You are undoubtedly aware that factories have been replacing assembly line workers with AI-powered robots for several years. They don’t take breaks or call in sick. This means massive efficiency—and job losses. According to a recent report at TheManufacturer.com, “manufacturers are beginning to use AI in even more areas of their organizations, evolving from being used for basic tasks such as monitoring, reporting, and other isolated use cases, to being used for problem-solving and decision-making.” If you’re in manufacturing, you must learn new skills.
The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector in the United States has undergone significant changes in recent years. As businesses aim to balance cost savings, access to specialized skills, and technological innovation, BPO remains a crucial tool for achieving operational excellence. This article offers a detailed overview of the U.S. BPO market, including insights into what drives outsourcing decisions, how companies select vendors, and the shoring strategies being employed today.
Key Factors Influencing Outsourcing in the U.S. Several critical factors shape the decision-making process for U.S. companies when it comes to outsourcing business processes:
Cost Savings: A major motivator for outsourcing is the potential for substantial cost reductions. By outsourcing non-core functions to external providers, companies can decrease overhead costs, especially when outsourcing to regions with lower labor expenses.
Specialized Expertise: Many BPO providers offer advanced capabilities and specialized knowledge not always available internally. This is particularly important in areas like IT, customer support, and analytics, where expert knowledge can significantly improve business outcomes.
Scalability and Flexibility: Outsourcing provides companies with the ability to scale operations up or down quickly, depending on demand. This flexibility is especially advantageous in industries with fluctuating demand, such as retail during peak seasons.
Focus on Core Activities: By outsourcing non-core tasks, businesses can concentrate their resources on core functions that are essential for maintaining a competitive edge.
Technological Advancements: The adoption of cutting-edge technologies like AI, machine learning, and robotic process automation (RPA) within BPO services is becoming increasingly important. Companies seek BPO partners who can offer innovative solutions to streamline processes and enhance customer experiences.
Risk Management: Geopolitical, economic, and operational risks are carefully considered when selecting outsourcing destinations. The stability of the outsourcing environment is particularly important in sectors where service continuity is crucial.
Criteria for Choosing a BPO Vendor Selecting the right BPO vendor is essential for a successful outsourcing partnership. Companies typically evaluate vendors based on the following criteria:
Reputation and Performance History: A vendor’s reputation and track record are crucial. Companies often seek references and case studies to assess the vendor’s past performance and client satisfaction levels.
Industry-Specific Expertise: Vendors with deep knowledge of specific industries are often preferred. This ensures that the vendor understands the unique challenges and regulatory requirements of the industry, leading to better alignment with the client’s goals.
Technological Capabilities: As technology becomes integral to BPO operations, vendors offering robust technology platforms, automation, and data analytics are highly valued. Compatibility with the client’s existing IT infrastructure is also a key consideration.
Cost Transparency: Transparent pricing models are essential for building trust. Companies look for vendors who can provide clear and predictable pricing structures that align with their budgetary constraints.
Compliance and Security Standards: Data security and regulatory compliance are top priorities, especially in industries like finance and healthcare. Vendors must demonstrate strong security protocols and adherence to relevant regulations.
Cultural Fit and Communication: Effective communication and cultural alignment between the client and vendor can significantly impact the success of the partnership. Companies consider time zone differences, language proficiency, and cultural compatibility when making their selection.
Shoring Strategies: Onshore, Nearshore, Offshore, and Hybrid Approaches The choice of shoring strategy—whether onshore, nearshore, offshore, or a combination—depends on a range of factors, including cost, proximity, language, and the nature of the business process being outsourced.
Onshore Outsourcing: This involves outsourcing within the same country. While more expensive, it is often chosen for complex tasks that require close collaboration and a deep understanding of local regulations and market conditions.
Nearshore Outsourcing: Nearshoring refers to outsourcing to neighboring countries with similar time zones and cultural backgrounds. For U.S. companies, Mexico and Canada are popular nearshore destinations, offering a balance between cost savings and ease of communication.
Offshore Outsourcing: Offshore outsourcing involves delegating business processes to distant countries where labor costs are lower. Countries like India and the Philippines are top offshore destinations due to their large, skilled workforces and high levels of English proficiency. This approach is often used for cost-intensive, repetitive tasks such as data entry and customer service.
Hybrid Shoring: Many companies opt for a hybrid approach, combining onshore, nearshore, and offshore resources to optimize cost efficiency, mitigate risks, and maintain operational flexibility. This model allows businesses to leverage the advantages of each shoring strategy depending on the specific needs of different processes.
