Why should you outsource?

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If many competitors in your sector have opted for outsourcing, it is only natural to ask yourself whether this solution is appropriate. Is outsourcing the answer to the many problems you are facing since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic? Here are the 5 signs that clearly indicate the need for a change in your operating mode.

Reasons to include outsourcing in your business operations

Often confused with offshoring, outsourcing regained its prominence in 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic exploded. So much so that 2021 figures show a real comeback for this strategy:

  • Nearly 54% of companies worldwide have implemented an outsourcing strategy to connect with customers;
  • Globally, companies spent $75.2 billion on security outsourcing last year;
  • 78% of companies worldwide have a positive view of their outsourcing providers; and
  • 71% of financial services executives are outsourcing or offshoring some of their services.

The next few years should confirm this trend, and if your company is considering this option, take note of Forbes’ article, which reminds us about the various motivating factors to leverage outsourcing.

Signification reduction in costs
Cost is the primary motivation expressed by many companies that have chosen to integrate outsourcing into their operations. It is a proven business strategy that can save up to 70% of operational expenses over the long term.

Risk sharing

In addition to real expenses, the client and provider share their operational risks.

Concrete improvement in customer experience

Since customer experience is one of the pillars of a company’s development, outsourcing can significantly improve it in various ways. At ProContact, we offer a wide range of outsourced services to our clients:

  • Telephone reception
  • Remote secretary services
  • Polls, surveys, satisfaction studies
  • Remote marketing and prospecting (appointment setting, prospecting…)
  • Qualification of files
  • Management and enrichment of databases
  • Customer loyalty
  • Technical assistance (hotline, webhelp, technical support)
  • After-sales service, customer service
  • B2B / B2C prospecting;
  • Remote secretary services
  • Customer relations;
  • CRM tool and software;
  • Satisfaction surveys;
  • Human resources;
  • Digital.

Business continuity

Outsourcing has become the best solution to allow any company to continue to provide its services, even in complex periods, as was the case with the containments and lockdowns.

To respond to internal work overload

Employees are human beings and some projects can naturally give them a legitimate feeling of being overloaded.

To avoid burnout, demotivation, to avoid subjecting employees to long working hours, outsourcing takes over, but in a healthy and efficient way. This solution is not intended to reduce the number of employees, but to allow the employer to implement them in a rational and responsible way.

Risks incurred in the event of poor management of internal resources

The time has come to reorganize and optimize internal operations. The company must find a sustainable solution and engage the services of a real partner if it faces the following challenges.

When it misses growth opportunities

When a company is short on employees or relevant skills in order to cut expenses, it risks missing out on growth opportunities. Between the lack of time, the high cost of recruitment, resignations due to demotivation and mental fatigue, it cannot afford to take risks when it comes to customer satisfaction and to prevent growth.

To free up time and manage its current resources in an optimal way, outsourcing takes over.

When it can no longer meet the demands of all of its clients

As a company grows, its customer base naturally increases, and so does the number of challenges it faces. To avoid being overwhelmed by this increase, consider outsourcing low value-added but essential tasks (customer relations, loyalty, satisfaction studies, etc.).

When skills are lacking locally

The West now faces two challenges: the lack of skills and the cost of recruitment. More and more companies agree that there is a ‘skills gap’ in the workforce, despite the low unemployment rate in developed countries.

This is one of the reasons why companies have been outsourcing for decades: to recruit the best possible talent for their team, while saving on costs.

Successful Outsourcing

Our tips for a successful outsourcing project

Choose an experienced provider

Every company has its own needs and not all providers are qualified to meet them. Select a service provider whose dimensions correspond to those of your company!

Beware of hidden costs

Beware, the lowest rates often hide additional costs. Since outsourcing is a way to save on costs, choose a provider capable of delivering clear and transparent pricing for a consistently high quality!

Legal compliance

Finally, legal issues in terms of intellectual property, tax compliance and others should be discussed in advanced so that there are no issues between you and your provider.

Contact us!

Outsourcing is our business! At ProContact, we work closely with you to include this solution in your business strategy. We can offer you an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without losing time, money or quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, hand-picked and multilingual agents, we enable the companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers, regardless of the situation and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of the company. To find out more about our services, for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us at (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

What is outsourcing?

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It’s never too early to take note of what outsourcing is. A business strategy in its own right, it is aimed at companies looking for a solution to increase productivity, flexibility, skills and scalability. To achieve this, outsourcing takes into its hands various tasks that are deemed necessary but time-consuming.

Outsourcing in a nutshell

Outsourcing is when a third party, specialized company, offers its services as a provider. To do so, it implements its own workers and IT systems. In the case of offshore outsourcing, the services are delivered from the supplier’s premises.

What tasks can be outsourced?

Outsourcing covers a plethora of jobs, for example:

  • Customer Service Representative;
  • IT support specialist
  • Human Resources Specialist;
  • Payroll Clerk;
  • Bookkeeper/Accountant;
  • Tax duties;
  • Personal Assistant;
  • Computer Programmer;
  • Data Entry Clerk;
  • Web designer and developer;
  • Social Media Manager;
  • Marketing Specialist;
  • Copywriter;
  • Proofreader;
  • Medical Transcriber;
  • Legal Advisor;
  • Lead Generation Specialist;
  • Draftsman;
  • Event Manager;
  • Security Manager.

Discover ProContact’s services!

How does outsourcing work?

Outsourcing is more than just buying a service from a provider. In fact, for it to deliver the expected results (productivity, flexibility, evolution, skills) and to become a lasting partnership, it must take into consideration both the commercial and logistical aspects, with maintaining an atmosphere of trust.

Some experts recommend a particular focus on the exit clause of an outsourcing contract. Indeed, from the beginning of the partnership, the client company and the service provider must each have a clear vision of what to do when the contract expires.

Why opt for outsourcing?

Outsourcing consists in delegating a particular task to a company specialized in this type of service. In return, its clients visibly achieve several objectives that would otherwise be difficult to attain:

  • Reduce their costs;
  • Improve their efficiency and gain in speed
  • Benefit from an expertise in the execution of tasks in an outsourced way to obtain these advantages;
  • Focus their resources on their core competencies, which allows them to gain several competitive advantages in their market.
  • Eliminate the time-consuming and costly process of hiring traditional, or in-house, full-time, etc., employees with the specialized skills and experience needed to perform certain tasks.

In some cases, companies opt for outsourcing to transfer the parts related to compliance with regulatory requirements or obligations in their countries to another one.

The different types of outsourcing

There are three outsourcing solutions to choose from:

  • Onshore outsourcing (through a company located in your own country);
  • Offshore outsourcing (through a provider located outside the borders of your country);
  • Nearshore outsourcing (through an outsourcing company located near your country).

The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing

In addition to reducing costs and improving productivity, companies that choose to outsource gain in many other ways.

By adopting this strategy, they are able to streamline the distribution of their most valuable resources, i.e. budget, human capital and logistics. These elements can be redirected to other existing needs or to new value-added projects.

They can also streamline production and/or reduce lead times by using an outsourced service that can perform the tasks assigned to it more quickly.

The challenges of outsourcing

Outsourcing requires clear and documented preparation in advance. By proceeding meticulously, companies can manage their contracts and their relationship with their service provider in a tangible and above all serene manner.

However, some of these companies may find that there is a certain amount of competition between their internal resources and those of their service provider, which goes against the very core of outsourcing.

They may also experience a loss of control over various aspects of the outsourced tasks or services. This may include, for example, loss of control over the quality of customer service provided.

Security is also a challenge in outsourcing because of the constant exchange of proprietary information or sensitive data between the client and the provider.

Finally, communication is another aspect that needs to be considered at all times, so that it remains seamless between internal employees and agents provided by the outsourcing provider. A common scenario that might raise this issue is if the third-party provider operates abroad.

So, insourcing or outsourcing?

It is always a complex decision to outsource, especially when insourcing seems to be the easiest and fastest solution to implement. So, what to choose?

As its name indicates, insourcing consists in entrusting internal teams with tasks, even if they could be handled by a company specialized in outsourcing.

