Monday, November 17, 2008

Customer Service Outsourcing

Why customer service outsourcing can be the solution to your problems? The essence of good customer service is customer retention. Regardless of your industry, your customer care is of the utmost importance. More and more companies today are realizing that with growing competition, continuous technological innovations and constantly developing products and services, customers have numerous options to choose from. Thus is it essential to ensure that customer loyalty programs are a recognized and incorporated part of your business. Customer acquisition in naturally important but keeping the existing customers should be a long-term objective. Comprehensive customer relationship management in turn attracts new ones.

Outsourcing customer service can solve some of the problems you might currently be suffering from such as unresolved complaints, pricing issues, better offers from competitors, or simply not enough resources and time to handle each customer transaction with a personal touch. If customer service is not one of your core processes, and even if it is, you may lack the resources, expertise and finances to ensure excellent customer services. This is where customer service outsourcing steps in to the picture.

India is a very popular destination for customer service outsourcing due to several significant reasons. India is home to the largest English-speaking population in the world which is also largely computer literate. In higher wage countries the employees working for call centers often have a lower educational background, whereas in India the employees are college graduates with a good educational background. The telemarketing agents are trained professionals with effective presentation, sales and communication skills. This is ensured by continuous training and review systems. The reason many companies are outsourcing their customer service to offshore locations like India is the high quality of both the manpower and the work provided.

The most known benefit of customer service outsourcing is the low cost. Compared to western call centers, offshore customer service vendors can provide up to 50% in operational cost savings. Increased production is another important aspect. The geographical location of India for instance enables 24x7 operations. The time zone difference between the United States and India is give or take 12 hours. This means that a job submitted at 6 pm Pacific Standard Time (PST) reaches India 6 am and is completed by 6 am the following morning. Indian call centers also handle both outbound and inbound (B2B and B2C) calls day and night 365 days a year. In addition India has the required infrastructure, technology, and qualified work force to handle your telemarketing needs. Thus customer service outsourcing is not only a cost saving operation but also a value adding business decision.

Accounting Outsourcing Services

Many companies nowadays prefer to outsource their finance and accounting to offshore destinations. The basic reason for this is that, by outsourcing their accounting operations companies can receive huge cost savings and concentrate more on their core competencies. A company’s accounting and finance needs cannot be put on hold. From the beginning, errors made in this area can delay or prevent funding, damage important relationships, and even affect important decisions that are still several years ahead.

There are some noted advantages in accounting outsourcing. By accounting outsourcing companies can save a lot of money as they do not need to set up a separate accounting department. Also companies can save up on labor management costs including recruiting and training costs. Accounting outsourcing also allows companies to take advantage of ready trained professional labor. Last but not least companies have the opportunity to access up-to-date technology and improve their accounting management process

Thus it is not surprising that many companies are outsourcing their accounting operations and especially to offshore destinations. Some studies show that the global market for outsourcing finance and accounting operations is expected to grow at a 9.6% compounded annual growth rate and exceed $47.6 billion in 2008.

The different services provided by accounting outsourcing companies are designed to meet the accounting, tax, financial management and consulting needs of companies. Accounting outsourcing companies can perform your monthly, quarterly and annual accounting and bookkeeping tasks, or can supplement a company’s present staff to lessen the usage of administrative time. This enables a company to concentrate on its core competencies leaving the specialized support functions to professionals. The provided services include.
  • Internal audits
  • Financial statement preparation
  • General ledger maintenance
  • Monthly & year-end closing assistance
  • Payroll & sales tax return preparation
  • Account reconciliations
  • Controller & bookkeeper staffing
  • Payroll & accounts payable processing
  • Accounting systems design
  • Accounting staff training
  • Depreciation schedules
  • Accounting software assistance
Today, accounting outsourcing is actually recognized as an effective management tool. Companies are now incorporating outsourcing as a strategy in their business planning.