this method, if undertaken, helps to improve the economies of poorer and third world countries and establishes jobs for people who have the necessary skills, but not the opportunities in their area of expertise.

If you don’t want to take our word for it, here’s what one of the richest men in the world, Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro Limited, had to say about the matter, “The important thing about outsourcing or global sourcing is that it becomes a very powerful tool to leverage talent, improve productivity and reduce work cycles.” His company was one that underwent decades upon decades of diversification and growth to emerge as a world leader in the software industry!

How much can you benefit?

Companies that outsource work to third-world countries like the Philippines, India, China, and Pakistan can cut down their labor costs by 70%, even up to 90% in some cases! And this is all while providing their outsourced labor force with a decent wage.

South Asian countries are generally still developing so the minimum wages set in such countries are much, much lower than US and UK. This is a win-win situation; for your outsourced team and your business as well, as you can both benefit from each other this way.

There might be an odd concern or two, regarding the work’s quality since it is technically going to be produced and handled by a team from a third-world country. This, in no way, diminishes the quality or performance of your organization because when it comes to outsourcing, some of these countries, namely Pakistan an example, is regarded as one of the world’s market leaders! It is a hive of brilliant professionals, well-known for delivering quality IT services in the world.

Pakistan is making significant investments to enhance its IT infrastructure and project management; evolving over the years, into a global outsourcing powerhouse! From software development to nanotechnology and cybersecurity to cloud computing, Pakistan has a stronghold on high-end technological frameworks that are recognized worldwide.

To further demonstrate our point, let’s observe a specific, narrowed-down list of benefits from a company in Pakistan that specializes in this area; Prestige International.

Not only do companies gain up to 70% in terms of saving cost, Prestige also hand-picks a carefully curated team of employees that would specifically work just with you and towards your business goals. They offer complete maintenance of facilities for necessities such as technical equipment and assistance, IT support, and robust infrastructure to facilitate maximum uptime, up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week! Even the operational expenses like workspace, equipment, training, and other facilities, are all included as part of the package.

In Asia alone, Pakistani labor costs are about twice as lower as India’s and five times less than China’s! This will save you around 70% on employment costs, with increased productivity and no concession on quality. In today’s time, offshore outsourcing is a practical economic model, and all this highlights that offshoring helps to cut out one of the costliest expenses – labor. Dodging this cost lets you reinvest the savings into your business and increase your value proposition. This way, you shift to working on your business, rather than inside it.

So, are you convinced?

Supporting an entire IT department can be and in fact, is expensive; not to mention the amount of time and attention it naturally requires to grow. This is why outsourcing offshore, specifically, is popular not just for big companies but also for others. Offshoring can be used in all business spheres but the most demanded is the IT sphere — offshore outsourcing software development companies always have a job!

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