However, insourcing implies the recruitment of new human capital, on a permanent or temporary basis, to perform these tasks. It involves investing in new equipment, hardware and software, or even the complete reorganization of business processes.

ProContact, your offshore outsourcing partner!

Outsourcing simplifies the development of the company, which gains in agility, skills and quality, without having to invest huge sums!

Established in Mauritius for more than 18 years, ProContact has built its name and has become one of the leading firms in the contact center industry. The company uses state-of-the-art technology and techniques in the field of outsourcing and offshore call centers (telephone call centers). Thanks to trained, qualified, hand-picked, multilingual agents, we enable the companies that choose us to maintain their credibility and above all to satisfy their customers. To find out more about our services, for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us on (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

10 rules to follow for a successful outsourcing project

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For a long time, outsourcing was considered as a recourse based entirely on cost reduction, at the expense of quality. However, far from being comparable to offshoring, outsourcing has become a real business strategy, to be integrated into the company’s operations. The advantages are numerous and there are now millions of companies around the world that have turned to this solution; even more so since the world has begun its digitalization transformation while skills are becoming increasingly scarce.

Given this context, it is important to properly plan your outsourcing. We have identified 10 essential rules to respect in order to succeed. Here they are!

Study the company’s operations to determine the tasks to be outsourced

A company’s competencies are based on a unique set of skills, knowledge and expertise. These skills allow the company to stay competitive and provide value to each customer. By taking a close look at the functioning of the company, of each department, but also of each product and project, it is much easier to find the time-consuming, low-value-added, but essential tasks that require external intervention, which is possible thanks to outsourcing.

The range of ProContact’s offers is wide enough to help you implement your outsourcing project:

  • Telephone reception
  • Remote secretary services
  • Polls, surveys, satisfaction studies
  • Remote marketing and prospecting (appointment setting, prospecting, etc.)
  • Qualification of files
  • Management and enrichment of databases
  • Customer loyalty
  • Technical assistance (hotline, webhelp, technical support)
  • After-sales service, customer service
  • B2B / B2C prospecting;
  • Customer relations;
  • CRM tool and software;
  • Satisfaction surveys;
  • Human resources;
  • Digital.

Creating a central outsourcing management team

It is impossible to entrust the management of an outsourced service to employees based on their free time. It is therefore essential to create a central management team whose mission will be to generate the right internal conditions to facilitate outsourcing. This team will also need to ensure that your provider delivers the expected quality in a secure and well-managed environment. This same team will need to work not only before the contract is signed, but also after that as well!

The importance of KPIs as a management tool

KPIs (key performance indicators) are indicators designed to measure performance. Particularly present in the field of marketing, they allow you to measure the impact of marketing campaigns and actions, especially digital ones. They are an excellent monitoring tool to stay on track and allow the service provider to demonstrate progress. Aspects such as quality, timeliness and respect of deadlines can become motivational goals if the KPIs are managed correctly.

The right infrastructure and tools

In offshore outsourcing, communication tools should be leveraged to their fullest extent, whether it’s Trello, Slack, Zoom, etc., they should become a given.

Creating a unique team

It is not uncommon for internal and external teams to differentiate themselves on a daily basis, perhaps even more so during challenging times. Work to erase the boundaries that may separate internal company employees from talent elsewhere. This can be done through occasional meetings between the two teams, creating a common communication channel, etc.

A transparent and clear business case

In order to find a provider who can quickly and accurately understand the company’s needs, the company must present realistic projections for the project. It must also take into account aspects such as infrastructure costs, internal support, travel, etc.

Expertise gained from elsewhere

A good outsourcing provider sees more than a financial contract between itself and its clients! As a specialist in many fields, like ProContact, he must be proactive in sharing his knowledge and expertise. When he is well established in his sector, his experience allows him to share the lessons learned from his past experiences. As a sponsor, take advantage of this!

Prepare the transition thoroughly

The initial phase of transitioning from a traditional model to outsourcing is undoubtedly the most critical. Make sure you have a documented plan and that all stakeholders, including those within the company, have a clear understanding of the issues involved in such a strategy. Make sure the provider understands the tasks assigned to them.

Agile methods for successful outsourcing

In software engineering, agile practices emphasize collaboration between self-organized, multidisciplinary teams and their clients. They rely on the use of a light but sufficient methodological framework focused on people and communication. They advocate adaptive planning, evolutionary development, early delivery and continuous improvement, and encourage flexible responses to change. (Wikipedia)

As explored, these methods facilitate daily communication, timely delivery of results, planning and meetings. Agile methods are extremely powerful tools to promote successful cooperation in an outsourcing context and are far from being a passing trend.

Create a relationship of trust

As with any professional and commercial relationship, in order for it to produce the expected results, outsourcing must take place in an environment of trust!

ProContact, your offshore outsourcing partner!

Outsourcing simplifies the development of the company, which gains in agility, skills and quality, without having to invest huge sums!

Present in Mauritius for more than 18 years, ProContact has become a reference in the contact centre sector. Today, the company uses state-of-the-art techniques in the field of outsourcing and offshore call centres (telephone call centres). Thanks to trained, qualified, hand-picked and multilingual agents, we enable the companies that choose us to maintain their credibility and above all to satisfy their customers. To find out more about our services, for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us on (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

Outsourcing or insourcing: what is the best strategy for your company?

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The Covid-19 pandemic caused an economic crisis that the world could have done without. However, it has also shaken up the world of outsourcing, which has offered unparalleled flexibility to businesses. Its ability to adapt to any situation has helped companies calibrate their resources. They have gained in speed and dexterity to achieve their long-term strategic objectives.

Outsourcing, a sector that continues to convince

One would have thought that in the post-Covid era, companies would be happy to go back to the way things were. However, according to Marketwatch.com, “the global business process outsourcing (BPO) services market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.8% to €335.23 billion by 2024 during the forecast period. The global business process outsourcing (BPO) services market has been segmented on the basis of type, deployment, organization size, verticality and region”.

Comparison between outsourcing and insourcing

Nevertheless, it is important to give companies the power to make the best choice for their operations. Here is a comparison between the advantages of insourcing and outsourcing.

The advantages of insourcing

Investopedia defines insourcing as follows: “Insourcing occurs when a transaction is handled by an entity itself rather than by someone else. This process can apply to commercial and investment transactions, or to the corporate world”.

Companies that have opted for internalisation can benefit from the following advantages, provided they are prepared to invest in additional resources or facilities, thereby increasing expenses:

  • Higher profitability due to the absence of certain costs associated with outsourcing;
  • Higher profits for the brokers, who can earn money from the difference between the purchase price and the selling price;
  • Allows delivery of products to customers using own resources, without the help of an external transport company.

Benefits of outsourcing

Following Investopedia’s argument, “Outsourcing is a business practice that involves hiring a party outside the company to provide services or create goods that were traditionally provided internally by the company’s employees and staff. Outsourcing is a practice generally adopted by companies to reduce costs”.

We know that globally:

  • Nearly 54% of companies have implemented an outsourcing strategy to get closer to their customers;
  • Companies spent $75.2 billion on security outsourcing in 2020;
  • 78% of companies have a positive view of their outsourcing providers;
  • 71% of financial services executives are outsourcing or offshoring some of their services.

Why is outsourcing so popular?

According to Deloitte, companies most often turn to outsourcing for five main reasons:

  • The need to reduce their operating costs;
  • The need to focus on their core business;
  • Lack of in-house skills;
  • Lack of skills in the labour market;
  • Various business needs.

Less operating costs: the key benefit of outsourcing

Outsourcing allows you to recruit additional resources at a lower cost. Indeed, this option has built its reputation in particular by offering offshore skills, specialised in certain tasks that are generally of low added value for companies.

