A firm that appears easygoing and well-organized from the outside actually consists of several complex procedures. Such huge infrastructures of the companies are built because there is a proper classification of the services and each of them requires a separate administration. The multifarious operations involved in an organization also have sub-classes. Similarly, there are a number of categories in which the call centres are divided. For instance, based on the direction of calls, the inbound and outbound contact premises exist. The BPO services are grouped as back and front office tasks, as per their roles. There is also a sorting of enterprises on the basis of performance stretch and the area of extension. We have an option of hiring third-party service providers to accomplish minor business goals. This process of sharing the project tasks is termed as outsourcing. On the other hand, the one which performs in-house operations is called a corporate call centre. To understand the distinctive nature of these two domains, let us walk through the following key differences:
The range of outreach
The outsourcing of a call centre makes its scope much wider than the corporate. The former handles the calls for various organizations and take up more than one responsibility at the same time. On the other hand, the latter takes care of contacts and the related facilities for their own company. This accounts for the fact that outsourcing firms act as support vendors and are established only to reduce the workload of other companies. But, unlike the outsourced services, the functionality of a corporate contact centre is limited to its premises. It strictly looks after the in-house operations and is aimed at developing the domestic brand.
The level of competence
When we talk about the corporate call centre, since a lesser number of jobs are assigned to the agents, they need moderate prowess as compared to the reps of an outsourcing company. The in-house employees should be initially trained in maintaining professionalism, effective communication skills and calling etiquette. Whereas, the outsourcing service providers should get a regular supervision and guidance for the multiple sectors that they manage. The corporate team must be cognizant of its own brand products and solutions while the outsourced agents should hold comprehensive knowledge of its clients and their activities.
The language constraints
When there is intercommunication between the different employees of a single firm, it is apparent that they will have a common mother tongue. But this is not the scenario in BPO companies. They have to collaborate with the clients from distinct cultural and linguistic backgrounds. So, the agents should be capable of speaking in more than one dialect. This is the reason for a language barrier in every outsourcing agency because it is impossible for the operators to excel in all the existing languages in the world.
The extent of complexity
Imagine an industry with all the necessary equipment and a large number of operations in its workflow. This is the scene inside a corporate contact centre. Now, multiply these functions and amenities ten times and the picture you have portrayed in your mind looks like an outsourced call centre. So, the bottom line is, outsourcing is not everyone’s cup of tea and it requires high potential and vast resources to organize the tasks involved in it. But, if you are planning to invest in a distinguished corporate call centre, the chances of large expenditure and employing heavy machinery are very less since the tasks are few and simple.
The classification of teams
Because of the large scope and complexity of administration, an outsourcing company hires an extensive range of employees. The staffing is done after multiple stages of screening and short-listing. The vertical and horizontal hierarchies are designed after a critical consideration of the diverse factors involved. But, when a single unit of a brand is considered, i.e. corporate, the categorization of agents is much easier and the recruitment processes involved are uncomplicated.
Therefore, looking at the variety of tasks, the organization of teams, the extent of outreach, the training programmes and the level of complexity, we can conclude that these two sectors namely, outsourced and corporate call centre are not opposite to each other, but are certainly different.