Call center outsourcing today has basically arrived as a mainstream business and marketing option.  While it’s true that most business owners don’t understand fully the best way to get the most out of call center outsourcing options, companies and processes, nevertheless they know that call center outsourcing will save them money.

The basic advantage of call center outsourcing is one of cost.  The call center agents, usually in developing countries, who do this kind of work for 30-60% less on an hourly basis than their counterparts in developed countries.  That’s too much money, i.e. money saved, to ignore.

What the business owner needs to remember is that the majority of these offshore call center outsourcing agents are going to have a discernable accent and thus their efficiency level is not going to be equal to native English speakers.  The good news is…your ROI (return on investment) is still going to be higher (for most types of processes) because you’re going to be able to afford a lot more call center agent time.

So you’ve got two factors to figure into the decision to use offshore call center outsourcing.  Factor number one:  you’ll get as much as 300% more calls for the same amount of marketing expense.  Factor number two:  You’ll have about 30% less efficiency because of the language differential.

The reason why offshore call center outsourcing is still a good deal is because the net effect of it is still very positive for the number of sales, leads generated, appointments set, data verified, tech support issues resolved, etc.  The only time when offshore call center outsourcing might not be a wise decision is when there’s a need for the operators to get into a lengthy discussion, in English, with the callers.  These operators can do wonderful jobs as long as they don’t get too far from their basic script.

That’s not to imply that call center outsourcing can’t provide the client with agents who speak good English.  On the contrary, they can…but it’s not going to be cheap.  Those agents are available but they cost more on an hourly basis and they tend to work for large, well established companies who are willing to pay for the quality they bring to their tasks.

Many prospective clients think they’re going to be able to have premium quality call center outsourcing language skills for budget prices around $7.00 – $10.00 range.  That’s simply not the case.

So the key issue for prospective users of call center outsourcing services is to be realistic in their expectations and give their call center agents tasks that are appropriate for their linguistic skill levels.  When that’s done, offshore call center outsourcing is capable of paying big dividends.

Call center outsourcing sometimes seems like a major step forward into unchartered territory at first.  But one thing is for sure:  companies who have had a well run call center outsourcing operation going for awhile would never go back to doing it all ‘in-house’.

For many businesses, there comes a time when they’ve grown as much as they can under their existing business model.  Often that business model includes certain assumptions on whether or not they understand or should consider call center outsourcing.  Frequently they don’t understand how affordable and easy call center outsourcing really is.

One of the conditions that prompt companies to seriously consider call center outsourcing is when their business gets so big that they have large amounts of incoming calls requiring information from a live person.  This can be a good thing as long as the company can find a cost effective way to filter those inquiries and separate the profitable calls from call that require minor information or administrative assistance.

Any conscientious company will want to have English speaking personnel answer all their incoming calls but, as stated, it’s not always profitable or possible.  Especially during hours that the company isn’t normally open.

Many companies are discovering that they can offshore outsource their call center for pennies on the dollar of what it would cost in the US.  Once they start to get business or further inquiries from people who called during the hours everybody else was home with the family or out clubbing…they really begin to appreciate the value of outsourcing.  With these offshore-outsourced call center operations, they save money and make money at the same time.

Call center outsourcing is especially a smart thing for a business that does business in multiple time zones. That’s very common in the US of course.  There is at least 4 hours difference between East coast and West coast time…5 hours if you count Alaska.  In that situation it’s very easy for business to miss early morning call-ins or late afternoon call-ins.  In such a situation, call center outsourcing makes all the sense in the world…and it makes money.