Choosing the right call center

Type: White Paper

In today’s changing global economy, offshore call center outsourcing has become a sensible strategy for many customer service companies in the United States. However, when deciding on an offshore partner, firms are caught in a balancing act. On one side, managers are feeling pressure to improve their customer service, but on the other, they are under pressure by senior executives and shareholders to reduce costs. Companies are attempting to meet both objectives when deciding on their offshore partners. When making the outsourcing decision, managers must first determine their decision criteria and balance cost against other priority objectives.

Although less expensive outsourcing countries like India, Malaysia, and the Philippines are dominating the headlines, Datamonitor, a market analyst company, reports that many U.S. call centers are not moving overseas, but “nearshore,” just north of the border, to Canada. Peter Ryan, a Datamonitor call center analyst, states, “We expect the Canadian call center growth to be swift. It will be driven to a very large extent by United States companies, because of low cost, accessibility, stability, common culture, and infrastructure in Canada” (Myron, 2003).

A 2003 Datamonitor report entitled “Profiting From Canadian Call Center Outsourcing: Lowering Risk and Maximizing Savings”, predicts the number of outsourced call centers in Canada will rise from 450 in 2002 to 600 by 2007, a 33% increase. Accordingly, agent positions are to rise by 52 percent in the same period (Read, 2003). Given this forecasted growth, it is no wonder why many U.S. companies are choosing Canada as their cost-effective and high-quality outsourcing partner.