As businesses know, customer experience is a top priority and businesses can't afford to drop the ball when it comes to customer support. Up to 89% of consumers have switched to a competitor after a poor customer experience. By contrast, companies that focus on a positive customer experience are 60% more profitable. The contact center has become the front line in delivering seamless customer experiences. But is managing an in-house customer call center the best approach for your business? Or, would call center outsourcing make more sense? In this article, we delve into everything you need to know about call center services and outsourcing.

What You Need to Know about Call Center Services

Call center services are more than just answering calls. They're your business's first line of defense in maintaining customer relationships, resolving problems, and offering product or service support. The services range from technical help desks to telemarketing, lead generation, customer support, and even crisis management.

In essence, call center services have to maintain the delicate balance between being cost-effective and providing quality customer support. To achieve this, they rely on a combination of skilled personnel, cutting-edge technology, and proven strategies. But these can be demanding to manage in-house, particularly for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) who have limited resources. That's where call center outsourcing comes in.

The Pros and Cons of Call Center Outsourcing

Call center outsourcing involves entrusting your customer service operations to a third-party company. But like any other business decision, it comes with its benefits and downsides.

Pros:

Cost-Effective: Outsourcing eliminates the overhead costs that come with running an in-house contact center, such as recruiting, training, salaries, and technology upgrades. With an outsourcing partner, you only pay for the service package you need.

24/7 Availability: As businesses operate in an increasingly global market, customer support has to be available around the clock. Outsourcing partners have teams across different time zones, ensuring that someone is always available to handle customer queries.

Access to Expertise and Technology: Call center outsourcing companies are experts in their field. They are equipped with the latest technology and have a team of well-trained professionals to handle customer interactions. This means your customers will receive a higher level of service.

Cons:

Less Control: When you outsource, you lose direct control over how your customer service is handled. Although you can set guidelines, you will have to trust your outsourcing partner to represent your brand accurately.

Potential Quality Issues: Not all outsourcing companies deliver the same quality of service. If you don't carefully vet your provider, you may risk damaging your brand's reputation.

When is it Time to Outsource?

Recognizing the right time to outsource is crucial for your business. Here are a few indicators that it might be time:

Rapid Business Growth: If your company is growing faster than you can keep up with hiring and training customer service staff, call center outsourcing is a viable option.

Customer Complaints Increasing: When your customers are frequently expressing dissatisfaction with the speed or quality of support, outsourcing can provide a quick and effective solution.

Budget Constraints: If maintaining an in-house contact center is straining your resources, outsourcing is a more cost-effective solution.

Need for 24/7 Support: If your business is expanding into new markets across different time zones, an outsourcing partner can provide the around-the-clock support your customers need.

Blending Technology and Human Touch in Outsourced Call Center Services

The successful implementation of outsourced calling services hinges on a harmonious blend of technology and people. On the one hand, technology enables efficiency and effectiveness. Advanced tools such as automatic dialers, interactive voice response systems, and CRM software streamline processes, improve call handling times, and provide personalized service. Artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies can also help analyze call data for better decision-making and performance improvement.

On the other hand, no amount of technology can replace the human touch which is crucial for customer interaction. Skilled, empathetic, and customer-centric agents are the heart of call center services. They handle complex customer queries, empathize with customers during challenging situations, and provide the human interaction that customers appreciate. Therefore, the real power of call center outsourcing lies in the strategic blend of cutting-edge technology and well-trained, customer-oriented personnel. When these two aspects work in harmony, businesses can offer top-notch, consistent, and reliable customer support through their outsourced contact centers.

Exela’s Commitment to Transformative Call Center Services

With Exela's Call Center Services, businesses can convert their pain points into stepping stones toward remarkable growth and customer satisfaction. Overwhelmed by limited resources or the inability to scale? Exela offers a practical, cost-effective solution that not only scales with your growth but also eliminates the need for you to invest in an expensive in-house infrastructure. Worried about compliance issues? With our rigorous adherence to applicable laws and regulations, we provide peace of mind and ensure your contact center operations are above reproach.