ProContact is one of these service providers recognized for the quality of their outsourcing services. Our range of offers is sufficiently wide to allow companies to outsource all tasks that are certainly essential but known to be time-consuming:

  • Telephone reception
  • Remote secretary services
  • Polls, surveys, satisfaction studies
  • Remote marketing and prospecting (appointment setting, prospecting…)
  • Qualification of files
  • Management and enrichment of databases
  • Customer loyalty
  • Technical assistance (hotline, webhelp, technical support)
  • After-sales service, customer service
  • B2B / B2C prospecting;
  • Remote secretary services
  •  Customer relations;
  • CRM tool and software;
  • Satisfaction surveys;
  • Human resources;
  • Digital.

With regard to our human resources, once again, we focus on unprecedented quality:

  • A highly qualified and positive team capable of ensuring a tailor-made follow-up of each operation;
  • A demanding recruitment process;
  • A dense and continuous training related to inbound calls, outbound calls, marketing, webmarketing… ;
  • A motivating and human managerial management; supervisors who listen to their employees and to you;
  • An independent quality department with a single goal: customer satisfaction

 

Outsourcing also allows the client company to achieve greater flexibility and eliminate redundant expenses, such as recruitment, training, equipment, etc. In addition, outsourcing allows the client to choose a country known for its low cost of living and lack of hourly rates.

Better focus on the company’s core business

A team whose expertise is not used intelligently is a team that is demotivated and tired which results in loss of time and efficiency. The consequences are obvious: lower productivity in the long term and an increase in sick leave.

Outsourcing is a strategy focused on the evolution of the company. As such, by relieving employees of tasks that do not fit into their real job, companies leave their teams with only one desire: to participate in the development of their company!

Reduce the problem of lack of internal skills

The reality is that when employees work overtime, the company always ends up losing resources and money. By turning to outsourcing, by bringing in outside skills, the company sends a strong signal to its employees that everything is being done to allow them to focus and work on long-term productivity.

Reduce the problem of lack of local skills

Outsourcing allows you to get away from technological constraints and the scarcity of local skills. It offers a customized solution and a similar level of expertise, at reduced costs.

 

The basics of outsourcing according to Forbes

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Offshore staffing is a powerful business strategy that allows companies to gain skills without increasing expenses. Offshore agents are integrated into the operations of internal employees, with the exception of legal, back-office and infrastructural aspects, which are handled by the client company. Outsourcing as we know and practice it today began in the 1960s.

What is outsourcing?

The purpose of outsourcing is to help companies adapt their operations by providing them with a workforce that is often located remotely (offshore). This allows companies to remain operational and adapt their resources by adding or removing the number of people involved, usually trained people, delivering high quality work. In addition, processes are streamlined, workflows become smaller, more accurate.

Outsourcing is a tool, a concrete strategy, far from the idea that we may have of this form of offshoring. It is therefore essential to understand the ins and outs of outsourcing, even if your company does not intend to turn to this solution.

Outsourcing is a concrete solution

Outsourcing is not a miracle cure that can be implemented overnight. Companies that embark on this adventure without adequate preparation usually end up giving up after a few months, due to several factors.

When should you outsource?

Here are four scenarios in which outsourcing will help your company evolve.

You want to save on operating costs

It’s now a common belief that outsourcing can save you money. Faced with the high cost of recruitment, companies can save from 30% to 70% on their salary costs, thanks to significantly lower salary standards in the context of offshore outsourcing.

When you want more flexibility in running your business

In addition to the economic aspect of outsourcing, it also allows the company to save time and efficiency on several levels:

  • The legal aspect of the hiring process;
  • The recruitment process;
  • Compliance of jobs with existing laws;
  • Workforce health;
  • Training;
  • Workspace;
  • Equipment.

These points are taken care of by the outsourcing provider, thus relieving the company in need.

If your local market is short on skills

There is a clear lack of skills and quality candidates in the labour market. With outsourcing, you finally have a pool of talent ready to work remotely. This pool is made up of trained, often multilingual, supervised and motivated talent.

At ProContact, we train our agents on an ongoing basis to ensure that they feel comfortable in their role, that they have confidence in themselves, and that they know that ProContact cares about their professional development. The adage “Happy employees make happy customers” is part of our values and our daily objectives.

  • Our agents are self-motivated, self-reliant, and aware that their supervisors are always there when needed.
  • Our agents have strong communication skills and are familiar with all the tools used in the service.
  •  Finally, they are results-oriented and focused on the success of the projects they are entrusted with.

If you are looking to expand your workforce

Is it possible to expand your workforce at a lower cost? Yes, thanks to outsourcing! If you want to split your teams into two parts, one entirely dedicated to development, sales, research, etc., and the other to low value-added tasks, outsourcing gives you an expansion opportunity that is difficult to obtain internally.

ProContact agents are trained to handle a long list of tasks:

  • Inbound calls
  • Remote secretary services
  • Polls, surveys, satisfaction studies
  • Remote marketing and remote prospecting (appointment setting, prospecting…)
  • File classifications
  • Management and enrichment of databases
  • Customer loyalty
  • Technical assistance (hotline, webhelp, technical support)
  • After-sales service, customer service
  • B2B / B2C prospecting;
  • Remote secretary services;
  • Customer relations;
  • CRM tool and software;
  • Satisfaction surveys;
  • Human resources
  • Digital.

To conclude

With proper planning, outsourcing is no longer a challenge, but an intelligent tool. It evolves according to the company’s needs and is perfected according to the projects, objectives and budget of each client. Moreover, at ProContact, we consider outsourcing to be a durable and solid partnership in which we grow together over time.

While outsourcing may take some time to master, it allows each party to learn and commit.

While it takes time to find the right outsourcing partner and build a full team, the benefits are far too great to pass up.

Outsourcing is for all types of businesses and all industries, but implementing it requires a thorough review of your business life. Where do you want to go? What are your plans for the coming years? Do your employees understand the approach and do they accept to team up with people who are not part of the internal team?

Contact us for more information!

Want to know more? Outsourcing is our business! At ProContact, we work closely with you to include this solution in your business strategy. We can offer you an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without losing time, money or quality.

ProContact is more than a contact center. Thanks to trained, qualified, hand-picked and multilingual agents, we enable the companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers, whatever the situation is and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of the company. To find out more about our services, for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us at (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

Outsourcing: how to measure the performance of a service provider?

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By choosing outsourcing, the company wishes to obtain clear and determined objectives thanks to the building of a business case, a build-up of its economic model. It must therefore measure the work done in order to adjust, if necessary, the collaboration with its outsourcing provider. Forbes gives 12 tips proposed by professionals to consider and apply if you have opted to outsource one or more of your businesses.

Compare the quality of the promised service to the one provided

For Sunrun’s Stephanie Roberts, there may be discrepancies between claims and actions, but to what extent? A good outsourcing provider must meet demands and deliver what was promised. The Objectives and Key Results (OKR) method is generally applied. This is a management approach used to define and track objectives and results. Any shortcomings on the provider’s side will have repercussions on the results expected by the client!

Speed related to execution of tasks

Monitoring the speed at which tasks are executed should be a reflex for the company, whether it is with regards to its internal or external teams. For Ryan Chan, UpKeep Maintenance Management, this monitoring can quickly become ineffective due to a lack of communication. This audit is therefore also an opportunity to bridge the communication gap and empower the entire team.

Applying consistent measures

Tarek Alaruri of Fairmarkit explains that in the context of outsourcing, when an external team is added to the internal one, both parties need to grow and be evaluated consistently. Are the results delivered on time and of the expected quality? Are all planned unit tests and quality assurance processes being carried out satisfactorily? Does each team communicate effectively with stakeholders involved?

The right steps at the right time

It takes time to find the right outsourcing provider. It is up to the requesting company to execute and manage this project. For a consistent and realistic implementation, it is important to set appropriate milestones and deadlines to measure the progress of the partnership. Alexandro Pando of Xyrupt Technologies advises starting the first step of the outsourcing project on a small scale and then evaluating the collaboration.

Smooth collaboration from the start

Kunai’s Kishan Patel says that when a company is looking for external talent, they naturally need time to immerse themselves in the company context. They also need time to put the right strategy in place to serve their client. The client should take advantage of this period of adaptation to judge the quality of an external partner’s work, its ability to grasp the context and to become productive quickly. Underestimating the time needed to get up to speed is a mistake that should not be made!