Managing Outsourcing Volumes and Vendor Allocation Effective management of outsourcing volumes and the distribution of business among BPO vendors requires strategic planning and ongoing performance monitoring:
Phased Volume Allocation: Companies often start with a phased approach, gradually increasing the volume of outsourced work as the BPO vendor proves its capability. This helps minimize risks and ensures a smooth scaling of operations.
Diversification of Vendors: To mitigate risks and leverage different strengths, companies frequently diversify their outsourcing portfolios by engaging multiple BPO vendors. This can be based on geography, expertise, or the specific nature of services required.
Performance-Based Allocation: The allocation of business to vendors is often based on performance. Companies closely monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as service quality, response time, and customer satisfaction to determine how much work each vendor receives. High-performing vendors are typically rewarded with a larger share of the outsourcing volume.
Regular Performance Reviews: Regular reviews of vendor performance are critical to ensuring that outsourcing partnerships continue to meet the company’s objectives. These reviews provide an opportunity to reassess vendor allocation, address any issues, and adjust the outsourcing strategy as needed.
The U.S. BPO market remains a dynamic and integral part of global business operations, offering companies a range of options to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and access specialized expertise. By understanding the factors driving outsourcing decisions, the criteria for selecting BPO vendors, and the strategic shoring mix, companies can make informed decisions that align with their long-term goals.
For business leaders and investment professionals, staying informed about these trends is essential to maximizing the value of outsourcing partnerships. Those looking to explore the U.S. BPO market further or connect with industry experts can gain valuable insights through continued research and networking.
In 2024, the Contact Center BPO market in the U.S. is thriving, with several companies earning high ratings for their exceptional services. Below is a list of some of the top-rated Contact Center BPO companies in the U.S. I do not have a business relationship with these companies, they are listed based on recent user reviews.
Company Name
Services Provided
Headquarters
User Rating
Website
CIENCE
Sales outsourcing, lead generation, customer service
These companies have been recognized for their excellence in providing a wide range of BPO services, including customer service, back-office support, lead generation, and more. Their high ratings indicate strong customer satisfaction and reliability, making them key players in the U.S. BPO market. References: (GoodFirms) (Clutch) (DesignRush).
As we quickly move into 2023 with gusto, here are the trends I am hearing about most often from Contact Center based businesses who wish to improve agent performance and customer experience
AI-powered virtual assistants and chatbots.
Multi-channel support (phone, email, chat, social media).
Remote work and omnichannel capabilities.
Integration with CRM and other business systems.
Robust reporting and analytics features.
Increased focus on security and data privacy.
I am not hearing alot about how to improve training, better hiring and recruiting practices, or “how can we make tools more user friendly for our agents so they can deliver a better experience. I think this is a mistake. What do you think?
Partner AI with your Human Resources to boost your business performance.
Gerd Leonhard wrote on LinkedIn, “Machines are getting smart. AI, fuelled by machine learning brings the end of routine-tasks for us. But it’s NOT the end of Human Work!
The bots are coming – yet the biggest danger is not (yet) that they will take over but that we become too much like them!”
Contact Centers are looking for ways to employ AI to improve the customer experience, but are they also looking at AI as a way to enhance the employee experience?
Companies who embrace AI as more than a way to cut personnel costs will be the big winners in the future because they realize a partnership with AI and humans can supercharge productivity, energize stale employees, and boost the customer experience and service delivery capabilities.
AI can allow Humans do more high quality work while it takes care of basic, redundant tasks. Many of my clients are overpaying humans to do the mundane, repetitive work that AI can easily do.
A key to success is identifying the high quality work for human resources to take on that will enhance the business’ products and services in the eyes of the clients. Basics improvements like speeding up the connection of callers to a human resource with AI handling the verification process can provide a simple but noticable boost to most Contact Center productivity.
AI is the future. Embrace it and partner with it to make your business and your employees better…and your customers happier.
During the pandemic, Contact Centers that began remotely or, moved agents to remote work quickly, prospered while those stuck in the old model lost agents, momentum, and market share.
Remote Workers report being happier
What business could have been more suited to working from home? Technology plus the need to work from home meshed beautifully so companies could continue to provide world-class service with agents safely based from home.
For most companies, it was difficult to extricate from expensive building leases, so there was not immediate savings on brick and mortar office space. And, many companies had to invest in technology, hardware and software to make work from home possible. However, moving into 2021, ROI is starting to become evident as companies begin to see the savings from closing offices, reducing liability insurance costs, and other office related expenses.