Our experience of over 30 years coupled with our global network, state-of-the-art technology, and unwavering customer focus makes us a preferred choice for businesses. However, our approach goes beyond just offering services. We focus on outcomes. For instance, when you partner with us, you aren't just getting a call center service. You're tapping into a system engineered to enhance customer satisfaction, increase sales, and significantly reduce costs.

We provide tailored solutions to match your specific business needs, all while maintaining an impressive standard of service. Our team’s expertise in technical areas ensures high-quality customer interaction, and our dedication to meeting your Service Level Agreements (SLAs) means you can expect us to consistently deliver to your specifications. Plus, our services are available 24/7, ensuring we're there when your customers need us.

Our approach to workforce management, enhanced by predictive analytics, ensures you have the right staff levels to meet demand at any given time. Our dedication to data analysis offers you deeper insights into who is calling and why, allowing for continuous improvement in your customer service delivery. Moreover, our ability to provide a seamless customer experience across multiple channels positions your business to meet and exceed the expectations of the modern, omni-channel customer.

With Exela, you’ll see more than just the outsourcing of your contact center needs. You will witness a transformation in your customer service delivery, an increase in customer satisfaction, and a substantial reduction in costs, all provided through a service model that delivers the resilience and redundancy necessary for business continuity. We are able to apply knowledge, insight and proven strategies obtained from years of contact center experience to your company’s project plan. Let your team focus on more complex tasks and what they do best - your core business, and allow Exela to focus on what we do best – contact center! In a world where customer experience is paramount, Exela stands ready to propel your business to new heights.

Empowering Your Business with Exela: The Future of Call Center Services

Call center outsourcing looks different for every business which is why it’s important for businesses to partner with a company that tailors solutions to their needs. At Exela, we do just that. Outsourcing your call center services can be a game-changer in providing superior customer service and driving business growth. Learn more about our Contact Center Services today.

In an era of rapid technological advancements and digital transformations, it is surprising to see that the healthcare industry, which is dedicated to saving lives and improving patient outcomes, is still grappling with manual processes. From appointment scheduling and patient record management to billing and insurance claims, various aspects of healthcare continue to rely on outdated, paper-based methods.

This quarter's PluggedIN, we explore the reasons behind the persistence of manual processes in healthcare and their implications on efficiency, patient care, and overall progress in the industry.

The Persistence of Manual Processes in Healthcare

Despite advancements in medical technology and digital solutions, manual processes remain deeply ingrained in healthcare workflows. This reliance on manual processes can lead to several challenges, including:

1. Inefficiency: We know how manual tasks are time-consuming and often prone to human errors. On average 40% of workers surveyed spend at least a quarter of their work week on manual, repetitive tasks, ultimately affecting the overall efficiency of the healthcare system.

2. Data Discrepancies: Paper-based records are susceptible to misplacement and damage. This can result in incomplete or inaccurate patient information, hindering effective diagnosis and treatment planning.

3. Limited Accessibility: Manual processes can hinder seamless data sharing and collaboration between healthcare providers. Instant access to accurate patient information is crucial for delivering timely and optimal care, especially in critical situations.

4. Compliance and Security Risks: Storing sensitive patient data in physical form raises concerns about data security and compliance with privacy regulations. Unauthorized access or loss of records can jeopardize patient confidentiality and lead to legal consequences.

While technological advancements have permeated various sectors, the healthcare industry continues to grapple with manual processes. These antiquated methods hinder efficiency, data accuracy, and overall patient care. Embracing automation can revolutionize healthcare by streamlining workflows, improving data management, and enhancing patient engagement.

We take a deep dive into how smart solutions like Exela’s PCH Global can help achieve a paperless organization and how automation and intelligent document processing help reduce administrative burdens. Get access to PluggedIN now!

Transitioning to automated systems requires careful planning, investment, and training to ensure a smooth integration into existing healthcare practices. By embracing automation and leaving behind outdated manual processes, the healthcare industry can propel itself forward and deliver better outcomes for patients while empowering healthcare professionals to excel in their roles. Want to know more about how Exela can help streamline your healthcare organization? Get in touch with us and our team and we'd be happy to help!