The importance of daily meetings

Nacho De Marco of BairesDev discusses the importance of daily meetings in outsourcing. Through these meetings, teams can prioritise and allocate tasks, in line with established delivery schedules. During each work period, the workload is adjusted accordingly; it is reviewed and corrected based on client feedback. This methodology allows teams and clients to better manage the ongoing project, ensuring efficient and fully optimised results.

Risk calculation

Outsourcing may be a quick and easy solution, but let’s face it: it adds a layer of complexity to any project, as Christopher Yang of Corporate Travel Management reminds us. When aspects of a project are out of control or likely to be out of control, risk management becomes extremely important. Risk analysis is therefore a tool to be leveraged and reviewed periodically so that companies can proactively measure the rate of decline in risk exposure over time and apply appropriate mitigation strategies where necessary.

Clear and transparent communication

Marc Fischer of Dogtown Media LLC advises that a good relationship is built by setting clear expectations for success and having a point of contact from the company’s side that communicates frequently with the outsourced team. Progress of tasks, adherence to deadlines, budget, specifications… many critical points depend on clear and transparent communication in an outsourced project.

A detailed definition of the expected quality

What quality will my brand have if I outsource one or more tasks? Sujeeth Kanuganti of Aira Tech Corp explains that this is a legitimate question. Indeed, when it is in-house, the work is tightly managed. This results in better quality, with fewer defects and production problems. Outsourcing means that the company loses visibility on certain aspects of its product. Metrics should be analysed and compared between the internal and external team to measure results and define a solid and reliable specification sheet.

Contact us for more information!

Want to know more? Outsourcing is our business! At ProContact, we work closely with you to include this solution in your business strategy. We offer an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without losing time, money or quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, handpicked and multilingual agents, we enable companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers, regardless of the situation, and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of the company. To find out more about our services or for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us on (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

Source of this article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/06/21/12-tips-for-measuring-the-performance-of-your-outsourced-tech-developers/?sh=2272f087709b

The rise of business process outsourcing

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Growth is not expected to stop for business process outsourcing (BPO). Annual figures are promising, with an average rate of 5.2% to reach US$215.9 billion by 2026!

Reminder on the principle of outsourcing

Outsourcing consists of delegating the handling of certain tasks, generally considered repetitive and time-consuming, to a company specialized in this type of service, in exchange for a fixed remuneration, agreed upon beforehand.

By choosing outsourcing, the client company is able to rationalize its costs and respond to common and long-lasting problems such as the shortage of skilled labour. Outsourcing allows companies to optimize their operations by taking charge of a very wide range of services. At ProContact, we take care of the following for your company

  • Telephone reception
  •  Remote secretary services
  • Polls, surveys, satisfaction studies
  • Remote marketing and prospecting (appointment setting, prospecting…
  • File qualification
  • Management and enrichment of databases
  • Customer loyalty
  • Technical assistance (hotline, webhelp, technical support)
  •  After-sales service, customer service
  • B2B / B2C prospecting;
  • Customer relations;
  • CRM tool and software;
  • Satisfaction surveys;
  • Human resources;
  • Digital outsourcing
  • and more.

For a complete coverage of your needs, count on our Digital Service to cater to your needs in:

  • Maintenance / redesign of websites ;
  • Management of e-commerce or social networking sites
  • Processing of files;
  • Design & graphic design;
  • Or content creation.

What are the main trends in outsourcing?

There’s no denying that the demand for BPO services has remained strong in recent years. So much so that the market has transformed from an offshoring service to a business strategy. In order to meet the increasingly precise demands of clients, outsourcing has innovated its business processes.

At ProContact, we strive every day to improve our results and to align, direct and customize our mission in order to respond as precisely as possible to the expectations of the companies that trust us.

Competent and motivated outsourced agents

Within the same agenda of meeting the real needs of customers, outsourcing is now able to provide specialised teams, of course in number, but also in skills. Our approach at ProContact:

  • A highly qualified and positive team capable of ensuring a tailor-made follow-up of each operation;
  • A demanding recruitment process;
  • A dense and continuous training related to inbound calls, outbound calls, marketing, webmarketing and other processes ;
  • A motivating and human managerial management system; supervisors who listen to their employees and to you;
  • An independent quality department with a single goal: customer satisfaction.

Outsourcing meets the needs of all types of companies!

Until the mid-2010s, only very large, international companies chose to outsource certain operational functions. The advent of start-ups and small businesses has changed the game, creating a competitive climate where every strategy counts.

As a result, it’s much easier today to find an outsourcing service provider that can handle a customized workflow.

How do you know if it’s the right time to outsource?

Here are 7 questions which will help you find the answer.

  • Is your company able to respond to customer requests in a timely and efficient manner?
  • Are your internal resources able to focus on the company’s core business?
  • Are all the essential and less rewarding tasks being taken care of every day?
  • Is your company’s budget still efficient?
  • Are you able to recruit quickly and easily when the need arises?
  • Are your teams able to organize their schedules to complete all the tasks they need to do?
  • Are you still willing to take on everything, while others are willing to do it for very affordable costs?

These questions are not trivial, as companies rarely answer them positively. In the current post-pandemic context, it is imperative for companies to review the way they operate. To resist in the context of globalization, digitalization and lack of local skills, they must remain focussed and leveraged to the maximum the solutions available to them.

Offshore outsourcing did not take off by chance: it has taken its current place thanks to convincing results, thanks to satisfied customers all over the world.

Thanks to its great flexibility, outsourcing allows companies to outsource only according to their needs and financial capabilities. It allows them to outsource only a few services or a very large part of their operations, so that employees can focus on the development of their business.

Small, medium, large, very large companies… outsourcing addresses all sizes and structures, including those who think that this solution is only reserved for a certain number of employees!

With more than 20 years of presence on the market, ProContact is proof that outsourcing has a bright future ahead of it!

Contact us now!

How can we help you at ProContact? Outsourcing is our business: count on us to help you plan and set your objectives and targets! At ProContact, we work closely with you to include this solution in your business strategy. We can offer an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without losing time, money or quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, hand-picked, multilingual agents, we enable the companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers, whatever the situation and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of the company. To find out more about our services and for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us on (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

Outsourcing: Forbes’ 5 Tips for Getting Results

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Outsourcing allows companies to reduce operating costs, freeing up internal resources for optimal use while mitigating risk. However, many companies are concerned that by choosing this strategy, they will find themselves working double time to pick up the slack from their provider.

In the article “Five Tips To Set Up Effective Delivery With An Offshore Outsourcing Company”, Forbes discusses the best practices for the client company to effectively leverage the capabilities of its outsourcing provider. While the article focuses on IT outsourcing, the reasoning is ultimately applicable to other outsourced processes.

Outsourcing, a multi-billion-dollar market

In its article, Forbes points out that “With the increasing necessity to shorten software delivery times and stay profitable, organizations delegate some of their business operations to third-party vendors.”. The numbers bear this out, the U.S. business magazine reminds us, “According to Grand View Research, the worldwide business process outsourcing market volume was estimated at more than $230 billion in 2020 and will only grow in the future”.

Forbes’ answers to business concerns

Forbes recognizes that some companies “face challenges when engaging external partners”. Nonetheless, he explains that there are best practices for “productive collaboration and minimize business risks”

The most common concerns companies have about outsourcing

According to Forbes, “Unlike onshore or nearshore teams, offshore outsourcing involves sharing some or all (repetitive) processes with a remote company. In this way, companies reduce operational expenses, gain access to unique industry-related expertise, and quickly increase resources”.

Some companies struggle to make a decision for several reasons, outlined below, as Forbes so aptly reminds us:

Less control over operations: the inability to resolve issues that arise or manage processes in the here and now can negatively impact delivery quality and result in missed deadlines.

Security risks: protecting sensitive customer data from exposure or decreasing the likelihood of intellectual property breaches are certainly concerns of the utmost importance.

