Two people sitting in front of an office computer while discussing the benefits of outsourced customer service call centers.

How much does an Outsourced Customer Service Call Center Cost?

It does not matter what industry you’re in; quality customer service is a part of the job. For small businesses, this may look like the front desk employee answering the phone. For larger companies, quality customer service might mean creating an entire customer service department. If you are a business or organization looking to grow, organize, and perfect your customer service, you may wonder whether you need to expand your in-house efforts or find an expert to handle it. Call center outsourcing is the way to go; keep reading to discover why and how RDI can help your organization’s customer service experience.

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Common Challenges of In-House Call Centers:

Managing an in-house customer service department can be challenging. From costs to facility management, it can be more of a headache than it’s worth. Some of the most common challenges of in-house call center services include: 

  • Supervision: Managing an in-house customer service team means more responsibility. Your organization is responsible for monitoring and supervising the process to ensure each customer is being offered the service they deserve. Keeping a close eye on operations and supervising each step of the process means more work on your end.
  • Call Center Shrinkage: This industry term refers to the number of customer service agents or call center representatives actively serving customers over the number of agents unavailable to do so. In other words, call center shrinkage is calculated by subtracting the time CCRs actively are working with customers from the time you pay them to do so. Oftentimes leadership will see that the gap between those numbers is too large within in-house operations. 
  • Utilization vs Occupancy: Those who manage in-house centers will notice that there are many ways to calculate productivity. Time utilization in the CR setting refers to total work time. It breaks down an employee’s day into segments such as % of time active on the phone, % of the time on hold, and so forth. Occupancy refers specifically to the % of an employee’s day spent actively helping customers. Finding the balance in these numbers to achieve optimal outcomes can be a huge challenge for those who are not experts in the field. 
  • Training/QA: Customer service representative employee turnaround is often high. This means having to rehire to fill positions, train individuals for those jobs, and track each employee using quality assurance measures. This is a huge burden of resources that you could be handing off to expert CCRs.
  • Facilities Management: Not only are you in charge of supervising employees, but someone has to manage the entire facility. This means creating a safe, clean, functional work environment with maintenance staff, administrators, and more. 
  • Call Center Costs: Let’s not forget the costs. Running an in-house center may be more financial strain than it’s worth. 

How Much Overhead Cost Goes into Operating an In-House Call Center?

  • The Equipment it Takes to Do the Job: From phones to computers, monitors, headsets, software and so much more, you have to equip the facility and every employee with the tools they need to do their job well. This means updated technology that needs to be maintained and replaced over time. 
  • The Location for Your Center: All of this hard work has to be completed somewhere. Your inbound call center or outbound call center will need a location that is functional for that purpose, even if you take a remote workforce route. This means purchasing or leasing a building or floor that can fit your team while still leaving room to grow. 
  • Contact/Call Center Representative (CCR) Wages: Salaries or wages for each employee add up quickly.
  • The Cost of Training Employees: With a high employee turnaround industry average, the cost to train becomes an expensive recurring cost. 

These challenges are tough to face. Any organization that wishes to avoid the headache of customer service centers should consider researching outsourced call center companies. 

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What Does it Mean to Outsource a Call Center?

By choosing to outsource, your business can hand over the burden of customer service departments and centers to experts who know exactly what they’re doing. Industry professionals who have mastered what it means to offer top-of-the-line service to customers across multiple industries take on the responsibility of helping and serving your customers. 

Why Outsource Your Call Center?

Business costs can add up quickly – at RDI, we work to ensure a fair and economic partnership between RDI, your business, and your customers. Business process outsourcing services, such as call center services, allow you and your teams more time and energy to dedicate to your business’s core competencies. We become brand ambassadors for your customers so you can dive deeper into what makes your company unique. 

