Benefits and Challenges of Offshore Outsourcing

The first part of this article is about the benefits of offshore outsourcing. In offshoreoutsourcing, labor markets are not expensive. Companies move part or all of their operations to other countries to take advantage of inexpensive labor. Another benefit is cost reduction can be considerable when the outsource partner is handling business operations, facility and staff maintenance and technology upgrades.

In most countries, like Philippines, there is a great availability of highly skilled and educated people who welcome the opportunity to work in a callcenter.

A call center can also provide multilingual workers who can converse with the customers in other countries like Spanish. People in a call center also understand the nuances of culture that allow them to build rapport with the customers.

Offshore outsourcing can also provide global reach into new areas. If company does a lot of business in overseas, having a presence in that country to serve that client base is vital. Global clients need global call center agents.

A company doesn’t need internal global resources to implement a sophisticated worldwide network.

A callcenter has also the capacity for 24/7 customer service and operation in real time. The advantage of multiple time zones allows for multiple shifts that can operate around the clock, getting US work completed overnight.

This is the second part of the article and this is about the challenges of offshore outsourcing. One of these challenges is logistical challenges. It’s necessary to have a firm grasp of labor laws and local regulations in different countries. Next are language or accent barriers. A call center agent in Philippines may not have been socialized to interact in the same way as someone in the United States or Canada. Acculturation coaching and accent training is important.

In offshore outsourcing, companies need to consider the additional time and expense associated with international travel. Telecommunications and other costs could potentially be much higher overseas. While outsourcing generally saves money on labor costs, a company might be less efficient than it first anticipated.

International trade law is more complicated than US law and more difficult to enforce. Labor laws can also vary. It’s the responsibility of the call center partner to understand these regulations.

In offshore outsourcing, personal privacy is dominant and extra resources may be required to appropriately secure customer information.