Businesses looking for cost-efficient voice service solutions rely on call centers in the Philippines to answer their customer support needs. Although outsourcing in this Asian nation is not as expensive as hiring an in-house team, some businesses opt to hire freelance agents instead of partnering with a call center, mainly for lack of financial resources.
These companies are usually the small businesses or growing ones that view big outsourced service packages as impractical for their small market or minimal business needs.
That route seems feasible, but are freelancers dependable enough to handle your processes and transactions, given the fact that they are usually contracted as casual workers? Conversely, is it a right call for businesses to outsource if they only need a portion of the comprehensive customer service solution that massive call center firms offer? Let’s find out by faring freelance agents against call centers in the Philippines in terms of reliability, management, skills, and expenses.
Equipment reliability
Home-based agents are required to have an Internet connection aside from the improvised call center setup, which normally composes of a computer and a Skype Business account in lieu of a switchboard. There are quick manuals online for setting up a home-based call center, but they don t completely assure reliability. In this setting, you are never sure if your agent’s computer is solely dedicated for call center work.
Call center firms, on the other hand, have state-of-the-art communications technologies that are regularly updated, backed up, and maintained by a dedicated IT team to ensure unhampered voice-based operations. They also put various security solutions in place on each call center workstation’s computer and on the local network. These keep the clients’ sensitive data safe from any form of intrusion.
Employee management
Home-based freelance answering services let one representative handle work from multiple employers. Its other form, the virtual call center, works the other way: you hire different agents working in different locations. Distributed work settings such as these may make it hard for you to oversee your outsourced staff, a pitfall that call centers in the Philippines try to avoid.
In outsourcing firms, on the other hand, agents are assigned to one specific account and work as a team that is led by a designated leader. Calls are incessantly monitored while trainings, workshops, and leadership seminars are held on a regular basis not just to keep goals and metrics fresh in every agent’s mind but also to uphold a sense of teamwork in them.
Expenses
When you hire a freelancer, most of your expenses would go to the person’s service. When you outsource to a call center firm, you also help pay for your vendor’s office space apart from the staff’s monthly compensation and benefits.
Although the costs of call center outsourcing seem steeper by comparison, they are actually reasonable, considering the service quality and partnership longevity you can get.
A good compensation and benefits package is the greatest reason call center employees stay with their organization. Looking after their welfare not only motivates your workers to perform their best but also saves you from additional expenses brought by frequent employee turnover.
Conclusion
Freelancing may offer your staff flexibility, but it may come at the expense of managerial control. Outsourcing to call centers in the Philippines will give you a wide range of benefits, but they may be unnecessary or too much for your small company to handle. In the end, your decision to hire a freelance agent or partner with an outsourcing firm depends on the scale of your business and the gravity of your needs.
