Delivering exemplary technical support is one of the best ways to forge outstanding customer experiences. These days, many people believe that the customer service they receive from your business is just as important as the quality of the products and services you sell. It’s so critical that 93% of customers will make a repeat purchase when a company offers excellent service.
Seeing as how the customer experience has become and is so vital to developing loyalty and trust, business owners are always looking for the best way to meet customers’ expectations and provide them with the service they deserve. Some hire an in-house team, while others have seen significant results by outsourcing technical support duties.
If you’re wondering, “What are the pros and cons of outsourcing tech support like?” and whether working with an outsourced team may be a solid option for your business, the following guide will give you all of the information you need to make the right decision for your brand.
What Is Outsourced Tech Support?
At its core, outsourced IT support involves partnering with a third party that provides technical support services to your customers on your behalf. The agents answering customer queries do not work directly for your brand. Instead, they work for the contact center you partner with.
When you outsource your tech support, you’ll be able to determine the scope of your program as well as the number and type of agents you need on your team. Many contact center service providers also allow you to provide your own training materials to ensure that all agents are on board with your brand’s policies, procedures, and expectations.
Why Is Tech Support Being Outsourced?
As of 2023, companies worldwide spend about $1.3 trillion on technical support outsourcing, and there’s a good reason for that. With both the cost of labor and job turnover rates at all-time highs, outsourced tech support offers business owners significant cost savings, flexibility, and access to in-demand technology, helping them meet their long-term business goals in a way that few other solutions can.
What Are the Benefits of Outsourced Tech Support?
Outsourcing IT support certainly has its upsides. The following sections will discuss four specific benefits that business owners often reap when they partner with a dedicated and experienced contact center service provider committed to providing top-notch customer support.
Reduced Costs
Outsourcing technical services support can help business owners rein in their budgets and significantly cut costs without sacrificing the quality of service. Hiring in-house employees can be expensive, costing anywhere from a few thousand dollars to four times their yearly salary, and replacing employees in a high-turnover environment results in an additional expense of 33% of the job’s salary.
These numbers don’t account for additional equipment, furniture, and real estate needed to accommodate an in-house support team, either, so as the costs continue to accumulate, it’s easy to see how outsourcing can save money. The costs associated with hiring efforts, developing your technological infrastructure, and maintaining an office space all become someone else’s responsibility. All you pay for is the service you receive, saving you thousands in other expenses.
Increased Flexibility
With an in-house team, balancing the number of employees with the changing needs of the business becomes extremely challenging. You don’t want to pay too many agents when the contact volume doesn’t support doing so, but you also want to ensure you have enough agents when business picks up again.
Instead of constantly hiring and laying off employees, it might be best to consider outsourcing to solve the issue. You’ll be able to adjust the number of agents on your team at any given time, ensuring you never pay for agents you don’t need or have fewer agents than you require while saving you money and helping your business create excellent customer experiences.
Narrowed Focus
When you outsource IT services to a third-party contact center, they become an aspect of your business that you no longer have to be concerned about. Instead of worrying about maintaining a full roster of technical support agents, you can now use your time and energy on other long-term goals.
You’ll have greater margins to go after new opportunities in the market, build brand awareness via social media, or even train your sales team to market to all those loyal customers you’ll have, thanks in part to the excellent outsourced service you provide.
In-Demand Features
IT support outsourcing gives your business access to in-demand technology that can help you improve the customer experience without investing from your own pockets. Some contact centers can offer omnichannel support via online chats, SMS messaging, or other preferred contact methods. In other cases, they may use self-service solutions like interactive voice response (IVR) and bot-driven virtual agent technologies. These features further enhance the customer’s service experience and perception of your brand.
Are There Drawbacks to Outsourcing Technical Support?
Now that you know what IT outsourcing is and how it can benefit your business, the question is no longer, “Can I outsource tech support?” With that said, you might still be hesitant as to whether you should outsource your support services.
Understanding the possible downsides of outsourcing can help you make an informed and accurate decision. With that said, here are three of the most common reasons why business owners waver when it comes to outsourcing:
Quality Control
When you outsource your IT support, you won’t have any control over which agents are hired for your team or the quality of service those agents provide. While you can certainly offer training materials, you’ll be leaving the quality implementation of that training up to the contact center, which can be daunting for many business owners.
Limited Expertise
Outsourced contact center agents won’t always have experience with your products, services, or even your industry. Consequently, they may sometimes have trouble resolving complex situations, causing you to rely on your in-house team to get involved in crafting a solution, which can take your focus off of other projects.
Delayed Feedback
Not having an in-house IT support team at all means your company won’t interact with customers directly, which means that any customer feedback you receive will be filtered through a third party. If their system for capturing feedback isn’t robust, you may miss some information that could be critical to improving the customer experience.
How Do I Outsource IT Support?
Knowing why you should outsource IT support is one thing, but knowing how to do so is equally essential. If you think you’re ready to start outsourcing, proceed with these best practices in mind:
- Ask whether training is tailored to your specific company policies and procedures
- Ensure the call center offers custom solutions for service models and call flow
- Track technical support KPIs such as average resolution times and CX scores
- Discuss reporting features and how often you will review results
- Ensure the contact center monitors its agents regularly for quality control
Engaging in these outsourcing best practices will not only ensure your business needs are met, but it will also benefit your customers as well.
Outsourced IT Support Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
Getting your technical support model right isn’t optional for businesses that want to thrive and grow. If you’re considering having your IT support outsourced to a third party, make sure to weigh both the pros and cons of doing so and evaluate each of your potential contact center partners thoroughly.
When you take the time to make thoughtful choices about your outsourcing, you’ll be able to reap the benefits of a simplified, cost-effective solution that can help you create the ultimate customer service experience for your loyal customers.