There’s a misconception that your experience with customer service is more likely to be positive if you are dealing with a domestic customer service operation.

It’s a concern that has been raised by many Australians in the past, and it is one that is not isolated to the customer service industry.  Callers who are directed to an outsourced call centre operating in another country have lower expectations about the quality of the service they will receive.

The source of the agitation is not one of racism but is more to do with the degree of separation that lies between the caller and the personnel who are attempting to provide a solution. There’s a prevailing idea that a person thousands of miles away could not possibly care as much about solving a customer’s problem as someone who works locally.

However, in a digitally connected world, many companies are going to jump on board the outsourcing wagon because it’s how they will remain competitive in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

As Australian companies adopt outsourcing as a cost-saving measure, more organisations will be forced to take up the practice if they wish to remain viable.  Outsourcing will become commonplace, and Australians will learn to accept it as the standard way of doing business and grow to understand that they benefit from competitive pricing.

The growing popularity of call centre services outsourcing to the Philippines

Companies are always looking for ways to reduce costs. It was inevitable they would take advantage of a digitally connected world which made cheap communication possible on a global scale.

Adding to the advantages is the fact that labour costs for overseas workers are much lower than even the minimum wage for an Australian employee.

Further cost reductions are created because businesses are freed from the liabilities incurred by a local employee, such as sick pay, holiday pay, and superannuation contributions.

The infrastructure costs for providing customer service in-house are also substantial for Australian businesses. Buildings, technology, training, wages, ongoing maintenance, and regular updates all inflict a toll on the bottom line.

It makes sense from both a financial and logistical viewpoint to outsource the whole lot to an offshore company which can do it all at a significantly reduced cost.

However, it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. In the beginning, customer service costs were significantly reduced, but the Australian public quickly became disillusioned with the practice.

Heavily accented overseas workers were hard to understand, and call quality in the early days was far from consistent. Call waiting times also took their part in creating an unfavourable impression about call centre services outsourcing.

Of course, overseas outsourcing providers were quick to realize the value of foreign investment and rapidly innovated to improve their level of quality. Today’s offshore call centres are almost unrecognizable from those of just over a decade ago.

Technology has improved the quality of connections. Communication lines are crystal clear. Overseas staff also receive extensive training so that they can provide a professional level of service Australians can appreciate.

Call centre outsourcing – the logical choice for improving profit margins

Outsourcing to international call centres is an obvious choice for large Australian businesses to reduce costs and increase profit margins. While it may have gotten off to a rocky start, the trend for outsourcing remains upwardly mobile and shows no signs of slowing.

Asia-based providers are rising to the challenge and can provide high-quality, efficient call centre services at a substantially lower price point than could ever be achieved with a domestic operation. Piton-Global is a prime example of the service quality available to Australian companies. The company operates out of the Philippines, the world’s largest and leading contact centre outsourcing destination and sets a high bar for its competitors. The organisations commitment to quality is recognized by the many prestigious awards it has won over the years.

If Australian businesses are looking for cost-effective solutions to increase their level of competitiveness, then outsourcing their customer service operations to call centres in the Philippines presents many financial and logistical incentives.