Benefits of Outsourcing Customer Service:

Whether your organization is looking to expand your current center resources, or you’re ready to start from the beginning, RDI is able to support you in more ways than just answering calls. Our teams can provide you with the following:

  • Project Management Support – creating, establishing, and implementing the infrastructure required to support an efficient and scalable call center team. RDI provides the human and technological resources needed to easily transition and exceptional provide service to your customers. 
  • Technology – offering best-in-class call center technology, reporting, and data analytics to create a seamless, omni-channel customer experience.
  • Recruitment – sourcing, screening, hiring, and onboarding top-tier employees who meet and exceed your specific role qualifications.
  • Development – implementing your current training materials or creating the materials necessary to become experts in your business processes, customer experience, and sales strategies.
  • Workforce Management – forecasting call center volumes and staffing appropriately to ensure balance in resource utilization.
  • Quality Assurance – monitoring and ensuring the best customer experience possible with results-driven coaching and development; speech analytics and AI, and so much more. 
  • Operations – 24/7/365 experts in execution who are trained to provide your customers with excellent experiences, increased customer satisfaction, and help to further grow your business. 

When you partner with RDI, our call center services can help boost productivity while also saving on costs. In fact, the cost of outsourced customer service and sales call centers is comparable, and oftentimes a more effective strategy when compared to managing these processes in-house.

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The Value of Management Support:

With the support of experts, your team can focus on more critical, business-related responsibilities without the stress of providing customer support. Peace of mind is achieved when seasoned CR professionals work with your customer base to provide them with the best service each and every day. 

What Call Center Outsourcing Costs Should You Consider?

We understand that the bottom-line decision often comes down to the dollar, and we are here to help. RDI has over four decades of call center experience and can help you understand the total costs of your internal call center, including potential expenses you may not have considered.  

Outsourced call center pricing can be a remarkably cost-effective solution while maintaining quality customer experiences. Internal center expenses can quickly add up once you factor in other incremental costs such as:

  • Benefits
  • Supervision
  • Shrinkage
  • Utilization
  • Training/QA
  • Attrition
  • Facilities
  • Overhead
  • Technology
  • Compliance
  • Certifications

Interested in better understanding your internal call center pricing? With over 40 years of industry expertise, RDI can provide an estimate of your call center’s fully loaded cost of ownership. Using your agent’s average pay rate as the base cost, RDI can quickly calculate the estimated incremental costs to illustrate a total cost of ownership through our free cost assessment. Let us assist you in making more informed and educated decisions by learning about the total expenditures associated with internal ownership of your business’s call center services and how those compare with the costs of an outsourced customer service call center.

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Creative and Cost-Effective Call Center Solutions

RDI’s inbound and outbound outsourced call center models provide solutions for all company sizes and needs including:

  • Shared Call Center Agents. Call center outsourcing is beneficial for organizations managing a lower call-volume or need by providing trained representatives to accommodate shifting influxes.
  • Dedicated Agents. Outsourced call center agents and technical support services can be trained and dedicated to represent only your business’s customers and services. 
  • Blended/Hybrid Teams. The best of both worlds! A core group of dedicated call center agents handle the majority of call volume as subject matter experts, with lower complexity issues routed to a shared agent team to maintain service levels during spikes in call volume.  

Outsourcing Call Center Services with RDI Connect

Outsourcing your call center services with RDI can save you many headaches. Forget dealing with taxes, HR paperwork, payroll, vacation days, technology updates, and any other unexpected factors that affect your company’s bottom line – stick to what makes you passionate about your business and grow your company how you choose. 

The main differentiating factor between RDI and other outsourced call center services is our dedication to understanding your business needs, our solutions-driven approach, and our expertise of exceptional customer service from start to finish provided by our skilled, tenured professionals. Let our team of experts become your company’s call center solution.

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FAQ:

How much does it cost to outsource a call center? 

Outsourced call center pricing can be a remarkably cost-effective solution while maintaining quality customer experiences. The cost of outsourcing call center customer service varies depending on the size of an organization and industry, but it can be a more cost-effective alternative to in-house call center services. 

How much overhead cost goes into operating an in-house call center?

When factoring in the equipment, the location, wages, staffing and attrition, equipment, and certifications needed to efficiently run an in-house call customer, the costs can quickly add up. RDI’s expertise and established processes can help to decrease these costs to your organization. 

What services are provided by outsourced call centers like RDI?

RDI is more than just a call center, we partner with your organization to provide project management support, technology, staffing, workforce management, QA, and so much more.