In the BPO industry, the front office refers to client-facing functions. They are the tasks that are related to customer interactions, such as inbound or outbound sales, help desk, customer service, and others. In most businesses, front service may include receptionists or the administrative assistants. Front offices are crucial to an organization because they can impact both income generation and business reputation.
Front office services can become overwhelming if your customer base starts to grow. When they feel overwhelmed, the productivity and efficiency of your in-house team can suffer. In this article, we look at the front office services you can outsource to a provider.
Why Should You Outsource Front Office Roles?
- Reduced In-House Expenses
- Improved Efficiency and Productivity
- Ability To Reallocate Time and Resources
- Streamlined Front Office Operations
Front Office Roles To Outsource
- Customer Service
- Help Desk Support
- Sales & Marketing
- Information Technology
- Billing & Collection
- Chat Support
- Order Management
Let’s get started.
Why Should You Outsource Front Office Roles?
Front office roles are very important in any business. They are the ones tasked to interact with customers regarding their concerns about a product or service they purchased. While you may want to keep these functions in-house, there are times when you need to offload some of them so as not to overwhelm your in-house team. Here are some reasons you should consider front-office outsourcing
- Reduced In-House Expenses
By outsourcing the front office services, you do not have to worry about various operational expenses such as rent, equipment, salaries, and others. The outsourcing provider will shoulder the cost of equipment utility bills, and salaries of employees. Outsourcing is like hiring someone who will do your accounting and IT functions but you get an entire team for the cost of a single employee.
Contractors do not need to work in an office space so you do not have to worry about paying for rentals or utilities. The contractor will pay for their Internet connection or utility bills. Also, you do not have to worry about their benefits because they will take care of their social security, health care, medical, and other benefits. Outsourcing saves you from these expenses so you can divert them to other areas of your business.
- Improved Efficiency and Productivity
Because most outsourcing companies own the equipment and personnel you will outsource, you can count on enhanced efficiency and productivity. Statistics have shown that businesses can achieve 50% savings by outsourcing. The provider can help you manage your agents more effectively. Also, the provider will provide more efficient but cost-effective alternatives to user support software, equipment, and infrastructure.
When outsourcing the front office, the provider will handle the requirements that you need for your office. They will ensure that your customers get adequate support as well. Working with an outsourcing provider will ensure efficient operation without compromising company procedures. The outsourced provider will help you broaden your offerings without sacrificing efficiency and productivity.
- Ability To Reallocate Time and Resources
Outsourcing allows you to focus your time and resources on your core business. You can set your sights on whatever you are good at. So whether it’s business development or sales, you should allocate more time and resources to your expertise. Outsourcing can help boost company performance by offloading time-consuming functions from their plate.
Outsourcing helps you weed out tasks that are not suited to your skills. Time spent on functions that do not play out well with your strength is only a waste of money and working time. Depending on your expertise, you would want to focus on your core functions. You can outsource the non-core functions to a third party who can handle them much better and in a shorter period of time.
- Streamlined Front Office Operations
Outsourcing can help streamline the work of your in-house front office team. They might be so preoccupied with tasks that they cannot perform additional tasks anymore. By outsourcing, you cannot delegate additional tasks to the provider so your in-house team does not have to worry about it anymore. The outsourcing provider can also streamline your process workflow so you do not waste time and effort.
The outsourcing provider can help your business scale quickly and efficiently. You can access an entire team that can handle the workload on demand. This way you are still assured of quality results and reach more customers without having to hire new employees. This will allow you to establish your web presence quickly.
Front Office Roles You Can Outsource
Outsourcing front office functions offer a wide range of benefits for businesses. The front office functions can be crucial in customer retention and income generation. For this reason, you need to make sure that these functions will not be interrupted. Let us take a look at some front office tasks you can outsource.
- Customer Service
Efficient customer service is key to the success of a business. Statistics show that 78% of customers disengage from a brand due to poor customer service. For this reason, it is important for your business to ensure the delivery of excellent customer service. But it can be difficult to achieve that goal if your customer service team is already overwhelmed with tasks. This is where outsourcing can help you become more efficient with customer service.
Customer service may seem easy to some people but it can be exhausting as you need to face different types and moods of customers. Unfortunately, it is part of your job and you need to address all of their concerns. Outsourcing your customer service means you get access to a highly specialized workforce. You get to work with people who are trained to handle different types of customers and know their way around customer moods.