If you have a smartphone, artificial intelligence is already in the palm of your hand, and you’re making effective use of it whenever you ask Waze for directions or Siri to run a search. Likewise, AI is making effective use of you as you let it in on where your travels and what you like to eat for lunch. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. While it may feel like “someone’s always watching,” it’s not so much someone as it is something. And that something is “machine-learning.”

But artificial intelligence isn’t limited to outward-facing (or customer-facing) processes such as those with which you engage via mobile app or user platform. Machine learning is just as hard at work in processes with which you’re not directly interacting (i.e., inward-facing processes). For example, your car may be using artificial intelligence to diagnose and even predict maintenance events. In your business, it may be built into your inventory management, accounting, and/or fulfillment systems and may come into play in your company’s optimization of cash resources and asset management.

“AI can aid internal processes in many ways,” notes Exela’s CEO, Ron Cogburn in the July 10, 2019 Forbes article, 9 Ways Inward-Facing AI Can Help Your Business. “One of them is monitoring and assessing employee sentiment. AI systems can passively monitor internal communications to determine how employees feel about recent organizational changes, whether a specific project is on schedule or is likely to be delayed, and if hiring needs to be done to close workflow gaps—all while preserving anonymity.” You can see the full text here.

Ron is a member of the Forbes Technology Council, offering many valuable insights. You’ll find many other thought-provocative articles from elite members of the C-Suites of Top Tech Companies like Exela here. For more up-to-the-minute Exela news, stay tuned to the Exela Blog.

To learn more about Exela’s rapidly deployable business process automation solutions, including what we can do for your business—both inwardly-facing and outwardly, using artificial intelligence, check out our Solutions page. Or check out our case studies, including this one onhow robotic processing contributed to a healthcare insurer's 35% gain in productivity.

For a look at the human-side of Exela, check out what we did for children suffering from hearing loss over the July 4th holiday.

When Leo Tolstoy began his novel, Anna Karenina with the line, “All happy families are alike,” he wasn’t kidding...and he wasn’t just talking about families. The so-called “Anna Karenina” principle, which holds that successful organizations and endeavors have in common certain essential qualities (whereas failure occurs in myriad ways), has been said to apply not only to families but to all organized structures --from microbiomes¹ to the stock market². It applies equally to company culture as well. So what do all successful businesses have in common?

Hint: it’s a trick question

You wouldn’t be wrong to say that all successful businesses have happy customers. However, happy customers are only possible with happy employees. Happy employees drive growth, empower innovation, and engender creativity in the workplace.³ And what do all employees want? Well, a good 99% of them want to be able to work remotely at least some of the time, according to Buffer’s State of Remote Work Report. Luckily, Buffer also found that 91% of business owners support remote work, which, of course, means that 91% of businesses must be successful, right?

Yeah, no. So, what’s with the disconnect? According to Mark Fairchild, Smart Office president, the disconnect happens between supporting remote work and actually having the infrastructure to make remote work...work. In a recent article for Chief Executive, Mark offers three key best practices for supporting remote work:

Keep the lines of communication open

Did you know that only 40% of American workers think email is an effective form of communication? The overuse of email as the primary communication tool among employees has resulted in more than half of all professionals experiencing increased stress levels and nearly half missing project deadlines. “If your company hasn’t updated its means of internal daily communication, this is your next step,” writes Mark, who recommends using:

- Internal chat tools, which can help employees track down their mobile colleagues more quickly

- Video-conferencing platforms, which make face-time possible even remotely

- Document-sharing platforms to permit easy (but secure) access to data

Here is how Exela empowers global, mobile teams with secure, high-speed communications, including text messaging, video chat, web conferencing, file sharing, and mass notification capabilities.

Take training digital

“Once your company has the digital workflows in place to allow for remote work, you need to think about how you can effectively train new employees from virtually anywhere in the world,” Mark advises. “For onboarding and employee certification and retraining, digitized training tools offer significant value.” Such tools are in use within Exela (I used them in onboarding and continue to do so for periodic training). We make them available to our customers as well. Our Learning and Development solutions offer the ability to plan, publish, and deliver self-paced online courses for employees to keep them up to date on the latest information and certifications.

