Businesses often prefer to outsource or nearshore their call center operations to avoid making high capital expenditures and incurring heavy fixed costs associated with leasing new facilities, purchasing equipment, and hiring teams.
In this guide, you will learn about call center pricing and outsourcing costs and how nearshoring can provide the “best of both worlds” with respect to the quality of service and decreased operational expenses.
Hourly Costs
This is the primary call center cost and can range from $10 to $50 per hour. The amount depends on where the service provider is based, the skill level of its staff, and the complexity of the tasks.
Outsourcing or nearshoring services in countries with lower labor costs will tend to be toward the lower end of this cost spectrum, while North America will tend toward the higher end.
Initial Setup and Training
Some providers charge for setting up your call center. This covers hardware and software systems setup, staff training, and integration with your existing operations.
In certain sectors, it’s essential that your call center staff have specialist knowledge. If this is the case, you’ll need to factor in the cost of training.
Other sources of upfront costs include things like software licenses and legal services if you choose to use a BPO call center in a different jurisdiction than that of your corporation.
Staffing Levels and Availability
Other factors to consider include the designated availability of your outsourced call center. Requiring 24/7 staffing requires additional incentive pay for staff and additional management costs for operating around the clock.
Additionally, if your business needs to scale its staffing levels based on increased demand or customer contacts, your outsource call center pricing could fluctuate as the call center restaffs to accommodate your firm’s new needs.
Transportation
If your management team opts to visit the call center in-person, location can make a big difference. For offshore services in remote locales like India, flights can be expensive, especially if your firm’s headquarters are not located near major international airports.
On the other hand, nearshore call centers can make it easier for management teams to fly in to visit. By setting up shop in an adjacent country, your firm can enjoy the benefits of lower labor costs while still maintaining a strong sense of what’s happening from an “on-the-ground” perspective.
Predictability With a Fixed Rate Cost Model
One way to increase the predictability of your outsourced call center expenditures revolves around a concept known as “fixed-rate pricing.” As one of the more common call center pricing models, this approach usually involves the establishment of a fixed rate per head.
Factors influencing this fixed rate can include:
- Weekly scheduling requirements
- Availability over a 24-hour period
- Lingual capabilities, including bilingual (English / Spanish) and multi-lingual needs
- Team size
- Communication channels required, including voice, email, and chat
- Types of activities the contact center manages, such as customer service, sales, and lead generation
This cost calculator can help you better estimate the exact fixed rate you might expect to pay based on these variables.
Negotiation Tips
Actual outsourcing costs can vary greatly. The BPO call center service provider you choose, the region its based in, the complexity of tasks, and the required expertise level can all affect costs. Before you sign anything, make sure you get a detailed breakdown of costs and negotiate the terms.
Other terms to watch out for when negotiating an agreement include:
- If you decide to terminate your contract early, you may be charged a fee. Always check your contract for any such clauses.
- Costs might accrue to ensure the quality of the services provided by the outsourced call center. Regular audits, mystery shopping, or analysis of customer satisfaction metrics might be used for this purpose.
- Ensure that you have staff with experience in outsourcing or nearshoring to avoid working with unscrupulous providers.
Nearshore Your Call Center and Enjoy CapEx Savings
By carefully considering these factors and leveraging nearshore options, businesses can achieve the “best of both worlds” with high-quality service and decreased operational costs.
Confie BPO helps businesses like yours achieve call center outsourcing success. With a state-of-the-art facility in Tijuana, Mexico, Confie BPO can help you radically scale your contact center operations. To get started, contact us by email at contact@confieBPO.com, over the phone at 800-684-2276 or online.