Technology investments will continue to pay dividends. Efficiency will continue to grow as Contact Center leaders learn to leverage remote agents. Managers and Supervisors can lead larger teams using technology.
Without Remote options, many companies would have been unable to stay in business. The Remote Contact Center industry found a new pool of motivated workers who had been laid off or fired by brick and mortar based businesses like Restaurants and retail stores. Not everyone can transition to a job where they work on a computer and handle interactions all day, so the recruiting and hiring process should be revised to look for workers whose personalities, career goals, and skills will fit well in a work from home job.
Given the proper security and home based working environment, happier workers lead to better customer experience. Long commutes tire workers before an 8 hour shift. Less wear and tear on vehicles, savings on gasoline, lunches, clothing, and daycare are just some of the employee benefits when they can work from home.
What was once reserved as a benefit for the best agents, is now the norm. The smart Contact Center players will continue their commitment to Remote workers. What will you do?
Is your IVR working for your company or against it? Too many businesses are missing the incredible opportunities available when they combine a captive audience with a dynamic IVR Phone system. Too many companies provide muzak, or worse, nothing, while their customers, and potential customers, languish on hold, waiting and waiting and making judgements about your firm based on how long they must wait in limbo for the pleasure of speaking to one of your employees.
Typical Call Center Metric review meeting.
Sr. Executive: “Why is our abandon rate so high.”
Operations leader: “Callers are waiting on hold for too long and hanging up.”
Sr. Executive: “How are we going to solve this?”
Operations Leader: “We need to hire more people to answer the phones.”
Sound familiar? “We just need to hire more people” is a common answer to abandoned call problems. Frankly, some companies are truly understaffed for the call volume they are getting and they do need to add some staff. However, that is another topic we will cover in a future article. Let’s focus on the issue at hand. A boring, caller waiting room called the IVR, short for “Interactive Voice Response, ” which is rather ironic since most IVRs are anything but “Interactive.”
Engage your callers while they wait and drive more revenue for your business
IVRs are used mainly to direct traffic for the convenience of the company, not the caller.
The IVR tells the caller to do things in order to get them to the agent or departments the company wants the caller to talk to. The main categories are Sales or Customer Service.
Typical IVR message:
“Thank you for calling ABC Company.
Press 1 for English, press 2 for Spanish
Press 1 for sales, press 2 for customer service,
Press 3 if you recently made a purchase and have a question
Press 4 if you want to make a return
Please use the keypad on your phone to enter your account number
Thank you, your call will be answered by the next available representative.”
This is not interactive. It directs caller traffic, sure, but it does nothing to engage the caller with your company in the process.
The longer the caller waits in queue, the more frustrated they can become if they have a complaint, and the less likely they are to make a purchase, if that’s why they were calling, when a sales person answers, finally.
Imagine if your IVR became the equivalent of the check-out counter at the grocery store.
You know the scene. You are waiting to check out. That wait can be excruciating, especially when the person at the front of the line decides to write a check for their purchase. “Manger to aisle 14 please.”
But wait, as we wait in line we have all of these tabloids to read, discounts on gum and snacks, and energy drinks and crossword books and magazines, and breath mints to consider, and keep us entertained while waiting for the manager to check the check. I just might add a few “impulse purchases to my cart. Wait, did the grocery store just monetize my wait in line?
What if your IVR were half as informative and entertaining as the checkout aisle at the grocery store?
Imagine telling your audience in a brief, but compelling way, about your latest product or service. Your seasonal discounts, answers to common questions and/or where to get answers. You might give the answers to common customer questions on the IVR system. You don’t mind if customers get the answer and hang up. Some abandoned calls are ok, and preferable, if they free up your people to handle higher quality customer interactions like selling and saving sales.
Ask customers questions about their experience with your product. How about a quick, one question survey while on hold? Would you recommend our company to your friends and family? Press 1 for yes or 2 for no. These simple data could tell you a great deal. Promote your company to those who are showing interest. Major IDEA: Thank your Customers for being, well, Customers!
Tell the callers in the Refund waiting queue why so many people are customers of yours and why they are smart to have decided to be customers. Make them question their return by emphasizing your award-winning product lineup.
Even if your hold time is just 20 seconds, you have time to provide a quick promo for your company, maybe salute the employee of the month, awards your store recently won, community events you are holding and how you are helping the community. There is so much you could say in just a few seconds.