Manage your space

Although increasing your remote workforce reduces the need for fixed desk assignments, that doesn’t let you off the hook with regard to maintaining a positive, engaging physical space. In fact, a full 83% of employess surveyed by Buffer expressed a preference for working in the office at least some of the time. “Managing real estate with a varying occupancy rate can be challenging,” Mark notes. One of those challenges is in predicting facility usage needs. Outfitting facilities with sensors powered by the Internet of Things offers a viable solution, providing real-time occupancy details as well as long-term analytical reports to help effectively manage office space.

“As physical location becomes less relevant to business operations, digital communication and collaboration solutions will continue to grow more vital,” Mark concludes. “Companies that embrace this trend will have many new opportunities to save money, attract the best talent and increase productivity overall — now and into the future.”

1. https://science.oregonstate.edu/IMPACT/2017/08/anna-karenina-principle-unhappy-microbiomes
2. https://realmoney.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/the-stock-market-and-the-anna-karenina-principle-15075703
3. https://www.tlnt.com/the-next-great-employee-benefit-a-better-office/

With employees in more than 20 countries and critical hubs as far-flung as India, Serbia, Germany, the U.K., how exactly does a tech company whose main headquarters are in Texas, U.S.A. coordinate all of its teams and team members? That’s the question Exela’s CEO, Ron Cogburn asks in his latest thought leadership piece for Forbes.

“Tech staff in California are just waking up as team members in the Philippines are turning in for the night,” Ron writes. I can personally attest to the challenges of coordinating corporate marketing efforts across oceans, although I’m pleased that I’m now well-versed in translating Central European Time to Pacific Standard Time and Eastern Standard Time so that I won’t turn up for a “GoToMeeting” either three hours early or one hour late (don’t ask).

As always, Ron has an answer for these leadership conundrums and generously offers three best practices for coordinating teammates around the globe without losing patience...or sleep. And as always, he ends on a positive note, concluding that despite the logistical challenges inherent in running an international tech team, it’s worth it. Find out the how and the why in How to Coordinate a Global Tech Team.

Ron Cogburn has been a member of the Forbes Technology Council for the past year and has also written prolifically for Forbes. You can learn more about the amazing things Exela’s international tech teams are producing here.

In the midst of a strong economy, U.S. retailers have announced more than 8,200 store closings this year, which is well above 2017’s record-shattering 6,700 and only a fraction of the 12,000 that experts forecast will close before the end of 2019.[1] Store closings affect not only the retailers themselves. Store closings give rise to layoffs. Layoffs give rise to unemployment. Unemployment gives rise to budget-tightening. Budget-tightening inevitably has a damning effect on consumer shopping habits. If this is the situation in a strong economy, it’s not unreasonable to fear what’s ahead for the retail industry if the U.S. were to slip into recession-mode, as some economists fear it might sometime in the next 12 months.

If you can’t beat ‘em…

If the main reason for the so-called “retail apocalypse” is, as many analysts assert, that Americans are shunning brick-and-mortar shopping for the convenience, efficiency, and flexibility of online shopping,[2] then it may be that the solution is to accept the problem and work within its confines. What that means is finding ways to optimize the customer experience vis a vis brick-and-mortar shopping. In fact, there’s been some movement toward this, with some retailers, including Macy’s and Restoration Hardware actually increasing their investment in their brick-and-mortar assets.[3] Some are putting their money into spiffing-up their spaces, but others are going a step further, embracing “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” by using their brick-and-mortar stores to facilitate their online business.

Intelligent Lockers bridge the gap between online and brick-and-mortar

Among the most promising ways retailers are using tech to the advantage of their brick-and-mortar locations is by installing automated locker systems that offer the best of both online and brick-and-mortar shopping. These systems consist of banks of individual “smart” lockers” (which is to say, electronically enabled and internet-connected) of varying sizes (to accommodate varying sizes of merchandise). These have many uses in business but have a specific and significant value in retail: to bridge the gap between online and brick-and-mortar shopping to allow customers the greatest flexibility with regard to designing their own shopping experience. Here are just a few ways that works:

Buy-online, pick-up in-store (BOPIS)

One-day delivery was certainly a nice idea when Amazon introduced it. However, in practice, it’s rare for something you order online to actually arrive at your door the next day. BOPIS permits customers to shop online to their heart’s desire and then pick up their haul as quickly as immediately at the retailer’s local locker hub, without having to interface with a store employee.

