There is an ever-growing market for outsourcing contact center solutions. In the COVID-19 economic environment, developing an outsourcing strategy into an ARM solution allows enterprises to differentiate themselves, provide a comprehensive customer experience, and reduce costs. Most companies need to hone their niche products and services which often means they cannot afford to spread their core competencies thin. Now more than ever, being lean and flexible demands focus on what you do best and outsourcing all the rest. By definition, outsourcing is the strategic use of the outside resources where it does not make financial or functional sense to carry out those activities internally. Outsourcing enables businesses to gain skills and services that are hard to find or develop due to resource constraints. First party outsourcing provides the client with a seamless extension of internal operations either for new projects or old ones that are too overwhelming to manage. Uplift Your Brand Outsourcing is an efficient way to boost a company’s brand and fast track business goals. It allows companies to create a world-wide platform to launch products and to promote the company name without needlessly shelling out hard-earned revenue. By contrast, investing in a trained and certified customer service team sends a message to customers that a company is willing to put their best foot forward. The message to customers is “your satisfaction matters.” Companies have a choice between making internal resources pull double duty on the phones while other projects are on hold, or leveraging staff who have chosen customer service representatives as a vocation. Just imagine who will have a more positive impact. Outsourcing to customer service specialists will have a ripple effect of goodwill that reflects exponentially on brand positive reputation. Worldwide Talent Pool and Lower Support Costs In an overseas outsourcing model, companies gain access to a worldwide talent pool. This allows them to expand their language capabilities and add “follow the sun” 24/7 coverage, ensuring the representatives handling inbound and outbound calls are always alert and upbeat. Drawing from global talent sources offers unique perspectives on problem resolution. In addition, offshore staffing costs remain, as always, much lower than similar services delivered by their domestic counterparts. In a global economy where the playing field is leveled by remote monitoring tools and VPN connectivity, cost savings are substantial. More Versatility and Proficiency Dipping into another talent pool also means access to different skill sets. When an in-house team specializes in a specific core competency, it is not always easy to pivot customer service functions to support a new product or service launch. A BPO team can help organizations drill down their expertise by handling custom campaigns with greater proficiency. It starts with building a comprehensive, ever evolving knowledgebase or FAQ library, enabling representatives to expand their issue resolution or customer inquiry repertoire. Over time, those inbound and outbound dialogues become more effortless and second nature as representatives reinforce credibility and knowledge with customers. Since they are often the “department of first impressions,” call center representatives can make or break a company’s brand. Greater Scalability Organizations that experience fluctuating or seasonal call volumes find it difficult to adequately staff up or down to meet the peaks and valleys in demand. They also find it is costlier to bring on Full Time Employees (FTEs) over the short term. Not only does this approach place a strain on internal resources to recruit, train, and manage those representatives, but by the time new hire productivity ramps up, call volumes may take a nosedive. Outsourcing to a BPO team creates an overflow mechanism when inbound and outbound activities are less steady stream and more Murphy’s Law. Redundant Tools and Systems When force majeure becomes a force to be reckoned with, having redundant tools and systems is the ultimate “better safe than sorry” approach. Why settle for one set of telephony, ticketing system, or data center when an outsourcing partner can integrate with and replicate crucial systems, literally flipping a switch in the event of an outage? Outsourced service providers can safeguard intellectual property and ensure the most resilient service possible. BPO platforms and data are typically hosted in hardened, Tier IV data centers which are good enough to store crucial data for the likes of Google, Intel, and Deloitte. Getting on board with an outsourcing partner that invests tens of millions of dollars on Business Continuity Planning tools and systems means never compromising on IT data security. Enhanced Competitiveness and Productivity in a Post-COVID-19 Economy Outsourcing increases the competitiveness and productivity of a company and allows growth over competitors. A budget-friendly, hassle-free, time-efficient and balanced way of increasing productivity is outsourcing. The turnaround time for projects is easily truncated with the help of outsourcing. Leveraging an outsourcing partner enables internal staff to get their work done on time without compromising on quality. Simply put, outsourcing is a way to enhance productivity and efficiency by drilling down on internal functions that have the best ROI and offloading those that do not. The truth is the post-COVID economy has forced the hand of outsourcing as an ever more valid business strategy. As companies scramble to stay more connected and get more done while being further and further apart, outsourcing has built a case as the new normal for how we should conduct business today. And it is not an option that is likely to go away any time soon.  Despite all of the social distancing, an outsourcing partnership remains close at hand.