Stop thinking of your IVR as a traffic cop. Think of it as an extension of your marketing and sales department. Resell those who are calling for a refund, upsell customers who are calling about a product before they even speak to a salesperson.
If you do your IVR right, you may be tempted to increase the hold time…not shorten it.
Add some voices to your Interactive Voice Response system and, even if you haven’t invested in Artificial Intelligent voice bots yet, your IVR will begin working for you and generating and retaining revenue in short order.
Let’s talke about your IVR and how to make it better! Want a free quick review of your IVR messaging?
Lunar, which offers Salesforce consulting services, recently published a survey which shows consumer adoption of Text Messaging is happening fast. “Businesses need to realize if they’re not communicating with clients and sales prospects via text, they’re inadvertently extending their sales timeline and reducing the amount of sales they could be closing,” Lunar President Jon Robinson said in a statement around a new survey.
Texting is a faster communication channel than email for sales and marketing, with 75% of people saying they read text messages in two minutesor less, per survey results that Lunar shared with Mobile Marketer.
Text Messages also generate quick responses, with 25% of survey respondents reporting that they reply to a text in less than one minute and 67% replying in under two minutes. About eight of 10 (78%) people said texting is the easiest communication channel that will urge them to respond.
To get the best ROI for your marketing efforts, Vibes suggests communicating deals to consumers via text messaging or mobile wallet as opposed to apps which can easily be ignored or deleted.
Lunar’s study suggests that marketers should adopt texting to expedite conversations with existing and prospective customers, making sure that the mobile messages aren’t distracting, intrusive or too frequent.
Who doesn’t text these days? SMS has become a ubiquitous form of communication. Your friends and family text you. Your colleagues text you. And now, think of the texts you’re getting from businesses. In fact, 78% of customers prefer text message offers.
78% of Consumers prefer Text Message offers
A bank texts you to confirm a deposit. An accommodations company texts you to let you know about an incoming reservation request. And an e-commerce company you do business with online texts you a code to authenticate you are who you say you are.
Why are so many businesses using SMS these days? The answer is simple. Businesses need a reliable, universal way of communicating with their customers around the globe, and SMS fits that bill. Add to that, most people carry their phones with them everywhere. Many people even sleep with their phones.
Compared to traditional marketing response rates, Print (3% or less), Social Media (3-4% reaction rate), and only 20% of emails are ever opened.
SMS Text Messages are opened 97% of the time and 95% of messages are read within 3 minutes.
Smart business owners who want to drive more repeat business each week are using Text Message Marketing. So, how do you improve results?
One key to success with SMS Marketing campaigns is to always use Call-to-Action Buttons
Calls-to-action increase customer engagement with your SMS marketing texts. That’s exactly what you want from them: to be engaged, to value the texts you send, to read them, interact with them, and act on them.
Here are some call-to-action winners:
“Show this text.” Asking customers to show the text in order to earn a discount is a clear and effective way to get them to engage in your promotion. Example: “Show this text for 50% off your dinner tonight.”
“Click here.” Sometimes you don’t have enough space in your SMS message to include all the information your customer will need. Maybe you’re hosting an event, and you want to add a link to a map or a video about the event or a link to your website where there are more details. In that case, a “Click here” button will provide a link to the necessary details.
Text-to-Win. Lots of customers would be interested in having a shot at winning a prize or gift from your company. Asking them to text in order to enter the contest helps increase customers’ engagement. If you’re not offering a sale or hosting an event, Text-to-Win campaigns are an effective way to remind customers of your existence and continue increasing traffic and sales.
Text-to-Vote. Engage customers in mobile polling to find out how your company is doing in terms of service, product quality, prices, and more.
“Buy now.” This is the perfect CTA button for targeted messages. If you know a customer routinely buys a certain product, you can send a text promoting that product with a “Buy now” button to make it easier for them to make a purchase.
Don’t forget to set up a Birthday Club so you can send a direct message and gift to your customers on their most special day of the year
I had an issue with one of my home service providers and I called their Customer Service line for help. This is a National company with a central call center. I waited 49 minutes on hold before hanging up. No messaging on hold. Just music. No options for a callback, leave a message, or any other option that might have made me feel less frustrated.
I called the corporate office number that I found on Google, since it was not listed on the company Web site (why are they hiding?) and followed the IVR instruction to press “0” for the Operator to get some direction. Each time I pressed “0” the system hung up on me. I tried 3 times. As a consultant who works to fix broken Customer Service systems and processes like this, I was as intrigued as I was frustrated.