Not all consumers want to pick up their packages personally, but many do for reasons that include the avoidance of “porch piracy” (theft of packages left “at the front porch” of their home, which is becoming an increasing risk in the online shopping economy), enhancing privacy (does the UPS guy really need to know you bought that thing from that vendor?), and, of course, the primal desire for instantaneous gratification (you ordered it now, you want it now; you just don’t want to have to deal with snarky employees, lines at the register, and whatever else annoys you about in-store shopping.

Buy online, return in-store

You bought a great shirt online, and it is great, but it turns out you aren’t keeping the slacks you bought it to go with. Instead of repacking the shirt, printing a label, and depositing it at a courier, you can simply return it at the brick-and-mortar’s locker hub, without spending a moment online at customer service.

Buy online, exchange in-store

Same shirt, different problem: you love the shirt, but it pulls at the shoulders. You don’t want to return it; you just want to size-up. With smart parcel lockers, all you have to do is to key in the size you desire into your smartphone or computer, et voila, it’s waiting for you in a locker assigned to you for the transaction.

What’s good for the customer here is also good for the retailer. In addition, intelligent lockers in the retail context enable more business to be transacted without additional employees. Down the line, it can mean fewer customer-facing employees altogether. It can also mean less inventory on the shopping floor, which will reduce theft and damage to merchandise. Click here for more information on Exela Intelligent Lockers and how they can optimize your retail business. Want it in printable format? Click here.

[1] https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/30/economy/forever-21-retail-apocalypse/index.html

^[2] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/04/10/retail-apocalypse-now-analysts-say-more-us-stores-could-be-doomed/

^[3]https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/08/22/retail-apocalypse-or-retail-revival-five-smart-ways-retailers-are-bucking-the-trend/#660909923024

Forward thinking organizations have the vision to understand that digitalization initiatives are the key to future success. It’s easy to launch initiatives but hard to follow through and ensure that every action creates a positive domino effect of transforming department after department or system after system. Here’s a guide or a checklist to ensure you are on the right path to modernizing your systems and workforce.

1.Evaluate current status and gather business objectives:

Start by analyzing your business processes. Find the gaps and the points of friction. Create a map of what are the areas that are absolutely crucial to the future based on the business direction and future focus.

2.Balancing business and customer objectives:

New initiatives need approval from the leadership team focusing on broader business strategies. It is also important to consider what your customers expect from your business along with the growth strategies. The initiatives that you choose need to provide a balance of your customer expectations and other business strategies.

3.The right place to begin:

An extremely important decision is choosing the systems or processes that need to be digitized or modernized. One rule of thumb that most organization believe in is to automate the auxiliary services. Mailrooms, customer supports, finance and account process are all crucial but not usually core to the businesses. Automating these allow your employees to focus on your core business.

Check out our eBook about how Fortune 100 companies approach digital transformation.

Download eBook here.

4.Create business plans, get approvals:

Cost savings, revenue generation and creating long-term value are all the ultimate goals, but a detailed mapping of the pros and cons of the system changes is needed to get approvals for budgets. Yet another important factor is the approvals of your leadership team and CEO. Data suggests that it is at the leadership team where most of the Digital transformation initiatives lose steam. It is important to get a buy in, approvals and support for the entire project way in advance with clear ROI strategy.

5.Find a great digital transformation partner:

Once the internal buy-ins are done and the strategy is finalized, it is time to find a partner who can transform your vision into actions. Agility, innovation and experience are the things that matter when choosing a right digital transformation partner.

Exela’s customer base consists of over 60% of Fortune 100 clients. Our eBook gives actionable insight into how large organizations approach their digital transformation.

