Call centre outsourcing in 2021

The coronavirus has impacted the economy of the UK, leaving businesses in a position of uncertainty for the foreseeable future.

One industry that has seen an increase in activity is call centres working to assist with customer service. With over 6,000 call centres in the UK, reportedly over 4% of the working population are employed in this industry, making it an invisible ‘frontline’ in the pandemic. In the 2021 climate of self-isolation, some call centre outsourcing providers have been inundated with an unexpected increase in the number of calls received.

In-house call centres have particularly felt the disruption, having to juggle their customer service among other priorities. By using call centre outsourcing, on the other hand, other companies have been able to adapt flexibly, continuing work through this pandemic in 2021.

Many companies find call centres to be an essential part of their business, assisting in the customer experience. Call centres that are outsourced have the ability to be flexible and adapt to this new working life to continue the work of customer support by moving their entire workforce resources online, accessible for those working at home. With the rules of social distancing and isolation, many call centres have used this opportunity to create new daily systems that allow calls and emails to be continued at home, outside the office. Unlike the expected work office filled with desks and phones, the effect of this coronavirus may change the way call centre outsourcing looks forever by transforming this to remote working. Efficiency is essential to continue the work of these outsourced call centres, and many UK businesses have been able to continue call centre outsourcing without consequences for the business due to this flexibility.

Companies that outsource work to call centres have been able to use this to their advantage during the pandemic. While in-house call centres have had to adjust to the new environment — juggling their business, including HR and balancing money, in response to high pressure from consumers — businesses that have used call centre outsourcing have continued to focus on their core competencies. In addition to lowering costs by up to 10–15% and no extra capital expenditure requirements, outsourced call centres focus solely on the quality of their calls and efficiency of their processes as well as systems.

Despite this amplified pressure, The Times reported that call centre outsourcing providers are likely to benefit from the impact with the permanent increase in demand to this industry. The coronavirus pandemic has benefited onshore and offshore call centre outsourcing providers. An increasing number of UK-based businesses have started to migrate their call centre requirements to leading outsourcing providers such as PITON-Global in Southeast Asia. By outsourcing their call centre requirements offshore, UK-based companies have been able to leverage additional cost savings of up to 40%.

Call centre outsourcing will continue to be efficient and essential for UK-based companies and award-winning providers such as PITON-Global will be ready to support their needs.