Need help? Chat NOW
Chat is offered on the Web site when logging into your account so I gave that a try. It took almost 2 minutes for the Chat session to boot up and actually have a representative say “hello.” This was after I completed a 5 question Chat Start Box. Once online, I quickly asked my question and, you might have guessed, I was told to call Customer Service. Even after explaining the long hold, my simple need for help, the only option offered by the Chat agent was to call CS. Goodbye CSAT and NPS!
Next stop was going into Private Detective mode and looking up corporate executives online, including the President of the Division, then calling back the corporate number, getting to the corporate phone directory and using names to connect to their voice mail and leaving a messages for two of them. I received a call back by a Regional Director a little over an hour after leaving a message for the President.
I’m sure most of you reading this have gone through similar experiences. It is simply unacceptable and a sure indicator of management issues, lack of planning, improper use of technology, and a host of other issues that come from a weak effort to manage customers, the lifeblood of every company.
Unfortunately, these types of issues are very common no matter how successful or large a company may be. Customer retention is art and science. For such flagrant breakdowns to be happening in 2019 with all we know about how to serve customers, all the technology tools we have at our disposal, and all the talk of Customer Experience, is surprising to say the least.
How can company leaders can find issues like these before customers have to suffer through them? Use the company’s Customer Contact channels every day.
Call your Customer Service line and use your Chat/Text/Email and even snail mail functions regularly. Look at everything from a Customer’s point of view. Watch for speed of response; length of hold-time; is the IVR helpful? How knowledgeable are the representatives who answer; how hard it is to use each function? Is your Web site helpful or complicated? Can customers easily reach you if they aren’t ultimately satisfied? So many Sr. Leaders operate as if the last thing they want to do is hear from an unhappy customer. When that should be first on your list every day.
Well, you say, “Mike, I pay my Management team well to do all of this work. What’s the point of having a staff if I have to do it?” I understand your point, but I would ask you how much better would your management team do if they knew you might be calling, texting, chatting and contacting their departments each day?
Unless you are the only company in the world that provides your product or service and you don’t have to worry about losing paying customers, you must get involved on a micro-level. And, you should be preaching and advocating for this level of involvement and ownership to your entire staff. Trust your management team, but verify firsthand that your Customer Service is absolutely the best it can be every day.
I urge every business which operates with inside sales and service teams, especially in Contact Center settings, to make sure that whoever is leading those teams daily, supervisors, managers, or team leads, is having a daily Team Huddle at the start of each shift.
Companies that support, encourage and hold Team Huddles correctly, end up with better team performance over time. But, invariably, team huddles can turn into mundane, “Leadership said we have to do this every day,” uninspired wastes of precious time, which is the exact opposite of what you are trying to accomplish with a start of shift Team Huddle.
To those who run daily team huddles, I have this advice:
Ask yourself the important question, “Who is talking more at my Team Huddle? ME or my Team members?
Your Team members should be doing most of the talking and most people should be encouraged to participate. Any participation is good. Short and to the point works well.
Huddles are not a great time for a speech, but, if you are going to give a speech, make it a motivational talk. The idea of a daily, start of shift huddle is to motivate, encourage and energize. This is not the format for long discussions about any topic. Save housekeeping and too much detail about numbers for longer Team meetings.
You can talk about KPI goals for the day but getting into a detailed discussion of KPIs is not what Huddles are for.
What is the best use of the daily huddle? The huddle is your pre-game opportunity to get people fired up for the day’s performance in about 5 minutes! A chance to rally your team to work individually and as one cohesive unit to meet today’s team objectives.
Talk about things like getting to the top of the department’s Team Leader Board; Point out your top performers and challenge others to match or beat them today; Ask your top performers to share some brief success tips and challenge them to do better.
Get the team talking about what they are going to accomplish today individually and as a group!
If today falls on the last week of the month or quarter, will the team set records or miss goals?
Where will your team end up as a business within the business? The numbers are a result of preparation and execution. If your team is trained and prepared properly to do the job, then you should focus on inspiring their execution of the work they’ve been trained to do. Rather than focusing on the numbers so much, focus on motivation, energy and effort.
If folks don’t leave your huddle ready to jump on the phone or into the project and make a difference, it’s not been worth the effort. If their first thought is, “glad that is over, time to get a coffee,” your huddle has failed.
Use this opportunity to engage your team member’s competitive and winning spirit!