Download eBook

One small beacon of light that’s emerged out of the darkness of this global COVID-19 pandemic is the impact “lockdown” has had on pollution. “The COVID-19 pandemic has caused industrial activity to shut down and cancelled flights and other journeys, slashing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution around the world,” writes the World Economic Forum. “If there is something positive to take from this terrible crisis, it could be that it’s offered a taste of the air we might breathe in a low-carbon future.” That’s nothing to sneeze at, so to speak, considering upwards of 3 million people die every year from ailments caused by air pollution.1 Some argue, nevertheless, the pandemic’s effect on the environment is “smaller than you might think” and if real change is to be affected, it’s going to take conscious and deliberate rethinking of how we live and do business. Some of that rethinking may happen organically, according to climate scientist Kevin Gurney, who recently spoke to Wired about what it might take for the changes wrought by the pandemic to become both significant and permanent.² For example, there’s a strong likelihood now that the “seal” has been broken on remote work, going forward, businesses everywhere will more readily accept it. For more on why the remote work revolution wrought by COVID-19 may be here to stay, check out our Special Edition of PluggedIN, COVID-19: A Tipping Point For Remote Work. Time will tell how that will shake out. At the moment, however, we have the benefit of “2020 hindsight” with regard to the evolution of the sustainability movement. As it happens, today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day--the annual global event demonstrating support for the environment. Back in Earth Day’s early days, “environmental sustainability” had not yet been coined as a phrase -- and wouldn’t be for another 17 years³. Today, it’s become ubiquitous as a way of referring to efforts to preserve the planet and its precious natural resources for future generations. In fact, at this point, you’d be forgiven for thinking of environmental sustainability as nothing more than a politically correct buzzword -- something you care about because, well, how can you not? But when you dig a bit deeper, you’re likely to realize concerns about sustainability arise for two very authentic reasons:

1. Humanity depends upon our planet’s natural resources for survival.

2. Our planet’s natural resources are limited.

To quote Columbia University’s Earth Institute director and renowned sustainability expert, Jeffrey D. Sachs, “For a species that depends on the beneficence of nature, or on what the scientists call ‘environmental services,’ we are doing a poor job of protecting the physical basis of our very survival!”⁴ Fortunately, this isn’t exactly “news,” but as we grow increasingly aware of it, the question becomes not whether it is something we need to address, but rather how we will address it in a way that does the most good both for the planet, ourselves, and future generations. In business, that’s where the notion of “corporate sustainability” comes in.

The pursuit of corporate sustainability is the pursuit by a business of environmental sustainability in parallel with the pursuit of maximizing returns and long-term stakeholder value. Far from being a burden, corporate sustainability is a business opportunity, as the Inter-American Development Bank puts it.⁵ Practicing corporate sustainability furthers the goals of both positioning and profitability. But corporate sustainability is not just about the environment, per se. With optimal utilization of limited resources as a gestalt, corporate sustainability seeks to address sustainability at three fundamental levels (also known as the “3 P’s” of Sustainability):

- People

- Planet

- Profits

In fact, according to the Harvard University School of Public Health, companies that invest in the health and well-being of their communities (i.e., people), the environment (i.e., planet), and their stakeholders (i.e., profits), can “increase long-term profitability, reduce costs, and enhance their reputation”.6

With business as competitive as it is today, bringing sustainability into one’s business model only makes good business sense. Sustainability happens to be at the core of Exela’s business model in that every solution we offer is aimed at managing and conserving resources more efficiently. accelerate the business transformation of our customers using innovative strategies that create the most value using the least resources. In other words, corporate sustainability at Exela begins with the services and solutions we provide to our 4,000+ customers, which are comprised of businesses of every size, in every industry, all across the globe.

Here are just a few examples of how Exela’s services and solutions can help reduce paper use in the name of preserving our planet’s forests.

1. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-lockdowns-air-pollution
2. https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-pandemic-climate-change/
3. https://www.activesustainability.com/sustainable-development/do-you-know-when-sustainability-first-appeared/
4. https://www.amazon.com/Age-Sustainable-Development-Jeffrey-Sachs/dp/1515910873
5. https://blogs.iadb.org/bidinvest/en/sustainability-makes-business-sense/
6. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/ecpe/programs/culture-of-health-organizational-teams/