From auto repair or home improvement in our personal lives, to accounting or marketing services in our professional lives, the decision whether to choose a Do It Yourself (DIY) or Do It For Me (DIFM) model permeates modern daily life.
When it comes to mission-critical business functions such as Customer Service & Support, Billing & Collections, or Regulatory Compliance, the stakes are even higher. Without exaggeration, the decision to adopt a DIY or DIFM model can be a make or break proposition and should be evaluated extremely carefully.
While many relate the decision to outsource to customer service and support functions with cost savings, smart companies realize that the benefits extend far beyond that. There is no shortage of research revealing that adopting a DIFM model with the right partner will enable a company to become more agile, efficient, and effective by tapping into highly specialized expertise and innovative technologies and services.
With that in mind, if you are considering engaging a Business Process Outsourcer (BPO) to develop a DIFM model, what benefits beyond cost savings should you expect?
Focus On Your Core Competencies
Business leaders often tell us that as they experience growth and success, their focus is taken off the areas of the business that they are most passionate about. More importantly, their attention is often diverted from continued growth.
Back office functions like customer service, billing and collections, or compliance management are absolutely critical to the health of any business but don’t necessarily always line up with core competencies. This is precisely why BPOs like Servicing Solutions exist. We take responsibility for these critical functions and give companies the peace of mind that they are being handled with their best interests in mind. This enables our clients are able to put their full effort towards running and growing the businesses they are so passionate about.
Better Technology…Without Having To Invest In It Yourself
A cost analysis of a DIFM vs DIY contact center model based on labor costs alone will be misleading, at best. To implement a world-class contact center and customer experience, a significant and ongoing investment in powerful technologies is required. These technology investment levels will only increase as consumer preferences continue to shift towards the convenience of digital self-service options.
Longer Customer Service Hours
While a DIY model may be appropriate for companies with smaller customer bases and limited geographic footprints, many companies will find it challenging to build an internal team that can be available for the extended hours that are most convenient to their diverse set of customers.
The path to this level of support is far more efficient through a DIFM model.
Ramp Up and Ramp Down Appropriately
Spikes in customer inquiries are a virtual certainty for the vast majority of businesses. Many of these spikes are predictable due to factors such as seasonality or other issues specific to an individual business, making them easy to plan for.
However, when a company receives a sudden and unexpected rise in customer inquiries and hasn’t properly planned for it, the effect on customer satisfaction can be devastating. COVID-19 provided a perfect example of this, with story after story of customers waiting for several hours (if they could get through at all) just to get basic support. Furthermore, many companies were forced to completely shut down operations for days or weeks when stay-at-home orders were implemented.
At Servicing Solutions, planning for the unexpected is at the heart of our Business Continuity Plan, as my colleague Cesar Guzman pointed out in an earlier blog post. A DIFM model with the right partner will help you navigate unexpected circumstances, remain agile and keep your customer support function running at full steam.
Compliance
Regulatory compliance is a major consideration for all businesses, especially those in industries in which customer information is handled. This is an especially crucial concern as of late, with the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau reporting that they handled approximately 542,300 complaints last year—a nearly 54% increase over the approximately 352,400 complaints handled in 2019.
Even the most well-intentioned companies can run afoul of regulatory bodies if they do not have adequate compliance expertise and planning in place. This is an extremely important factor to consider when evaluating potential BPOs to implement a DIFM approach.
Human Resources
Finally, in a DIY model, companies will assume full responsibility for all personnel and workforce management issues. In a contact center environment, many sleepless nights can be attributed to not meeting service or customer satisfaction levels because of absenteeism, attrition, or employee churn. Add to that items such as workers compensation or family leave, and it becomes apparent how challenging it can be to maintain an internal customer service function that consistently performs and meets customer demand.
The right BPO partner will be equipped to deal with all of these issues through multiple levels of backup to ensure there is never a disruption in service levels.
If you’re weighing a Do It For Me approach for your contact center and customer engagement strategy, we’d love to chat. Reach out to us at sales@servicingsolutions.com or 844.877.6583.