Can call centers partner to eliminate Outsourcing?

[ctaylor]

This has been a question I have encountered many times over the past 25 years. It seems to make so much sense find a call center with counter-cyclical volumes and seasonality to your own and swap or share staff. The article in the Wall Street Journal on Monday April 10th, cites the example of 1-800 Flowers and Choice Hotels who have done just that. I suspect there will be many more centers experiencing volume surges in Q4 than any other quarter, but I'm sure there are some who have peaks elsewhere throughout the year. This discussion may help some organizations find suitable partners

So I wanted to find out what everyone else thinks about...don't be shy.
Is this a viable idea?
What are the risks (training, security of data, etc.)?
When are your centers peak volumes?
Who would be your ideal partner?


Colin Taylor
ctaylor@thetaylorreachgroup.com
www.thetaylorreachgroup.com

[ctaylor]

Since I created this post and have spoken to a few people I have a couple more examples of shared partnership where company's are effectively 'sharing' staff.
One example is a federal bank handling bond purchase and redemption and the second a catalogue company that has huge Q4 spike (they hire 800 seasonal agents) who has partnered with a lawn care and equipment company whose business really runs from January to Sept.

I am running a poll on my website ( www.thetaylorreachgroup.com ) and here are the (unscientific) results to date. We asked which quarter you receive at least 35% of your calls.
Poll Results
Q1: 0%
Q2: 8%
Q3: 17%
Q4: 67%
No Seasonality: 8%

Colin Taylor

[mmmedina]

Seeking companies with counter-cyclical volume is indeed a viable option. We have explored this option very lightly.

Your right some of the risks are; the agent type (employee, independent contractor, etc.), the applications used (web, desktop), IT support, most definitely the security of data, and the number one issue is quality of support.

Our peaks are in Q1 and part of Q2, where we will ramp up to over 1000 agents. When you talk about outsourcing, I think that’s been one of the benefits for the outsourcers themselves, is that they can swap their internal resources between quarters.

With gas prices rising and state credits for at-home-agents, here in America we should start looking harder at home sourcing.

[ryan.gillespie]

Hi all,

Please could you all help me out a little by telling a little about the key problems you all encounter with your current sysyems and problems you wish to address or improve in the future,

Much appreciated.



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ryan.gillespie@corebridge.com

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