You won’t get many arguments from business professionals about how important the customer experience is to a company’s viability. Annoy enough customers with terrible service, and it won’t be long before the lines go quiet. However, keeping the lines open beyond regular business hours can be financially challenging for all but the largest corporations.
Contact centre outsourcing to the Philippines has become increasingly popular as a way for Australian businesses to provide 24/7 support while keeping costs under control. The affordability of contact centre services in the Philippines means that more Australian companies can triumph over the competition by offering world-class customer service.
“Advances in technology, most notably smartphones, has created a culture that is used to instant gratification. When a customer wants to know something, they expect to have the answer delivered almost instantly,” says Ralf Ellspermann, CEO of PITON-Global, a leading mid-sized contact centre outsourcing provider in the Philippines.
A population of smartphone users able to access information with just a few taps of a screen now expects a business to be just as accessible around-the-clock. “If you cannot accommodate your customers’ needs, their usual response is finding a company that will. Most often, it’s your competition that benefits from your failure to live up to your customers’ high standards,” says Ellspermann.
“Excellent communication is a gold standard for many people, and the modern business needs to be accessible through a range of technologies. However, picking up the phone and talking to a company representative is still held in high regard by a significant portion of your customer base.
Other communications channels that will keep your sales and support staff busy include emails, social media, and web chats. The pressure is growing to ensure that all these channels are monitored 24/7 to ensure customers receive prompt replies,” he adds.
Maintaining a multitude of communication lines is a significant investment for even the largest organisations, and meeting the growing demand has become a logistical challenge and a huge drain on resources.
Fortunately, there is a lifeline in the form of contact centres in the Philippines. Over the last couple of decades, the Philippines has developed a robust economy and a technological infrastructure that is more than capable of handling the demands of a customer base that is always connected.
Australian companies can benefit from call centre outsourcing to the Philippines. Operating a 24/7 call centre on Australian shores is cost-prohibitive. Not only are Australian wages more 70% higher than the minimum wage in the Philippines, but a 24/7 service also comes with penalty and weekend rates that make it all but impossible to operate around the clock.
There are no such issues in this small island nation, and when you partner with the right contact centre in the Philippines, you gain access to an affordable service that allows you to cater to the demands of your customers. Whether its 11 PM on a Saturday or 6 AM on a Tuesday, your customers will appreciate the ability to communicate with a real person, rather than a chatbot.
However, there are many more reasons to partner with contact centres in the Philippines. They are affordable, but, unlike other BPO destinations, the Philippines has several things going for it that make it the number one choice.
The Philippines has spent the last two decades developing its outsourcing capabilities. When you partner with a leading contact centre outsourcing provider in the Philippines, you instantly gain access to decades of customer support experience. Philippine contact centre managers are highly trained professionals who know what it takes to keep your clients happy.
Further to this, many have gained skills and qualifications in particular industries and sectors that make them even more suited to delivering exceptional service as your company representative.
BPOs in the Philippines are data-driven and capture vast amounts of data to improve their services. Your company can then use data analytics to observe customer behaviours and reveal trends. You will learn what your busiest days, months, or seasons are.
This information is invaluable to ensuring your inventory can handle the demand at any time of the year, as well as streamlining your business, so it operates at peak efficiency during your slowest periods.
In short, the data collected by contact centres in the Philippines allows your company to proactively react to market forces, rather than always be slightly behind the curve. You will also always know how many staff to have on hand to handle the demand.
Many of your customers are wary of outsourced call centres because the person they are speaking to often has limited English skills and the call is low quality. You don’t have these issues with call centres in the Philippines, because they are staffed by young professionals who speak fluent English and are familiar with western culture.
The Philippines is home to a wide range of contact centre outsourcing providers, and not all of them have the capabilities you need to support your exceptional service record. However, when you partner with PITON-Global, you can be sure that you will only be dealing with the best in talent that the Philippines has to offer.