Time zone variations: introducing rapid changes to software can become a challenge, as it requires the offshore development team to be online. Lack of communication can affect the delivery of time-sensitive tasks.

Language barrier: with ProContact, you can access a multi-skilled, multi-lingual, multi-channel power team!

Cultural variations: every culture has a way of doing things that you need to be aware of. For example, there are multiple norms regarding working hours or personal space that can impact how quickly and how well decisions are made or a project evolves.

The 5 best practices to implement for a successful outsourcing

Outsourcing concerns several million companies, across the globe, who have chosen this solution to gain efficiency. To achieve this, here are the tips from Forbes:

Choose your provider wisely

Finding the right provider takes a little preparation. Knowing exactly what your requirements are, the provider’s experience, the relevance of their corporate culture, portfolio and industry expertise will actually help you find a partner.

Even if you try several different providers, the idea is to find a partner who can meet your needs in the long term. The outsourcing specialist should be able to perform several tasks in a short period of time (a few weeks) to demonstrate their skills.

Build trust

To be able to trust the company in the future, make sure your outsourcing provider complies with your country’s legal, intellectual property and regulatory standards. Of course, put in place a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to protect your ideas before revealing any confidential information about your project, clients, etc.

Maintain high transparency

Clear and transparent operations in addition to smooth and open communication between all parties helps to make each milestone a reality, improve team productivity and achieve set business goals. Thus, by sharing the KPI system with an outsourcing partner, the company gets real-time visibility into operations and can track progress.

Establish effective communication

When setting up outsourcing, it is essential to agree on the format, communication channels and timing to effectively manage different time zones and national holidays.

Pay special attention to management

Whenever possible, hire a local manager who will smoothly delegate tasks, oversee development or testing activities, report on progress or problems encountered, and motivate the team. He or she will also act as a liaison between the company and the offshore talent.

Be careful, this is not about micro-management, which could be seen as a form of mistrust by the outsourcing provider, which is not the goal!

Contact us!

Outsourcing can be a daunting project, but when entrusted to a reliable service provider recognized for the quality of its services, your company will gain a partner it can rely on to grow and survive in a highly competitive environment.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to our trained, qualified, hand-picked and multilingual agents, we enable companies that choose us to gain flexibility and reduce their operating costs, which are currently important in the midst of an economic recession. To find out more about our services, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us at (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

The outsourcing industry continues to grow relentlessly!

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According to prnewswire.com, the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market is expected to continue to grow at an average annual rate of 5.2%. This is enough to make even the most reluctant companies think twice, as outsourcing is expected to be worth at least US$215.9 billion by 2026. Gartner, a US-based advanced technology research and advisory firm, predicts that 60% of freelance contracts for the finance and accounting industries will be non-renewable by 2025, a windfall for outsourcing.

What is BPO?

Outsourcing, also known as BPO, is a business strategy whereby a company delegates responsibility for certain operations to a specialist provider for a fixed cost.

When implemented in an organized and thoughtful manner, when the company takes the time to find an experienced service provider, outsourcing leads to a tangible rationalization of costs while actively responding to the shortage of qualified personnel.

Thus, ProContact has a multilingual team of qualified, versatile and expert tele-actors, fully dedicated to customer satisfaction. We offer a wide range of services, including

  • Telephone reception
  • Remote secretary services
  • Polls, surveys, satisfaction studies
  • Remote marketing and remote prospecting (appointment setting, prospecting…)
  • Qualification of file
  • Management and enrichment of databases
  • Customer loyalty
  • Technical assistance (hotline, webhelp, technical support)
  • After-sales service, customer service
  • B2B / B2C prospecting
  • Remote secretary services
  • Customer relations;
  • CRM tool and software;
  • Satisfaction surveys;
  • Human resources;
  • Digital outsourcing
  • Etc.

The Three forms of outsourcing

There are three categories of outsourcing:

Offshore outsourcing: the service provider is located in a country other than the company’s.

Nearshore outsourcing: the service provider is located in a neighbouring country.

Onshore outsourcing: the service provider and the client are in the same country, but possibly in different cities.

 A quick overview of offshore outsourcing with ProContact

Established in Mauritius (for over 18 years), Madagascar (since 2015), as well as Rodrigues (since 2019), ProContact is the only contact centre to have 3 sites in the Indian Ocean, without ever compromising on quality!

The advantages of BPO

It is essential to remember the many advantages that accompany the choice of outsourcing:

Cost savings, which can be up to 60% when the service provider is located in a country where the cost of living is much lower;

Professionalisation of the customer service, thanks to the implementation of educated agents, continuously trained, speaking several languages and willing to represent the company in the best way;

Better focus on your core business, as internal teams are relieved of time-consuming, low-value tasks.

Modernised and professionalised outsourcing providers

The days when outsourcing was comparable to offshoring are long gone. It can be said that outsourcing has now become more professionalised, with processes, realignment and a reorientation of its business model (increased cash flow, stakeholder experience, compliance, etc.).

How do you determine your outsourcing needs?

As it stands today, outsourcing has added value around consistency and centralisation. By doing so, it is suitable for all companies, regardless of their stage of growth and maturity.

If outsourcing seems to be the best answer for your company, here are the essential steps to follow in order to determine the way to proceed, the type of provider you need and your objectives:

  • Identify existing goals and any limitations or changes that don’t apply to them;
  • Take the time to define the future goal, including developing a strategy to further centralise and standardise existing and future operations;
  • Evaluate the applicability and relevance of outsourcing to the relevant departments;
  • Establish standards for the organizational information that will be shared with the provider.

Agents trained to adapt to the needs of today’s businesses

Today’s businesses need to stay on trend in order to provide a consistently relevant customer experience. Behind the scenes, these companies can count on BPO, whose workforce is trained to not only adapt to the needs of the company, but also to act according to its evolution.

In this spirit, ProContact delivers a complete, personalized and on-demand offer!

Customized outsourcing contracts

Until the mid-2010s, only multinationals dared to outsource their operational functions. But the advent of start-ups and small businesses has created the need to delegate certain services to remain competitive.

This change is still felt in companies, which can finally find reliable providers offering customised and tailored services. However, without this lucidity, without this effort to improve their services, outsourcing specialists would never have been able to meet the specific needs of customers, while being more transparent in their prices, policies and contracts.

Contact us now!

How can we help you at ProContact? Outsourcing is our business: count on us to help you plan and set your objectives and targets! At ProContact, we work closely with you to include this solution in your business strategy. We can offer you an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without losing time, money or quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, hand-picked and multilingual agents, we enable the companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers, whatever the situation and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of the company. To find out more about our services and for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us on (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

How to succeed in your outsourcing project?

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During the last two years, we have witnessed a scene of an extraordinary upheaval in corporate world, sparing no country on the planet. The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us that it is possible for a company to continue producing, progressing, innovating while its human resources work remotely. To put it simply, it is not necessary to be in a traditional environment, the sanctuary office, to show creativity, ambition or even team spirit. This is to say that if remote work is as, or even more, effective than being present in the office, it makes perfect sense to look even further, with outsourcing.

ProContact handles a wide range of tasks

At ProContact, we offer a wide range of services, to be adopted and customised according to the needs of your company and your development project:

  • Telephone reception
  • Remote secretary
  • Studies, research, satisfaction surveys
  • Remote marketing and prospecting (making appointments, prospecting…)
  • File management
  • Database management and enrichment
  • Customer loyalty
  • Technical assistance (hotline, web-help, technical support)
  • After-sales service/ customer service
  • B2B / B2C Prospecting
  • Customer relationship
  • CRM tool and CRM software
  • Satisfaction surveys
  • Human resources
  • Digital outsourcing

Our Digital Service is aimed at web agencies, e-commerce sites, digital marketers, start-ups, pure players and others, with digital needs such as:

  • Website maintenance/ redesign
  • E-commerce or social media management
  • File processing
  • Design & graphics
  • Or content creation.

Clearly and thoroughly determine the tasks to be delegated

For a successful outsourcing both for the company, its internal employees, and for the provider, the client must take all the necessary time in order to clearly determine which essential and non-essential tasks need to be completed on a daily basis.

