It's one of the oldest operations decisions in the world for companies, keep it in-house or outsource? It applies to countless aspects of day-to-day company operations, but the decision becomes particularly important for service and product-based companies when debating on the best setup for their call center. For an in-house call center, companies have to consider expenses like human capital, i.e. the cost of employing representatives to representative positions, the expensive of hardware and software solutions, and the cost of employee training. 
          According to a CNN business insider expert Jose Pagliery, the "real cost" of an employee after taxes, insurance, and benefits, can be between 18% and 26% higher than their actual base salary. This doesn't always sound like a substantial investment, until you're talking about multiplying it by anywhere from 10 to 50 call center employees between customer service, tech support, sales support, and product support. 

Challenges of Having an In-House Call Center

Managing Service Across Multiple Channels
In the age of tech, having a simple call center that offers only audio phone calls just doesn't cut it anymore. Product and service based companies all over the world are turning to operating multiple channels of communication with clients included phone support, text messaging, live chat, and email. This means that in an in-house call center, companies have to hire enough employees to make sure all of these service channels are being adequately covered. If they aren't, companies face the risk of losing a substantial number of customers, both current and potential, due to poor service. 70% of polled consumers have reported that they would be likely to take their business elsewhere due to a poor customer satisfaction experience. 
Ensuring Hardware and Software is Up to Date     
Technology is advancing every day, and the software and hardware solutions that power call centers is no different. Having an in-house call center means that your company is responsible for keeping necessary software up-to-date, particularly now that many workforces have had to go remote. Cloud solutions providing calling, chat, and mass email capabilities can be expensive and time-consuming, and often can require the attention of several additional experienced IT employees just to ensure that they are running appropriately. In-house software programs can require extensive setup and significant on-boarding training for call center employees. 
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How Outsourcing Can Help
By outsourcing call center operations, companies can alleviate headaches like budgeting how many employees they can afford to hire, having to limit the hours of their call center operations based on employee availability, determining what they can afford in software and hardware solutions, and investing time and money into continued training for full-time employees. 
Cost Savings 
In an in-house call center format, companies are paying representatives either an hourly wage or a yearly salary based on their contract. These wages are generally based on a structured day that consists of a designated amount of hours, and those employees are paid their contracted wage regardless if they are actively helping customers during the entirety of their day or not. With outsourcing, companies are paying representatives based on the number of hours they spend actively helping customers and providing services. This can mean cost savings of 15%- 20% right off the bat.
Flexibility
Outsourcing your call center can open your company up to the ability to offer customer service, tech, product, and multichannel support 24 hours a day, seven days per week. This can be a huge incentive for customers to opt to use your company's service or product over a competitor who may only offer support during standard hours. 
Scalability
In today's workforce landscape, in order to set themselves up for success, companies need to be poised and ready to scale their operations at any given time. Whether it be a new product or service launch, an acquisition or merger, or numerous other circumstances, having your call center out-sourced alleviates the "guessing game" of having to decide how many new employees to hire to accommodate a potential influx of support needs or having to update software and hardware capabilities to ensure that they are capable of handling a new level of demand. In addition, a strong outsourcing solution will always be using the most up-to-date technology solutions to ensure that your customers are receiving an unparalleled level of service across all channels of communication. 

If you're establishing a call center and aren't sure which direction to go, or if you're considering outsourcing your existing call center, reach out to us today at IA Caller. We're here to discuss your company's needs, and show you what IA Caller can do for your company. The future of support is here. 

Is your company experiencing challenges coping with immediate and seemingly insurmountable product support demands from your customers?  An on-demand product support service is just what you need to turn the tide around. Your customers expect you to present a helping hand to them when and as they need it. An all-day, every day touch point with your customers is vital if you are to permeate new products or strengthen the foothold of your existing products in the market.
In today's marketing world, one's precision down to the tightest measure when it comes to meeting customer expectations is critical. One needs to be proactive right from product pricing, product promotion methods, the terms of service being offered down to the managing of sales support.
Having spot-on product support for your company can be quite a hassle if you are to self-manage things. Finding a solution that works for your company will require a high level of competency. That is why it is advisable to get in touch with a professional. During new or unfamiliar business environments such as one occasioned by a pandemic, having the advantage of being able to use virtual product support and omni-channel means of communication has never been more critical.

Why Do I Need On-Demand Product Support for My Company?
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1. Empowering Your Employees to Deliver Customer Satisfaction.
Though not everyone can work from home, chances are that quite a considerable chunk of your workforce may have shifted their usual work stations to their homes. The various means of communication clients are using to contact product support include email, text message, phone, and social media. This is where IA Call Center's omni-channel communication reps come in. The virtual, live reps take care of all of that 24/7. To continue realizing positive business outcomes, you certainly need on-demand virtual product support.
Here is how on-demand product support empowers your workforce:

• They can easily create online communities for customer support.
• They can maintain open channels of communication with customers.
• They can efficiently deal with product recall and change requests.

2. You Offer Uninterrupted 24/7 Support to Customers.
When it comes to winning customers over, there is no better way for your company to do this than having round-the-clock availability. Time is the only thing standing between your company and its next customer; being able to offer on-demand service and support helps you win customer loyalty.
Here is what uninterrupted on-demand product support portends for your company:

• You get to offer customer support without delays
• 24/7 accessibility facilitates real-time product support
• You provide appropriate and swift responses to customer issues
  
  

3. Your Company Can Easily Outsource Services.
You could opt for a business process outsourcing (B.P.O) firm to help meet your company's customer support needs that you are unable to deliver. In such a case, it would be best if you took an inventory of your company's internal departments to identify areas that can be complemented by contracting third parties to ensure your customers' experience is the best they can get.
Here are some services your company could outsource:

• Product technical support
• IT help-desk support
• Billing and payment support

Why Choose IA CALL CENTER?
At, IA Call Center, we believe that successfully solving customer needs is paramount to retaining customer relationships. Whether product recalls are making you wary or time is ripe for you to launch that new product or all you want is to boost your product support capabilities, we are here to help. Whatever the product mix, we will do our best to deliver the best in class product support to your customers and meet all your needs.
Enhance your on-demand product support today at support@iacaller.com or call 1-877-631-9711.