Flexible Staffing Model Improves Contact Center Outsourcing
If you’re a contact center leader, you wrestle with customer service challenges every day. High staff turnover, fluctuating call volumes and managing customer experience across phone, email, SMS and chat can leave you feeling frazzled. Don’t forget to keep your costs in check while you juggle it all. Sound familiar?
If you’ve outsourced or have considered outsourcing contact center services, this article is for you. If you’d like to outsource your contact center processes, but are afraid of being disappointed, keep reading.
Your reluctance is understandable. Outsourcing contact center services can be great. Without the right partner, though, it can mean high costs and headaches.
Staffing models matter. Not all contact center outsource providers are equal. That makes a difference in the value you get as a customer service outsourcing client. This article outlines the difference.
Why Some Contact Centers Don’t Outsource: Breaking Down Barriers
Customer experience leaders, we get it. Long before ContactGURU by IMS served as an outsource service provider for contact center clients, we were a customer service organization striving for the best-possible customer experience for all of Colony Brands’ businesses. We’ve wrestled with and solved challenges like the ones you face.
Today, our customer support teams handle 20 million customer contacts each year for our clients. As our business has grown, we’ve focused on building a best-in-class contact center.
We can appreciate why customer-focused contact center leaders are reluctant to outsource. The fear of losing control over crucial service aspects and of diminishing service quality can be formidable barriers. IMS views these concerns as challenges to be addressed. IMS has set a new standard in customer support outsourcer models—one that aligns with the expectations and needs of operations leaders.
At-Home, Part-Time Employee Staffing Means Value for Contact Center Clients
A key element that sets ContactGURU by IMS apart lies in our proven staffing model. For more than 25 years, long before work-at-home was in fashion, we’ve mastered the part-time, at-home flexible employee staffing model.
In the world of customer service outsource providers, full-time, on-site employees are the norm on one end of the spectrum. Using contractors or gig workers is on the other end. Part-time, at-home employee staffing, when executed well, beats them all.
Part-Time Staffing Model Delivers Flexibility
Contact center leaders outsource because they want flexibility without losing service quality. A part-time, at-home employee staffing model allows us to tap into a pool of highly skilled individuals who, for various reasons, seek a more flexible work arrangement. Since they’re employees, we have greater control over training and service quality.
At-Home Agent Staffing Means Happy Employees who Deliver Great Service
The at-home aspect of this staffing model is a game-changer. In an era where remote work has become the norm, ContactGURU was ahead of the curve, launching our at-home, part-time model more than 25 years ago. Decades of experience has proven that allowing agents to work from the comfort of their homes contributes to job satisfaction and enhances the overall work-life balance for the team.
Superior Customer Service Quality
Unlike gig workers or contractors who may lack commitment, IMS’ part-time agents are invested in the success of the company. This commitment results in a superior customer experience for our contact center clients. Agents consistently go above and beyond to meet customer needs. These engaged employees are empathetic problem solvers, for the sake of clients and the company who employs them. That’s not the case with gig workers.
Commitment to Employee Satisfaction
ContactGURU by IMS understands that happy employees lead to satisfied customers. By prioritizing job satisfaction through flexible hours and remote work options, ContactGURU ensures that agents are committed to their roles. This commitment translates directly into the quality of service provided to customers.
Traditional outsourcing models that rely on gig workers or contractors often struggle with compromised service quality and astronomically high turnover rates. The gig economy, while offering flexibility, comes at the cost of commitment and consistency. ContactGURU understands the inherent challenges of these models and, in response, has taken a different path. These employee satisfaction scores tell the story.
These customer satisfaction numbers show just how attractive the part-time, at-home employee agent model is, not only for clients but for call center representatives as well.
ContactGURU’s model isn’t just a theoretical concept—it’s a proven success story. By offering part-time positions with the flexibility of working from home, ContactGURU has successfully attracted, trained and retained a dedicated workforce. As a result, we enjoy a significant reduction in turnover, with a retention rate that’s four times better than other outsourcers.
Our Background: A Customer Service Operation First
Before becoming the go-to contact service outsource solution for our clients, ContactGURU provided customer service for Colony Brands, a leader in the catalog industry. This meant facing challenges head-on, not as an outsider looking in but as an integral part of the operational machinery. ContactGURU by IMS was the beating heart of customer service. This shaped our understanding of the industry and spurred us to innovate and build a better model.
As an operations leader, you owe it to yourself to explore outsource solutions that address your challenges and provide tangible, effective ways to improve your customer experience with fewer headaches and lower costs.
Book a Call to learn more about ContactGURU by IMS. We’ll ask questions about your needs, deliver a pricing proposal and give you what you need to decide whether we’re the right partner for your journey towards operational excellence.