An article published on the official website of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Recovery, lists the main ones that allow the company to survive:

  • The Accounting and Finance function
  • The Research and Development function
  • The Human Resources function
  • The Production function
  • The Marketing and Sales function
  • The Purchases function
  •  Some accounting concepts
  • The Management and General Administrative function
  • The Logistics function.

By taking into consideration these different functions individually, you will manage to make a list of the tasks that are specific to them and to finally organize them in order of priority.

Clear and complete documentation of the outsourcing process

Our article titled “Outsourcing: the importance of the product requirements document” explains that “The product requirements document is an essential part of the first stage of the outsourcing process. It is going to ensure an optimal and satisfactory result thanks to precise and complete information. It is a real tool designed to clearly define the problem, identify the needs and determine the expected results while establishing the rules of conduct between the client and its provider”

Moreover, according to this article, the specifications must include the 3 main axes on which an outsourcing project is based

Background and presentation of the project: 

  • What type of project is it?
  • What is its purpose?
  • Forecasts of earnings and expenses, if possible
  • Situation of the product or service in relation to other similar elements within the company,
  • Studies carried out and to be carried out

Functional expression of need:

This part is in regards to an analysis of the functional needs in order to describe the solution proposed by your company, but also the technical constraints as well as the inevitable elements that are an integral part of the project.

Expected results:

For this part, you will have to propose avenues to explore in order to succeed in the project.

Regarding the actual drafting of the specifications, the company that wishes to outsource one of its services can take over this part or contact a specialized service provider. This option may turn out to be convenient, since it will allow the client to get an external, experienced, perhaps even innovative vision.

Why outsource?

Offshore outsourcing makes it possible to significantly reduce costs related to recruitment, training, equipment. Today the company has all to gain by investing its money and time intelligently. Otherwise, it hardly becomes able to compete with those who have already crossed this stage.

The importance of performance metrics

What can be measured can be improved! But what are the elements to be measured? ProContact helps you to determine the appropriate performance indicators according to your sector of activity, your target audience, your evolution.

The Monster website explains that “The key performance indicator (KPI) is a quantifiable measure that is used to evaluate the progress or success of a company, a team or a project, based on specific performance objectives. This acronym is the translation of KPI, which stands for Key Performance Indicator”

He also reminds us that there are four categories of performance indicators:

  • Productivity performance indicators;
  • Quality performance indicators;
  • Capacity performance indicators;
  • Strategic performance indicators.

Contact us!

Want to know more? Outsourcing is our business! At ProContact, we support you closely in the implementation of this solution in your business strategy. We offer you, without delay, an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without wasting time, money and quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, handpicked and multilingual agents, we allow companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers regardless of the situation and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of the enterprise. To find out more about our services, for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us on (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

How to handle risks related to outsourcing?

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When risks are managed with clarity, responsibility and relevance, outsourcing is a vector of cost reduction and value creation, therefore contributing to the overall success of the company. Let’s explore how to make this partnership fruitful and sustainable.

The advantages of outsourcing

Outsourcing has gradually become a tangible solution that can legitimately be integrated into acompany’s business strategy. Looking back at our article titled “2021: the annual assessment of outsourcing around the world?”

  • Almost 54% of companies worldwide have implemented an outsourcing strategy to connect with customers;
  • Globally, companies spent $75.2 billion on security outsourcing last year;
  • 78% of companies worldwide have a positive opinion of their outsourcing providers;
  • 71% of financial services executives outsource or relocate some of their services.

These companies understood that outsourcing was a vital tool, calibrated to help them in their development by offering them the following advantages:

Improved focus on their core business: Outsourcing redistributes time and resources within the company, which then manages to focus on its strengths, since internal employees can focus on the main tasks and the strategy to be applied in the future.

Greater efficiency: By choosing the right service provider, a company can quickly and simply hand over repetitive, time-consuming tasks, but which make it possible to deliver a more productive, more efficient and often better-quality service.

Cost control: Outsourcing makes it possible to better distribute the company’s budget thanks to the release of capital. The company can invest this money in other sectors.

Increased reach: A good service provider is equipped with all the hardware and software capabilities to meet the needs of its customers. The latter no longer has to worry about investing money in these two areas.

A greater competitive advantage: at a time of scarcity of local skills, outsourcing allows its clients to gain knowledge and skills, brought by external agents.

Managing outsourcing risks efficiently

Like any decision related to the operation of the company, outsourcing is not without risks. However, with proper preparation, the company can eliminate the said risks in question.

Trust: Trust in your service provider is a key element in outsourcing. The provider must be able to conduct a relevant risk analysis, but also, and above all, propose solutions to reduce these risks. This result does not just happen and is obtained by choosing a mature provider,

  • Presenting a majority of successful performances;
  • Having a lively, ergonomic, easily understandable website, containing relevant information;
  • Having a concrete process regarding the sharing of knowledge and the development of technical skills;
  • Able to present case studies, based on problematic partnerships, but having served as a basis for solutions that are still applicable to this day.

The expertise of the provider: what is the level of expertise of the provider in his field? To meet the needs of its customers, ProContact has a multilingual team of qualified, versatile and expert tele-actors, fully dedicated to customer satisfaction. We offer a wide range of services, including:

  • Telephone reception
  • Remote secretary
  • Surveys, research, satisfaction studies
  • Remote marketing and prospecting (making appointments, prospecting…)
  • File management
  • Database management and enrichment
  • Customer loyalty
  • Technical assistance (hotline, web-help, technical support)
  • After-sales service/customer service
  • B2B / B2C Prospecting
  • Customer relationship
  • CRM tool and CRM software
  • Satisfaction surveys
  • Human resources
  • Digital outsourcing, and others

The ability to manage an outsourced team: A lack of outsourcing experience can lead a company to rejecting this solution. However, by choosing a service provider with solid, proven, well-established processes, the required skills and experience, the customer instantly has an ally.

Skill transfer: this is undoubtedly one of the most important criteria for the success of an outsourced service. A successful outsourcing project should be in the form of a two-way road on which knowledge flows in both directions.

Confidentiality and intellectual property: outsourcing involves the delegation of part of the information vital to the functioning of the company (customer base, etc.). By handing over these resources to the provider, the company must ensure that the provider is willing to sign a confidentiality agreement, if it has had the opportunity to work with sensitive data or if it has already carried out projects with these companies handling sensitive data.

Hidden costs: while outsourcing is also a strategy to reduce costs, it is essential to choose a provider with clear statements about its pricing. This must be especially written in black and white. In this sense, we offer all our customers:

  • A controlled customer relationship;
  • Optimized costs;
  • Outsourced services performed by experts;

ProContact assesses the skills necessary to offer its clients a portfolio of services to precisely meet their needs and ensure the success of the operation.

Contact us!

Want to know more? Outsourcing is our business! At ProContact, we support you closely in the inclusion of this solution in your business strategy. We offer, without delay, an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the implementation of resources located elsewhere, without wasting time, money and quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, handpicked and multilingual agents, we allow companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers regardless of the situation and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of the enterprise. To find out more about our services or for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us at (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

Outsourcing: how to manage a team that is geographically spread out?

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Today, a company can be perfectly efficient while having some of its human resources based abroad, in different time zones and belonging to different cultures. Outsourcing brings together all these challenges and allows the said company to continue to develop, to innovate, therefore, to outperform the competition. If you find managing a geographically dispersed team intimidating, check out the following tips to remedy this issue.

Choose the best outsourced agents

Here, it is up to the provider to make sure to select his agents carefully. At ProContact, we constantly train our agents to ensure that they feel comfortable in their role, that they are confident and that they know that ProContact is concerned about their professional development. The adage “Happy employees make happy customers” is part of our values and our daily goals.

  • Our agents are motivated, autonomous but still aware that their supervisors are always present if necessary.
  • Our agents are able to communicate and master all the tools that we have to deploy to conduct our missions and offer our services.
  • Finally, they are results-oriented and ensure the success of the projects entrusted to them.

