What to Look for in an Enterprise Call Center Partner
When selecting an enterprise call center partner, prioritize providers that offer scalable solutions, advanced technology, multilingual support, robust data security, and a proven track record of delivering exceptional customer experiences.
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Table of Contents
Selecting the right outsourcing provider may seem like an overwhelming process, but ROI CX Solutions is here to walk you through it. By the end of this article, you will know exactly what to look for in an enterprise call center partner.
The following will walk you through essential qualities and evaluation criteria to help you identify a partner that meets your operational needs and supports your company’s long-term growth.
Importance of Choosing the Right Call Center Partner
Customer relationships, your brand reputation, and service quality will all be affected by the call center partner you choose. These are important to consider when selecting your provider. Start with goal alignment. The right partner will understand your customer support vision while protecting and enhancing your brand reputation. They also drive cost-efficiency by simplifying operations and helping you avoid expensive mistakes.
The ability to scale quickly and efficiently is another reason why choosing the right call center partner is so critical. As your business grows, your provider can make staffing changes as needed. A strong partner will have a good work environment that helps keep the same staff on board. This in turn provides consistent, quality service that enhances efficiency.
Choose the wrong provider, and you might see an uptick in frustrated customers and more problems than solutions. But don’t worry, ROI CX Solutions is here to provide you with everything you need to know to identify the right enterprise call center partner.
Essential Features of an Enterprise Call Center
At its core, a good enterprise call center will have some defining characteristics and integrations. Knowing what qualities to look for will play an essential role in evaluating potential partners. Look for CRM integration, workforce management software, omnichannel support, BPO capabilities, and data reporting.
Integration with Client Relationship Management Systems
Client Relationship Management (CRM) systems are software that store customer information, previous agent interactions, and help companies provide customer data to agents and internal systems. This allows everyone to stay informed on what is happening with each individual customer, resulting in a better experience. CRMs are also used to create automations which can reduce the amount of human error and allow staff to focus on more critical items.
Advanced Workforce Management Software
Another way to streamline operations a bit more is by using workforce management software. The use of volume forecasting is extremely helpful with optimizing agents’ schedules and providing flexible staffing. It can make adjustments based on data and increase or decrease staffing numbers. In addition, to make sure goals are being met, workforce management software will track adherence, occupancy, and productivity.
Support for Multichannel Communication
A key feature of a good enterprise call center is their ability to provide multichannel communication which lets customers contact and interact with your business via email, chat, SMS, and social media. These channels are also interconnected to provide a bigger view of what is going on and allow agents to stay informed of every customer interaction. A more valuable experience is provided when customers can switch communication channels, and still have their problem solved.
Comprehensive Business Process Outsourcing Capabilities
Make sure to look for a call center that is equipped to handle your business process outsourcing as well. Offloading back office, repetitive tasks will allow more time and resources to be allocated to core company functions.
Some of these services might include:
- Data entry: Accurately inputting and managing data from various sources to ensure records are up to date and accessible.
- Email handling: Managing incoming and outgoing emails to ensure timely responses and effective communication with customers or partners.
- Bookkeeping: Recording and organizing financial transactions to maintain accurate and compliant business records.
- Payroll processing: Calculating wages, withholding taxes, and issuing payments to employees on a regular schedule.
Robust Call Center Metrics and Reporting Tools
Monitoring results and establishing KPIs is another element of a quality enterprise call center. Common call center metrics providers use are:
- Average Handle Time (AHT): The average amount of time an agent spends on a customer interaction, including talk time, hold time, and any follow-up work. Learn more about Average Handle Time (AHT).
- First Call Resolution (FCR): The percentage of customer inquiries or issues resolved during the first contact, without the need for follow-up. Learn more about First Call Resolution (FCR).
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): A metric that measures how satisfied customers are with a specific interaction, typically gathered through post-interaction surveys. Learn more about Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT).
These metrics provide necessary information to decide if changes need to be made to the current strategy. Keeping an eye on this data and having transparency in reporting will help with achieving company goals and ensure that consistent improvements are being made.
Evaluating Potential Call Center Partners
Now that you know what to look for in an enterprise call center partner, it’s time to learn how to evaluate them. Prior experience alone isn’t enough. Look further into their customer retention strategies, pricing, and security standards.
Assessing Experience and Reputation
The first step in the evaluation process is to look at their reputation. What are their customers saying? Are they able to maintain clients or do they have a high turnover rate? Direct testimonials and reviews provides real insight into how a potential partner operates. These reviews not only give you more details on the company culture but also the experience level of the provider.
