Attracted by the lower labour costs of an offshore service desk provider, some medium to large-scale companies typically may seek to move some ‘call centre’ type functions, such as customer service, technical support and order administration to service desk providers based abroad, or ‘offshore’. There is no one reason why a company should or should not do this, but there are serious considerations to be had, particularly when it comes to contemplating an offshore IT or technical service desk.
Is it cheaper?
An offshore provider will take care of the recruitment of service desk staff, their training and management, which will all save you time and money. What you need to be confident of, however, is that the standards are appropriate and that savings are not impacted by other costs that emerge as a result of poor provision.
Building maintenance and facilities requirements are things you are going to need to understand, within the cultural context of the country where the provider is based, so you can fully anticipate costs. But more than this, you’ll need to make sure that the indirect impact of offshore service provision doesn’t harm your business in other ways.
Brand and customer experience
Can your offshore provider deliver your brand experience to your customers? A useful thing you can do in considering an offshore (or onshore) service desk provider, is ask to see their portfolio of existing clients. Do any of their current clients have similarities to your organisation? Do you share their brand values? How are they known for treating their customers?
The warning is to not put cost-savings before your customers’ experience of your brand. It depends on the level of brand-loyalty you command, but if a customer, or employee, receives a bad experience, how long are they going to stick around? What do you think the impact will be if they can’t get through to the service desk and get the help they need?
Do you have a service or product that is particularly vulnerable to misunderstandings that might arise from cultural difference? Communication is vital to any service provision. For the type of provision you are looking for, will the level of communication be possible?
Practical service considerations
The bottom line is, will the provider be able to fulfil your service level requirements? How will staff be managed, and to what protocols? What will be the impact of the difference in cultural holidays and is there a fit with your service requirements? And, is the technical infrastructure in place for the technology to work and service your numbers. What arrangements are in place for onsite technical support should they need it?
A compromise
Outsourcing your service desk in order to save costs might be tempting, but another option might be to pursue outsourcing, but onshore. Many of the considerations above are mitigated entirely, but you still have an outsourced provider with staff who can work remotely, from anywhere, covering all necessary hours with ease and flexibility.
An outsourced option may still be a cheaper option for you than providing your own service desk, particularly if the provider can offer pay-as-you-go options and technology-enabled solutions for remote support. Above all else, you need to consider your service level to your customers, and how any move to any provider of service desk functions, either offshore or on, will either turn on, or turn off your valued customers.
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