Clearly established objectives

Teams made up of internal employees and external agents need to know why they are working together. By having a clearly defined common goal, it facilitates mutual understanding, exchanges and the desire to progress.

A team charter

A real roadmap, the team charter enables the distribution of the right tasks to the right people. Thanks to it, everyone’s roles and responsibilities are established from the start and each stakeholder is able to identify key resources.

The team charter is especially useful at the very beginning of an outsourcing partnership, when everyone is still unsure about their role. The company is able to downscale the stress level in the name of concentration and help everyone achieve their goal.

A global communication strategy

For a collaboration that works regardless of the distance, it is important to choose the right provider and above all, to set up reliable and convenient communication channels.

By implementing a global communication strategy, the company and its service provider manage to break down the walls that surround the different time zones. For this, rely on reliable technologies, so that they are available at all times and do not have bugs or any other form of failure.

Team dynamics

Team dynamics can be defined as “the behavioral relationship between members of a given team. The way a team interacts, communicates and works together has a huge impact on the team’s success in achieving its goals”. This definition makes even more sense in the context of outsourcing, which implies that the members of the famous team have probably never met physically. The right team dynamics guarantees several elements:

  • Production;
  • Motivation to communicate;
  • Innovation.

Team cohesion

Team cohesion requires simple moments of sharing, for example, having lunch together. This type of behavior is naturally impossible when outsourced agents enter the equation. This is where creativity should come into the picture: virtual meetings every month, the creation of an intranet page, a virtual team room, the use of webcams, remedies for small language and cultural barriers that may arise… There are many solutions to solve this problem.

Fair and homogeneous feedback

When a team is hybridized, feedback should be fair and consistent. Due to the physical distance, outsourced agents must be able to count on feedback that is on the same level to that provided to their internal counterparts. Isolation is undoubtedly the enemy of problematic collaboration.

In summary

In a recent article on the management of companies scattered around the world, we read “In this new world, whatever and however it is defined, the reality is it has changed and will continue to evolve. The “old” way of leading is just that—old.

Globalization, hybrid working, and remote working are all new ways of working. Leaders will need to understand the nuances of managing geographically dispersed teams successfully. They also need to learn how to adapt to create team cohesion and success.

Communication is foundational to successfully managing a globally dispersed team. It is also a springboard to building team unity and trust among the team.

But flexibility and patience should not be forgotten. This is a third best practice I’m throwing in based on doing this for 30 years. Flexibility is when I take a call during their hours versus having them take one during mine. And patience from both parties in dealing with technology hiccups remains crucial.

Finally, ensuring globally dispersed teams are managed successfully is in the hands of companies. They need to give their leaders the right skills and development to lead across dispersed teams in an ever-changing world”.

Hybrid teams, consisting of internal and other outsourced resources, can become an extraordinary force for the company. Outsourcing with ProContact is a way to gain efficiency, make savings and to obtain skills that are absent internally without having to recruit locally.

Contact us!

Many tasks are time-consuming and require experience and skills that you may not have in-house. Stop suffering from the lack of manpower that affects Western markets hard and choose outsourcing to expand your teams. During this period of Covid-19, demonstrate agility by signing a solid and transparent partnership with one of the leaders in outsourcing in the Indian Ocean.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, handpicked and multilingual agents, we allow companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers. To find out more about our services or for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us on (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

How to achieve 100% success when outsourcing your customer service

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Having a customer service that fulfills its mission requires precise skills that are specially developed to satisfy the customer. It all starts with building a strong team, which knows the ins and outs of their main role: transmitting the fundamental values of the company. How can such a result be achieved when the company does not have the time, resources and skills to provide efficient and operational customer service at all times? Outsourcing is the most appropriate solution in our current context, one in which every company must imperatively stand out from the competition.

Why outsource?

That is a vague question, but the bottom line is: outsourcing of its customer service minimises costs while maximising the competitive advantage in customer experience, in order to stimulate activity, so by cascade effect, revenues.

By agreeing to delegate some of the tasks specific to the operation of the company, it manages to achieve the greatest customer satisfaction, thanks to an optimal customer service team specially trained for this purpose.

Essential basics of successful outsourcing

A balance between fundamental values of each party: the constitution of an outsourced team in charge of your customer service should not be taken lightly. Indeed, each party, that is the company and the selected agents, must share the same fundamental values: trust, transparency, responsibility. With this in mind, it is vital to establish clear communication channels to that effect.

A common language: this is both literally and figuratively applicable. At ProContact, our agents are multilingual, so we speak “the same languages” as our customers, an advantage that is priceless in the context of outsourcing. While this criterion may seem minimal, on the contrary, it allows your customer service to translate the spirit of your company, to represent its image remotely, and therefore to convince, retain and create loyalty among its customers.

A service provider recognised for the quality of its services: at ProContact, we rely on several bases that have allowed us to maintain our current position, that of an honest, reliable service provider, who makes every effort to understand and respond to your problems! Transparency, accountability, personalization of offers, optimal customer services: our processes have repeatedly proven their efficiency. For a service that is always at the assistance of our customers, we are constantly open to new developments and improvements. For this, we are setting up accessible communication channels on both sides which will help establish a permanent dialogue.

Agents who are ambassadors of your company: to be successful, the outsourcing of your customer service must be supported by agents who are able to appropriate the brand of the company they represent at the end of the line. To achieve such a result, we train our agents constantly, to ensure that they feel comfortable in their role, that they have confidence in themselves, that they know that ProContact is concerned about their professional development. The saying “Happy employees create happy customers” is part of our values and our daily goals.

Do I need to outsource my customer service?

Outsourcing is the answer to your problems if you have the following issues:

  • Need to make cost savings ;
  • You need a 24/7 cover;
  • Greater language coverage;
  • Offer shorter response times ;
  • Access to better technologies, equipment and technical resources.

Cost savings

The era of traditional recruitment has gone by; today flexibility has become the watchword and it isa possibility thanks to outsourcing. At ProContact, we allow you to gain flexibility within an affordable financial scheme.

Greater hourly coverage

The outsourcing of customer service allows the company to offer extensive support outside office hours, vacation days, public holidays, weekends, on all channels, including online chat/instant messaging, e-mail and social media DMs.

Greater language coverage

Expand your customer base by extending the language coverage of your customer service. A multilingual team of qualified, versatile and expert agents is fully dedicated to customer satisfaction. Yours of course, but also that of your customers.

Shorter response times

51% of customers turn their back on a company whose customer service has been negligent, even if that is the case only once. Become a company known for responding to its customers quickly and efficiently, regardless of the communication channel which they use to contact you. ProContact provides you with the necessary number of agents to significantly reduce response times.

Access to better technologies, equipment and technical resources

The outsourcing sector is known for its competitive temperament, so at ProContact, we make it a point of honour to offer the latest technologies (software and computer programs, advanced chatbot configurations, etc.) without you having to commit a budget to benefit from it!

Outsourcing is the answer to many problems that may surround customer service. By preparing your project and choosing the right service provider, you will offer an unprecedented experience to your customers.

Contact us!

Outsourcing is our business! At ProContact, we closely accompany you in the inclusion of this solution in your business strategy. We offer you, without delay, an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without wasting time, money and quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, handpicked and multilingual agents, we allow companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers regardless of the situation and this is done in complete transparency.

Outsourcing: how to do it properly in 2022

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How to outsource properly this year, when the world is gradually recovering from the pandemic, when some economies are showing unexpected growth (France, USA), when remote work has naturally found its place in companies? Let’s add to this the pressing need for digitalisation; the rapid evolution of technology. It’s time to make your business processes efficient. Outsourcing is one of these solutions that are easy to set up, but also, and most importantly, allows you to save time and money. Let’s take advantage of the beginning of the year to put everything into perspective.

What exactly is outsourcing?

Investopedia defines outsourcing as follows: “Outsourcing is a business practice that involves hiring a party outside a company to provide services or create goods that were traditionally provided internally by the company’s employees and staff. Outsourcing is a practice generally adopted by companies to reduce costs. As such, it can affect a wide range of jobs, from customer support to manufacturing or the back office.