Analyzing Customer Retention Strategies
You’ve worked hard to gain customer loyalty, and you need a partner that will work to keep that up and boost loyalty even further. An enterprise call center worth working with will have customer retention strategies to ensure they are meeting, if not exceeding, customer expectations. According to Forbes, some common, effective strategies include regularly following up with customers and requesting feedback, adding personalization to your messaging, and encouraging referrals. It doesn’t hurt to also ask potential partners about their retention record and how they measure success with long-term clients.
Understanding Pricing and Value Proposition
A crucial step to your evaluation process is analyzing pricing for the enterprise call center services. Understanding your business needs will help you decide if you want an hourly pricing model, pay-per-minute, or pay-per-performance. With that, take into account the value the company is bringing and compare it to the cost. If you haven’t already, ask them for case studies to get a better understanding of the ROI.
Checking Compliance and Security Standards
The final step in your evaluation process is going to be vetting the provider’s compliance and security standards. Your industry may have specific compliance standards they don’t have. For example, at ROI CX Solutions, we are HIPAA-Compliant because of our clients in the health industry. You may need a company that is PCI-Compliant or SOC 2, Compliant, so ask them to make sure they are up to date with industry standards.
High data security standards have never been more important due to new cyber threats constantly popping up. It’s not enough to ask about their security practices, make sure you look for certifications like the ISO 27001. Your customers are relying on you to protect their data and you need to be sure that the call center company has strict security standards and a plan established to deal with data breaches.
Best Practices for Partner Collaboration
Now that you know what to look for in an enterprise call center partner as well as how to properly vet potential ones, let’s take a look at some best practices. Establishing KPIs and how and where you will communicate as well as how to improve along the way are all key elements in success.
Setting Clear Expectations and KPIs
You can’t achieve success if you don’t define was success means to your company first. KPIs are a helpful way to track progress while making sure you get the most out of your call center provider. Defining goals and expectations early on helps push you in the right direction while creating a shared sense of accountability.
When everyone is aware of what success looks like, you can track progress, anticipate challenges, and celebrate success.
Establishing Regular Communication Channels
Another crucial step to success is scheduling regular check-ins and performance reviews. Use these as an opportunity to address any concerns, share updates, and discuss results. During these meetings you can also discuss any adjustments that need to be made when working toward your previously established goals. A few ways you can establish these channels are:
- Weekly calls: Recurring phone or video meetings to review progress, align on priorities, and address any immediate concerns.
- Monthly reports: Detailed summaries of key performance metrics and updates shared regularly to track long-term trends and outcomes.
- Daily chats: Quick, informal check-ins through messaging platforms to maintain alignment and resolve day-to-day issues efficiently.
Having structured communication channels will provide transparency and promote accountability.
Continuous Training and Improvement Initiatives
Lastly, it’s important that you and your call center partner continue to maintain your high service standards. Prioritize training and development to help push everyone forward. Invest in educating agents on new products, tools, and communication techniques. It is also helpful to have feedback sessions, refresher courses, and performance evaluations. The more your team grows, the more likely you will be successful.
Case Studies: Successful Call Center Partnerships
ROI CX Solutions works with companies of all types and in multiple industries for enterprise call center solutions. Below are two examples. View more on our Case Studies page.
Example 1: Company A’s Transformation
A leading education provider partnered with ROI CX Solutions when their internal team faced struggles keeping up with demand for their products and services. They also needed help meeting the needs of their Spanish-speaking customers as well. The ROI CX Solutions team stepped up to the plate and provided a scalable bilingual team that assisted with a variety of services including processing returns, tracking shipments, and anything else the company needed.
The KPI was set to achieve an 80% service level average for August 2021. With clear expectations and communication channels set, the goal was quickly met and exceeded by 10%. This transformation highlights how the right call center partner can help you completely redefine what is possible for your customer support.
Example 2: Company B’s Enhanced Customer Experience
ROI CX Solutions was able to help a bakery-cafe chain improve guest satisfaction while streamlining support. This client was looking for a way to cut costs and a more efficient way to scale. They needed a team that could handle email responses so their internal one could dedicate more time to core company functions
ROI CX Solutions stepped up to the plate by providing a strong team of agents that handle daily management and increase company savings. Having clear goals set, the CSAT score was able to increase to over 60% and tasks per hour increased from 11.52 to 12.7.
This case study proves that the right partner, even in a fast-paced industry, can deliver consistent, high-quality guest experiences.
Conclusion and Next Steps
The enterprise call center company you pick will be able to help you achieve your goals and maintain your brand’s reputation. Remember to take your time, ask the right questions, and don’t settle. You’re not just outsourcing a function; you’re choosing a partner for success. With all this in mind, you now know what to look for in an enterprise call center partner.
Preparing for Your Call Center Partnership
To help you out even further, we’ve created this list to help you, and your company prepare for this new partnership.
Learn more about enterprise contact solutions provided by ROI CX Solutions.
