The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
Anti-Outsourcing is Now Officially a Trend
Friday - March 03, 2006 04:55 PM in
There've been rumblings for about the past 18 months about a backlash to outsourcing customer service. Well, it's now officially a trend, with a CNN Monay/Business 2.0 article posted to the web recently.
Nothing in the article will come as much of a surprise to anyone watching the industry for the past several years: outsourcing customer service may be cheaper upfront, but there are hidden costs, and the level of service is often inferior to what employees provide. This isn't just the outsourcers' fault, it's inherent in the fact that training quality people is expensive, and that employees have a more direct stake in the quality of customer service.
But this sentence really caught my attention:
Meanwhile, the current enthusiasm for outsourcing call centers, IT support, and other "noncore" service functions isn't delighting anyone.
Whaaaa?
Since when is customer service a "noncore" function?
Companies with that attitude deserve every point of market share they lose.
Posted by Peter Leppik
But this sentence really caught my attention:
Meanwhile, the current enthusiasm for outsourcing call centers, IT support, and other "noncore" service functions isn't delighting anyone.
Whaaaa?
Since when is customer service a "noncore" function?
Companies with that attitude deserve every point of market share they lose.
Posted by Peter Leppik
Posted at 04:55 PM by | | | |