All About Call Center BPO

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You may have come across the term “BPO call center” in the past, but perhaps you are unsure of what it means. In short, the BPO abbreviation in a call center is short for business process outsourcing. As the name suggests, these call center BPO companies take care of customer service for other businesses.
In this article, we’ll talk a little bit further about BPO call center companies, including what they are, how they work, and the pros and cons of outsourcing customer service.

What Is a BPO Call Center?

Before proceeding further, we’ll first explain what the term BPO call center means in greater detail. Business process outsourcing centers work with other businesses that are looking to outsource both inbound and outbound customer phone calls. These centers’ services are most frequently called upon by small businesses that lack the necessary resources to deal with high volumes of calls.

A BPO center usually represents multiple clients at once. Their center agents are highly skilled customer service workers who act as faithful representatives for their clients’ companies

How Do BPO Services Work?

Now that we’ve explained what a BPO call center is, we’ll explain how these businesses operate.

If a company finds they require additional help handling customer service, the owner will seek out a BPO call center to take care of it on the company’s behalf. The owner might search for such centers online or look through a directory for centers that meet their needs.

Once the company in question has identified its outsourcing needs and found an appropriate center, the BPO service will be brought on board to handle its customer service.

Different Kinds of Call Center Outsourcing

Having discussed the meaning of BPO in call center work and how they operate, let’s examine the different types of customer service outsourcers might have to take care of. These fall into three groups: outbound, inbound, and hybrid business process outsourcing centers.

Outsourcing for Inbound Call Centers

Inbound call centers deal with incoming calls from customers. Such call centers handle customer queries and answer technical questions for customers. BPO call center agents that provide inbound call center services must therefore thoroughly acquaint themselves with the client’s products and services to ensure they provide excellent customer support.

Below, we’ve explained some of the most frequently received kinds of inbound calls and have described how agents working at BPO call centers handle them.

Customer support

Businesses that sell complicated products regularly receive a high volume of technical support calls. For example, software companies may receive calls asking for help with installation or troubleshooting. These businesses usually give their BPO provider plenty of informational resources that allow them to provide each customer with the personalized help they need.
BPOs and in-house call centers alike benefit from call center software when dealing with customer service issues. For example, call forwarding features, such as those offered through Selmo, ensure that customers are routed to the appropriate department—meaning they can get the advice they need immediately.

Order processing

These days, people tend to place orders online rather than over the phone. Nonetheless, some people out there still prefer the latter option. BPO call centers can take care of order processing from beginning to end, and they can even take care of delivery. With such monotonous, time-wasting tasks taken care of, their clients can spend their time more productively.

Dispatch calls

BPO centers also manage customer calls inquiring about a particular service. A good example of a business type that takes dispatch calls is a taxi service. After receiving a dispatch call from a customer looking to book a taxi, the agent will then direct one of the company’s drivers to handle the request.
This is another instance in which Selmo’s call-forwarding features can come in handy. With nothing more than a couple clicks of a button, call center agents can provide clients with services instantaneously, resulting in shorter wait times and an enhanced customer experience.

Outsourcing for Outbound Call Centers

As the name suggests, outbound call centers place outgoing calls to customers. These call centers often are used for cold calling, telemarketing, and surveying.
Outbound call services are typically outsourced because of how time-consuming they can be. By letting BPO centers deal with these more tedious tasks, businesses free up time to deal with more important business.

Cold calling

While it may not have the best reputation, cold calling can be a useful tool in a call center’s arsenal—providing its agents have the expertise necessary to pull it off. Agents who specialize in cold calling have developed the necessary skills to win over any customer.

Maximizing the number of calls taken during the workday can often help boost cold call success rates. That’s why both BPO and in-house centers alike use software like ours. Selmo’s predictive dialer helps boost call center agents’ productivity.

Telesales

Telesales is similar to cold calling in many respects. The main difference is that telesales focuses on promising leads rather than calling people indiscriminately. Many small businesses outsource telesales services to larger centers, allowing them to reach out to more leads in less time.

Market research

Many companies conduct market research in order to find out more about their target customer base. Usually, these surveys follow a script, meaning that it’s easy for businesses to outsource such work to BPO centers.

What’s more, using call center software like Selmo’s makes setting scripts super easy. With our platform, you can even create different scripts for different situations.

Outsourcing for Hybrid Call Centers

Hybrid call centers handle both inbound and outbound calls. As such, they require customer service agents with a wide variety of skills and knowledge to be effective. Many businesses choose to outsource hybrid services, meaning that they don’t have to worry about handling customer calls at all.

Take your call center to the next level with the Selmo call automation software

Advantages and Disadvantages of BPO Call Centers

Now that we’ve thoroughly established what BPO in a call center is, you may be wondering what advantages BPO centers offer that make them so appealing to businesses. Likewise, you may wonder if there are any downsides to outsourcing your customer service to a BPO team.
In this section, we break down a few of the main pros and cons of outsourcing customer service to BPO call centers.

Pro: Reduced Costs
One of the biggest draws of hiring a BPO center is that it can be significantly cheaper than setting up and running your own customer service department. When running a business, there are tons of expenses you have to consider. Being able to cut down on customer service costs alone makes a huge difference.
Con: Potential Communication Issues
If you decide to outsource customer service to a business process outsourcing center in a foreign country, there could be a language barrier between the agents and callers. However, you can minimize the risk of this happening by carefully examining reviews before hiring a particular service. Using scripts can also help agents communicate clearly with customers.

Pro: Save Time on Recruiting and Running a Call Center
Setting up and maintaining a customer service call center doesn’t just require a large monetary investment but also a huge investment of your time. Outsourcing this work allows you to spend your time on more important issues, like designing new products and putting together advertising campaigns.
Con: BPO Agents May Not Be Up to Date
One of the biggest drawbacks to using a BPO center for customer service is that its agents are not from your company. This means they don’t have as much knowledge about your products as one of your own employees. That being said, this is something companies can mitigate by providing agents with detailed resources.

Pro: Easily Expand Across International Borders
Companies can hire BPO centers in other countries. This makes it easier to establish an international presence. For businesses looking to expand, BPO call centers can thus be very useful.
Con: Potential Data Risks
When a company outsources customer service work, the BPO provider will be given sensitive customer information, including their names and contact details. Because of this, it’s essential that business owners carefully review the center’s protocols and data security certifications before hiring them.

What Is the Difference Between BPO and Call Centers?

While the terms BPO and call center are often used interchangeably, there is a key difference between the two. Where call centers only handle telephone calls, BPO providers offer a broader range of services. They take care not only of customer calls but also of back-office tasks. This might include customer support, HR activities, accounting, and data entry.

Final Thoughts

This article has explained all you need to know about business process outsourcing centers—everything from what BPO stands for in “call center BPO” to the ins and outs of their multiple uses and pros and cons.

Whether you’re a small business owner or considering starting up your own call center, BPO centers are a massive part of the customer service industry. We hope this article has helped you feel more informed on the matter.

To find out more about how Selmo can assist both in-house and business process outsourcing centers, reach out today for a free consultation.