Outsourcing was first recognised as a business strategy in 1989 and became an integral part of the business economy in the 1990s. The practice of outsourcing is the subject of considerable controversy in many countries. Opponents say it has led to the loss of domestic jobs, especially in the manufacturing sector. Proponents argue that it incentivises companies and corporations to allocate resources where they are most effective, and that outsourcing helps to maintain the nature of free market economies on a global scale”.

ProContact is one of these providers recognised for the quality of their outsourcing service. Our range of offers is wide enough to allow companies to outsource all tasks that are essential but are recognised to be time-consuming:

  • Telephone reception
  • Remote secretary services
  • Researches, studies, satisfaction surveys
  • Remote marketing and remote prospecting (making appointments, prospecting …)
  • File qualification
  • Database management and enrichment
  • Customer loyalty
  • Technical assistance (hotline, webhelp, technical assistance)
  • After-sales service, customer service
  • B2B/ B2C Prospecting;
  • Remote secretary services;
  • Customer relations;
  • CRM tool and CRM software;
  • Satisfaction surveys;
  • Human resources;

With regard to our human resources, here again we rely on an unprecedented quality:

  • A highly qualified and positive team able to ensure a tailor-made follow-up of each operation;
  • A demanding recruitment;
  • A dense and continuous training on incoming calls, outgoing calls, marketing, webmarketing etc;
  • A motivating and human managerial management, supervisors who listen to employees and listen to you;
  • An independent quality department with a single goal: customer satisfaction

How to choose “the” provider who will become your partner?

Several criteria come into play when choosing your outsourcing provider. He must:

  • Be an expert in the field;
  • Have a solid reputation;
  • Present a clear budget, without hidden costs;
  • Guarantee the protection of your data and those of your customers;
  • He knows how to be flexible.

The advantages of outsourcing in the current context

Each company has its own reasons for deciding to outsource. Each contract has its own advantages defining specific needs and objectives:

  • Outsourcing is a way to break free from market competition by hiring a service provider, but above all a partner, with the expertise and capabilities necessary to quickly commercialise innovations;
  • The intervention of an experienced service provider encourages companies to quickly enter new markets;
  • By no longer having to invest non-critical services funds, companies can grow with a reduced financial burden and, as a result, respond opportunistically to new markets
  • Finally, outsourcing allows companies to focus on key skills and create skills that directly add value to customers.

Let’s add to that:

  • Significant time and cost savings;
  • A quality service;
  • A better focus on your core business ;
  • Immediate access to state-of-the-art services and technology;
  • Flexible management of your resources;
  • New opportunities in various fields.

Outsource efficiently!

Outsourcing is something that needs to be prepared and this preparation has several stages, which implemented diligently, allows the company to pass this milestone quickly and with serenity:

  • A constant involvement of the management team or the board of directors in decision-making;
  • A good overall communication among both management and employees about the benefits of outsourcing (achievement of the company’s vision and objectives, increased productivity at a reduced cost, etc.);
  • An involvement of all employees through appropriate documentation, but also an increase in the levels of responsibility;
  • A clear definition of your long-term business and financial objectives for personalised outsourcing;
  • The search for a quality service provider by taking the time to properly compare the different companies solicited;
  • Taking into account costs, one of the main advantages of outsourcing is their reduction. However, in reality, the actual savings very rarely correspond to the estimated ones. Anyway, by finding the right provider, after a few months of partnership, you will see a positive development in the company’s finances.

Contact us!

Outsourcing is our business! At ProContact, we closely accompany you in the inclusion of this solution in your business strategy. We offer you without delay an unprecedented adaptation of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without wasting time, money and quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, handpicked and multilingual agents, we allow companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers regardless of the situation and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of the company. To find out more about our services and for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us at (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.

Daily business management: think about outsourcing!

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If your company has to manage essential but time-consuming tasks in addition to its main business, ProContact offers to take care of them. Our permanent and flexible structure allows us to provide you with a wide range of services that have been designed so that you can carry out your B2B and B2C strategies efficiently.

With outsourcing, the recruitment of trained agents will save you time and costs, while sparing your teams the stress that some recurring but unavoidable actions can cause.

You will finally be able to focus on your core business and above all, use your human capital to its full potential, without parasitic tasks that can cause their concentration and motivation to waver.

How can outsourcing facilitate your business processes?

By taking the time to analyse the tasks performed internally, you will be able to determine which ones can be outsourced. For example, everything related to the financial aspect of your business should be handled internally.

In this sense, our offers, for example that of remote secretary, allow you to delegate the following tasks:

  • Calendar management;
  • Appointment confirmation;
  • Mailings;

What tasks can be outsourced?

As your business develops, you will have less and less time to take on certain specific tasks. Here is a list of actions that can be taken care of easily and quickly by ProContact:

  • Maintaining the customer database;
  • Commercial inquiries;
  • Tracking and relaunching of leads;
  • Social media strategy and management;
  • Calendar and email management;
  • Web Marketing;
  • Prospecting;
  • Loyalty;
  • Commercial and administrative management;

Maintaining your customer database

The customer database is undoubtedly the cornerstone of an excellent customer experience! To this end, your customer database should allow your company to manage its customer relations. Each piece of information must be up-to-date and accurate. The maintenance of this base can be taken over by a person external to the company.

For successful outsourcing of this task, first establish a framework for the management of the data in question. Write down 3-5 best practices and create a training document in which you describe how the data should be ordered and structured, indicating the most important information.

Commercial inquiries

Our agents are trained to respond to prospects who want to get information about your products and services. Thanks to the information you provide about the products and services in question, our agents will save you time in prequalifying prospects, allowing you time to focus on other core aspects of your business.

Also note that your remote secretary is a representative of your company, its values, so, by providing relevant answers to prospects, he/she will participate in building your brand image!

Tracking and relaunching of prospects

As the influx of prospects increases, the remote secretary can become an effective management tool. Your virtual assistant can track leads from the company’s database and make your approach more effective and proactive, allowing the company to appear more responsive to the needs of your customers.

Social media strategy and management

Social media management is an everyday job. It requires skills and compliance with constantly evolving standards, things that we master at ProContact’s Digital Department. Hiring an outsourced agent allows your company to be constantly present on social media.

For a successful outsourcing of these tasks, share your social media goals and provide all the necessary information for a successful mission.

Web agencies, e-commerce sites, digital marketers, start-ups, companies in digital transition, our offer is complete, personalised and on demand: pool your resources, organise your teams, plan your campaigns … and take advantage of our call centre to take care of your customer relationship service.

Calendar and email management

Remote secretary is a highly demanded outsourcing offer. Establish the parameters of your appointments and communications before outsourcing these tasks.

Contact us!

In a context of globalisation, post-pandemic, where every decision counts and where the loss of time can quickly become problematic, ProContact offers optimised solutions accompanied by innovative services that are customised according to the expectations of your company:

  • Outsourcing Services: prospecting, back office, customer relations, etc.
  • Digital Services: web and digital outsourcing
  • Business Solutions: seat leasing, etc.
  • Professional Services: business incorporation, accounting, etc.

By delegating the management of certain daily tasks of your company to ProContact, you also entrust us with your image. ProContact, as an experienced company, offers you quality and productivity at an optimised cost.

Adaptation and proactivity are the drivers that allow us to respond efficiently to customer needs for better loyalty, in compliance with the objectives set together and in order to reach and convert prospects with high potentials.

Outsourcing is our business! At ProContact, we closely accompany you in the inclusion of this solution in your business strategy. We offer you, without delay, an unprecedented reinvention of your way of working thanks to the arrival of resources located elsewhere, without wasting time, money and quality.

ProContact is more than a contact centre. Thanks to trained, qualified, handpicked, multilingual agents, we allow companies that choose us to gain credibility and above all to satisfy their customers regardless of the situation and in complete transparency.

Outsourcing has become a tangible and concrete business strategy for the development of a business. To find out more about our services and for a quality partnership, click on our contact form, send us an e-mail or call us on (+33) 1 77 75 04 50.