If you have an offshore call center operation, but you feel something is not working as you expected, you should consider that having issues in performance, customer satisfaction, cost, communication, and synchronization could be signs that it's time to change your call center outsourcing strategy and a Nearshore call center solution can be this solution to your current call center problems. Let's take a closer look.

Signs That You Should Stop Offshoring Outsourcing:

• Performance is Below Average

• Increasing Complaints From Customers and Low Customer Satisfaction

• Getting High Indirect or Hidden Costs

• Communication Problems With the Team

• Lack of Synchronization

• Your Competitors are Nearshoring

Performance Is Below Average

Performance issues could be the number one reason why call centers stop their offshore operations and start looking for nearshore call center services. We are not saying that all offshore centers offer a bad quality service or cannot perform well. But, sometimes, the cheaper option is not the best option.

Offshore could be a good contact center solution if you need to handle simple processes, temporary projects or if it's not a sensitive part of your business. If you expect more from your call center operation because they interact with your customers, it's an essential part of your business, and you want to improve performance. In that case, you might feel offshore is bad for your needs, and you can start looking for a Nearshore Solution.

The proximity of a Nearshore location provides excellent English with minimal to no accent and cultural alignment that allows Nearshore call center agents to understand better the North American customer, thus providing superior customer experience and performance,

In the end, low performance could cost you more in the long run. Remember that a great nearshore partnership will not only perform as needed but it will also allow you to grow your business together.

Increasing Complaints From Customers And Low Customer Satisfaction

Some people may disagree with this, but even more important than performance, there is customer satisfaction. When there is no alignment, it is hard for call center agents to build rapport with your customers and offer a great experience. Plus, if the agents have a different accent, some customers might feel disappointed that they have to speak with someone on the other side of the world to help solve a problem they have in the U.S.

Training also plays a crucial role in outsourcing customer service. To offer a great customer experience, appropriate and continuous training should exist. Sometimes it's difficult and costly to keep your offshore team up to date in training and development, resulting in a bad customer experience due to a lack of knowledge.

If you are getting more and more complaints from your customers' calls, and they are not happy with the customer support your offshore center provides, consider a change to Nearshore. You'll find cultural and time zone alignment and ease of travel to your call center operation for training.
 

Getting High Indirect Or Hidden Costs

Sometimes, the cost of Offshore might not be as effective as you thought. If you want your team to perform well, you need regular visits to your center to know their needs, reinforce the right processes and make improvements. You should consider that traveling to a country like India or the Philippines could be pretty expensive and time-consuming.

Nowadays, you can implement the use of technology to reduce these costs. Still, the reality is that if you don't visit your center regularly, you can affect the engagement and motivation of the team with your company and miss some critical details of the performance that you will only notice firsthand.

There probably are also other hidden costs like turnover rate. The advantage of a low price in offshore contact centers is mainly because agents are paid much less than in the United States. If the team is underpaid and isn't correctly incentivized, it can hurt the turnover rate of these centers, costing you more than what you think.

You can also face other indirect costs, like import/export expenses. If you require to send things to your Offshore team to establish your contact center, consider these expenses. In the end, you need to do the math and compare the total cost of your operation with other outsourcing solutions.

Communication Problems With The Team

Communication issues can be due to cultural or language differences, late or lack of feedback, or your communication processes not being followed. First, as we mentioned before, cultural alignment is essential to build a good relationship, not only with your customers but with the whole team as well.

Cultural differences can be fruitful in some cases; you can learn a lot from other opinions and points of view. But sometimes, it can also affect communication, and misunderstandings could exist. Also, with language, there can be misinterpretations, or you could cause confusion when using slang, some idioms, or complex industry terms.

And finally, if your U.S. team is not getting timely feedback from your offshore contact center and vice versa, communication will be missing, generating new problems. This situation should not happen in a world-class company. Having many communication issues is a sign that something is not working well.

With Nearshore Outsourcing, you can still have cost savings while reducing communication problems since there is cultural alignment with the team. You will have a similar if not the same, time zone to communicate with your team in real-time, and again, you can do regular visits to your Nearshore center if something needs to be taken care of in person.

Lack Of Synchronization

When working with teams on the other side of the world, you face the problem of having very different time zones. Distance sometimes brings complications, and synchronization can be complex.

If you need to have a meeting with your offshore center, you need to find the best time to match your business hours, or in many cases, you or your offshore team need to work overtime or have night shifts.

Also, you need to consider this when you need a fast response. You may be working hard to solve a problem while the other team is at home sleeping with no clue of what is happening or vice versa, they might need something urgent from your inhouse team, and you are not available at that moment.

Even synchronizing processes and product updates is more difficult with an offshore team. Sometimes the U.S. team is using the new procedures when the offshore team is still using the old ones, which can damage your customer experience.

If you are having these types of synchronization problems, finding a team with a similar time zone might be best.

Your Competitors Are Nearshoring

Always be aware of your competition. If your competitors are moving from offshore to Nearshore, there must be a reason.

Your competitors may manage similar processes as you, and they might face the same challenges as you. If you see they are changing their operations from an offshore solution to a Nearshore, you might not be seeing something they do.

Do your research. Find out what, why, and how they are doing. Make a self-evaluation and compare. You should refrain from copying your competitor, but you can always learn from their practices.

If you are experiencing one or more of these offshore problems in your call center operation, we invite you to consider Nearshoring! Nearshore offers talented and culturally aligned agents and proximity that will provide you with better communication and synchronization with your team at globally competitive rates.

Many companies are looking at Nearshore Solutions like CCSI because of its great benefits. If you are interested in knowing more about Nearshore Call Center Service to expand your call center operation, contact us! We'll be happy to discuss your contact center needs.