- Help Desk Support
The help desk is an important function for every business. Issues come and go and they need to be resolved as they come up. Chances are your support agents may still be handling other issues that they cannot attend to the concern right away. Customers expect you to resolve their concerns as soon as possible. The more customer concerns to be addressed, the more overwhelming it can become.
Outsourcing help support can greatly reduce the cost of manual ticket management. Studies show that support ticket resolution can cost $22 per incident. By outsourcing help desk support, you get the additional manpower to resolve support tickets. By not having to worry about simple troubleshooting issues, your support team can be more predictive. As reported by HubSpot, 91% of employees reveal that a help desk can help improve their productivity.
- Sales & Marketing
The sales & marketing industry is a dynamic sector and it can be hard to keep up with the changes happening in the sector. Your sales & marketing team may no longer be able to catch up with the industry trends because they are already overloaded with too many tasks. Aside from that, sales & marketing involve other functions like lead generation, appointment setting, and closing deals. For this reason, your in-house team may need some help with these tasks.
Outsourcing sales & marketing gives you access to marketing experts who can give a helping hand to your in-house team on functions like lead generation, social media marketing, closing deals, and other tasks. They can ensure that other marketing tasks are not neglected and that all the bases are covered.
- Information Technology
Most businesses admit that hiring IT-related employees is one of their biggest challenges. Information technology demands careful attention. When there are too many IT-related concerns to oversee, it can become overwhelming for your internal IT team. You want to make sure that your network is secured, sensitive data are kept confidential, and other technology assets are not compromised. This is where outsourcing information technology can be of help to you.
More and more businesses are starting to realize the benefits of IT outsourcing. Statistics show that IT outsourcing is projected to reach $397.6 billion by 2025. Outsourcing IT provides you with the best support while saving you both time and money. They are well-versed with the latest trends
- Billing & Collection
Billing and collection entail time-consuming tasks like sending invoices, tracking payments, reviewing and preparing reports, and reconciling with the POS system. If they are handling several accounts, it can become overwhelming for your collection team. This may make them prone to committing errors that could be detrimental to your collection efforts.
Outsourcing your billing and collection tasks can help reduce collection time. The outsourced professional can help eliminate billing and collection errors. They can also help in the faster resolution of payment disputes. This will help ensure that all payables and receivables are addressed promptly.
- Chat Support
Customers demand a lot from customer service nowadays. When they ask for assistance, they demand it real-time. They expect your customer service team to respond to their queries as soon as possible. But this is not possible if your agents are still preoccupied with addressing other customer concerns. If you do not respond right away, this could hurt your brand reputation.
Outsourcing providers give you access to chat support agents trained to deal with different kinds of customers. With outsourcing, you can deliver 24×7 customer service. This way, you can be sure that no question will be left unanswered even during odd times. They are equipped with the right technology to effectively address customer concerns.
- Order Management
Effective order management is essential to ensure that the customer receives their order in a timely manner. Order management involves handling orders from receiving to delivery of the order. If not managed properly, your team can become overwhelmed with orders and struggle to determine the correct items and delivery dates. Delays in delivery can hurt customer satisfaction and your brand reputation.
By outsourcing order management, you can be sure that no order will slip by and that it gets to the customer in time giving them the peace of mind that their merchandise will reach them when needed. The provider will have the necessary technology to ensure that orders are properly tracked.
As much as possible, you would want to keep your front office tasks in-house. But there are times when it is not always possible. When your team is already overwhelmed with too many tasks, your best option is to offload some of the tasks and outsource them. This way they can focus on what they are good at.
Why Choose airisX As Your Outsourcing Provider?
airisX is your collaborative partner, not just a vendor of services. We offer transformational growth through our highly skilled architects and innovators. Our success is measured by your growth and not our revenue numbers alone. Learn about our proven track record.
By outsourcing to a leader like airisX, you will be able to scale up quickly by getting the right resources, processes and technological infrastructure. No matter what your scaling requirements are, airisX will give you the best-optimized solution and you will be able to focus on satisfying your customers. Your back office operations will be simplified, giving your users a high-quality experience. Get in touch with us and we will get back to you with a solution that is tailored to your needs.